Alum and Faculty Publish Paper on the Nesting Ecology of Spotted Turtles

John Garrison ’22 (New England, MS) and Lisabeth L. Willey, PhD, research faculty in the Environmental Studies Department, published a paper entitled “Nesting Ecology of Spotted Turtles (Clemmys Guttata) at an Anthropogenic Site in Massachusetts, USA” in Herpetological Conservation and Biology.

This paper describes when nesting takes place, egg incubation duration, how many eggs are in a nest, and how many eggs hatch out of each nest. The paper compares the microhabitat of nests to paired random points for Spotted Turtles at a site in eastern Massachusetts. Their results provide Spotted Turtle nesting data for Massachusetts that can inform Population Viability Analysis and provide a timeline for when to avoid actively managing nest sites in the state.

Garrison earned an MS in Environmental Studies with a concentration in Conservation Biology from Antioch University. His interests include predator-prey relationships, reproductive ecology, human-wildlife interactions, and imperiled species conservation.

Willey is a Science Coordinator for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and also serves as faculty at Antioch University, where she advises students on a range of conservation biology-related projects and coordinates regional conservation planning efforts for rare turtle species.