Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit, Rocky Mountain CESU

archived

USGS, Northern Rocky Mountain Science Center (NOROCK) is offering a funding opportunity for research to survey sites with historical locality records of alligator snapping turtles (M. temminkii) in western Tennessee, southwestern Kentucky, southern Missouri, and northeastern Arkansas. In western Tennessee, the sampling efforts will focus on 16 stream sites where the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency released captive reared M. temminkii to try and reestablish populations. These 16 sites are currently being trapped by the Tennessee Aquarium and Southeast Missouri State University to determine if captive-reared turtles persisted. Currently, trapping efforts have failed to detect M. temminkii in most of these locations; however, eDNA techniques might reveal evidence of small numbers of animals that are not reflected in trapping data. Throughout this 4-state region, eDNA techniques will be used to sample approximately 70 historical M. temminkii locations and randomly selected locations with no records of alligator snapping turtles. The surveys are intended to provide a broader perspective on the extent of declines (or recovery) of peripheral populations. Collectively, this research will build upon and leverage existing capture-mark-recapture and radio telemetry research to measure changes in the distribution of M. temminkii.

High