Nesting Ecology and Hatching Success of the Eastern Box Turtle, Terrapene Carolina, On Long Island, New York (Report‪)‬

The Eastern Box Turtle (Terrapene carolina) is a widespread terrestrial turtle found in the eastern and central United States (reviewed by Dodd, 2001; Ernst and Lovich, 2009). Because of their conspicuous terrestrial activities, nesting ecology of Eastern Box Turtles has been studied in several parts of the U.S., and considerable information about their reproductive behavior is available (Ewing, 1933; reviewed by Dodd, 2001; Ernst and Lovich, 2009). For example, unlike many other turtle species, courtships and copulations have been observed many times (e.g., Evans, 1953); and nesting behavior was well described by Congello (1978). Most studies of T. carolina are of short duration and involve relatively few individuals, and thus identifying the causes of inter-populational differences is difficult. For example, nesting may be stimulated by rainfall, but interpopulational variation in nesting phenology is neither well reported nor analyzed (Dodd, 2001). Similarly, female body size is positively correlated with clutch size in many turtle species (Iverson, 1992), which suggests selection on increased body size to maximize reproductive output. This selection has interesting implications for a taxon with typically low rates of post-maturity growth and high adult survivorship. However, while two T. carolina studies (Tucker, 1999; Kipp, 2003) reported typically strong and significant positive relationships between standard body size measures and clutch size, two other studies (Congdon and Gibbons, 1985; Tucker et al., 1999) found no relationship between female body size and clutch size. Explanations for such differences are lacking. Because of this knowledge gap, we attempted to address several questions about Eastern Box Turtle reproductive ecology on Long Island, New York, including details concerning clutch size, clutch phenology and egg viability. These questions have both conservation and management implications because these life history parameters are essential components of population models typically used to examine population viability, size trends and sustainable harvest levels.