Historical museum collections and contemporary population studies implicate roads and introduced predatory bullfrogs in the decline of western pond turtles.

ABSTRACT: The western pond turtle (WPT), recently separated into two paripatrically distributed species (Emys pallida and Emys marmorata), is experiencing significant reductions in its range and population size. In addition to habitat loss, two potential causes of decline are female-biased road mortality and high juvenile mortality from non-native predatory bullfrogs (Rana catesbeiana). However, quantitative analyses of these threats have never been conducted for either species of WPT. We used a combination of historical museum samples and published and unpublished field studies shared with us through personal communications with WPT field researchers (B. Shaffer, P. Scott, R. Fisher, C. Brown, R. Dagit, L. Patterson, T. Engstrom, 2019, personal communications) to quantify the e

SUBMITTER: Nicholson EG 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7295021 | biostudies-literature | 2020

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature