Current Nature: Turtles And Conserving The Common

As the Linda Loring Nature Foundation’s Conservation Research and Stewardship Intern, I spend much of my day trudging through a mosaic of wetland habitats, including bogs, pond edges, and ditches.

Equipped with waders and a backpack full of data collection tools, I head into thick vegetation and deep mud in search of one thing, the ever-elusive spotted turtle (Clemmys guttata)… or so I thought. Here’s the thing: although spotted turtles are relatively abundant across other parts of Nantucket, an adult spotted turtle hasn’t been officially recorded and measured since 2006, despite an abundance of habitat, anecdotal accounts, and hatchlings. Despite the presence of a strong Nantucket population and a lack of state conservation status, studies have shown that Massachusetts’ spotted turtle population has decreased by up to 50 percent over a 30-year period. Given this, the spotted turtle is listed as endangered by the IUCN and is a species of conservation concern throughout the northeast.

As the field season has continued, it has become apparent that either spotted turtles are deathly afraid of me, or they’re even more elusive than initially expected. On the other hand, with every day that passed without an adult spotted turtle, we’d collect data on an abundance of painted turtles (Chrysemys picta) across the property. Whether swimming along the edges of Long Pond or basking in a ditch, painted turtles represent the antithesis of the spotted turtle. While spotted turtles are rare and elusive on the property, painted turtles, the most abundant native turtle in the U.S, could be found without even getting your waders a little muddy.

In preparation for the increasingly likely scenario that we couldn’t locate an adult spotted turtle this year, I began to think more and more about the common painted turtles that were staring me right in the face every day. Despite their commonality, there has been little dedicated, comprehensive research on Nantucket’s painted turtles. After all, how do we know if a common species is in decline without studying it to begin with? Matter of fact, the relatively rare spotted turtle that I’d been searching for wasn’t always considered rare–historically being considered one of, if not the most, common turtle species in Massachusetts.

Although we place value on rarity, there’s a certain beauty in common species’ ability to persist across a variety of conditions and environments. Additionally, common species such as the painted turtle can serve as a baseline for measuring environmental change. For instance, if we notice a significant change in a generalist species — a species that can tolerate a variety of environmental conditions — then that can act as an indicator of significant environmental change.

Nantucket is no stranger to environmental change, with the effects of climate change becoming increasingly prevalent by the year. Even here at LLNF, we’re preparing for future sea level rise and saltwater intrusion in Long Pond–a place many of our painted turtles call home. By monitoring water quality, salinity, and data points such as size, sex, and location for our painted turtle population, we can obtain valuable baseline data that allows us to recognize and act upon future environmental changes on our property. So, whether it’s the natural succession of an ecosystem or climate-change-induced saltwater intrusion, understanding our common species allows us to make sense of the environmental changes around us. That way, we can ensure the painted turtle doesn’t follow the path of its spotted relative and future LLNF interns won’t struggle to find a painted turtle the way I struggled to find a spotted one.

This all goes to say that understanding our common species allows us to become better stewards of the diverse habitat that our property provides, so we can conserve the native species that call it home, both common and rare. Dr. Sarah Bois, Director of Research and Conservation at LLNF, says it best: “keep the common things common”, and that’s exactly what we aim to do.