HUMAN IMPACT ON TURTLES

By: Jordyn Freburger, Addie Kalama, Jake Kunkel, Skylar Lewis, Cassie

Price, and Rebekah Riley

EVENTHarford Glen is bought by Harford County

Public Schools from the army in 1948.

ISSUEHow has the

stewardship of Harford Glen impacted it’s

environment?

PROBLEMTurtles are not getting enough basking

time due to disturbances.

Painted TurtleMusk Turtle

Eastern Mud Turtle Red-bellied

Turtle

RESEARCH QUESTIONTo what extent does the level of disturbance effect basking turtle

populations at Harford Glen?

Players BeliefsMr. Eakes (director of Harford Glen)

“The amount of humans that travel the trails affect the number of turtles. Also, the closer your proximity to a trail affects the number of turtles basking.”

Mr. Burley (instructor at Harford Glen)

“I notice that when I take students on hikes around Harford Glen in areas where there are basking turtles, that unless we are very quiet all the turtles jump in the water.”

Ms. Juliane (counselor) “I believe that humans can impact where turtles bask because they have a great influence on the noise level of an area. Also, humans can create and destroy areas in which turtles bask. So, humans can impact turtles in a positive and negative way.”

Question: What are your beliefs about human impact affecting

basking turtles at Harford Glen?

Ms. Juliane

Caughron

Mr. Burley

Mr. Eakes

Our Players

PROCEDURETo collect data we…1. We observed each site for basking

turtles2. Every 15 min. we would check how

many basking turtles there were3. Kept track of disturbances4. Continued this process every 15

minutes

Note: the whole time we were out collecting data most disturbances were us taking data& observing. Also, there were classes being loud, vehicles, and other natural disturbances.

Site 1: High impact

Site 2: Low impact

JULY 22, 2011 AT SITE 1

9:00 9:15 9:30 9:45 10:000

2

4

6

8

10

12

PaintedMud/MuskRed-bellied

There is no graph for July 22, 2011 at Site 2 due to the fact that

there were no turtles basking

at that site

Am

ount

of

turt

les

sighte

d

Time

JULY 25, 2011 AT SITE 1

10:1

5

10:3

0

10:4

5

11:0

0

11:1

5

12:0

0

12:1

5

12:3

0

12:4

51:

001:

150

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

PaintedMud/MuskRed-Bellied

Am

ount

of

turt

les

sighte

d

Time

JULY 25, 2011 AT SITE 2

10:0

5

10:2

0

10:3

5

10:5

0

11:0

5

12:0

0

12:1

5

12:3

0

12:4

51:

000

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

PaintedMud/MuskRed-Bellied

Am

ount

of

turt

les

sighte

d

Time

JULY 25,2011, SITE 1 AND SITE 2

COMPARISON

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10:1

5

10:4

5

11:1

5

12:1

5

12:4

51:

150

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

Painted

Mud/Musk

Red-Bellied

Am

ount

of

turt

les

sighte

d

TimeTime

CONCLUSIONS More turtles were found at the high

impacted site than the low impacted site

Low impacted site had more canopy and less basking spots

High impacted site had less cover and more basking areas

INFERENCES The trails at Harford Glen are not used

enough to greatly effect the amount of time the turtles bask

Turtles bask less when high levels of disturbances occur

ACTION PLAN We will go out to the high impact area

(Site1) and count how many turtles we see. Then, we will simulate it, by getting a class to walk through and see how that will impact the turtles.

Also, we will make signs to represent that turtles are basking.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS We would like to thank ….

Mr. Chris BurleyMrs. Teal DimitrieMs. MeganMr. Eric CromwellMrs. Mary Murray

Fun times …

Memories …

Jake + The

Herpettes!!!

Any Questions ?