Houston Chandler

77 posts
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  • 3 minute read

Sampling for Wood Turtles

The Orianne Society spends a significant amount of time working on Wood Turtles in Vermont as part of the Great Northern Forest initiative. But did you know that Wood Turtles can be found in approximately 15 other states and in some parts of southeastern Canada? Despite this relatively large range, Wood Turtles are listed as Endangered by the IUCN and have already experienced population declines throughout most of their range, making them one of the rarest freshwater turtles in North America.
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Occupancy Surveying for Gopher Tortoises

I wrote last month about our recent Line Transect Distance Surveys (LTDS) for Gopher Tortoises on the Orianne Indigo Snake Preserve. This survey technique has become the standard for the vast majority of the tortoise monitoring that occurs across the southeast and with good reason. The LTDS framework presents a relatively easy survey methodology that can be carried out reliably by a small group of observers. Furthermore, it accomplishes the general goal of monitoring populations for a species that can be difficult to actually encounter using other survey techniques (i.e., tortoises are underground a majority of the time). With all of this said, are there circumstances where an alternative survey approach may be desired to monitor tortoise populations?
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