AUTECOLOGICAL STUDY OF GULF COAST BOX TURTLES (TERRAPENE CAROLINA MAJOR) IN THE FLORIDA PANHANDLE, USA, REVEALS UNIQUE SPATIAL AND BEHAVIORAL CHARACTERISTICS

Terrapene carolina major (Gulf Coast Box Turtle) is an unresolved taxonomic lineage from the Florida Panhandle and Gulf of Mexico Coastal Plain in the USA. Like other box turtles, T. c. major is vulnerable to increasing anthropogenic pressures. To date, no intensive or comparative ecological or behavioral studies have been published on this lineage of box turtles. We conducted a radio-telemetry study of 21 adult T. c. major in the Florida Panhandle in 2016 and 2017 to evaluate seasonal home range, habitat use and selection, and behavior. We calculated summer home range size using minimum convex polygons (MCP) and fixed kernel density estimators (KDE). We evaluated habitat use using Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to determine proportions of different habitat types within 100% MCPs of individuals and habitat selection was evaluated using generalized linear models. Unlike most other studies of T. carolina lineages, females had significantly larger home ranges than males, while males had higher home range fidelity than females. The generalized linear models indicated males used forested wetlands and females used coniferous forests significantly more than other habitats. Approximately 23% of total radio-location observations for both sexes were aquatic environments that included areas primarily in Floodplain Swamps, Mixed Wetland Hardwoods, and Wet Coniferous (Pinus spp.) Plantations. Our observations indicated that T. c. major demonstrates unique behavioral and ecological characteristics, and while the phylogenetic relationships and evolutionary significance of this lineage remains unclear, we recommend T c major be managed as a distinct taxon of T. carolina when evaluating conservation and management decisions.