A new paper integrated Blanding’s Turtle research data collected in Illinois over the past 140 years. With over 60,000 encounters of approximately 7,000 individual turtles, the researchers were able to analyze causes of mortality, nesting locations, and survival.
Predators represented the greatest cause of mortality and traumatic injury overall. Human caused mortality and traumatic injury was dominated by vehicle strikes (43), followed by machinery (21), and railways (20).
57% of nests were in human modified habitats including railroads and agricultural habitats.
Current protected areas in Illinois are small and crossed by roads and railways, putting Blanding’s Turtles at risk for encountering dangerous situations. Land acquisition and/or barrier/passage systems may help mitigate mortality and improve survival prospects.
Read the full paper “Archival Data Reveals Human Impacts on Blanding’s Turtle Population Persistence” in Journal for Nature Conservation