Faculty and Alum Publish Paper on Road Mortality as a Conservation Challenge for Freshwater Turtles

Jess Meck ’18 (New England, MS) and Liz Willey, PhD, Research Faculty in Environmental Studies and Sustainability, published a paper titled, “Evaluation of Road-Crossing Terrapene carolina major (Gulf Coast Box Turtle) in the Florida Panhandle” in the Northeastern Naturalist.

Their paper looks at road mortality as a conservation challenge for freshwater turtles. For this study, they collected occurrence data for all turtle species encountered on roadways for a 2-year radio-telemetry study. They summarized the demographic and species composition of turtles and conducted a logistic regression analysis to evaluate the influence of landscape variables associated with areas of high-density road crossings by Terrapene carolina major (Gulf Coast Box Turtle). Their paper makes recommendations for researchers to collect road-occurrence data and coordinate with local partners to develop robust datasets that can be utilized to develop mitigation measures. Read the article here.

Learn more about Meck’s work here and Willey’s work here.