BOWLING GREEN STATE UNIVERSITY

 
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Hillary Harms uses a locator wand to pick up signals from spotted turtles she has outfitted with transmitters.

It’s a big world for a little spotted turtle, with many dangers both natural and man-made. Raccoons and other predators like to eat it and its eggs, and humans often unwittingly destroy its home. BGSU researcher Hillary Harms is working to learn more about the species so its habitat can be protected from at least the man-made menaces.

“I want to answer basic ecological questions that will allow me to make management recommendations that will be used locally,” said the fourth-year doctoral student in biology.

“Metroparks of Toledo is now consulting with her about their wetland restoration work in light of some of her research results, so we hope the project will have immediate and local impacts on wet prairie habitat in northwest Ohio,” said Dr. Karen Root, biological sciences, in whose lab Harms works.

The spotted turtle, or Clemmys guttata, which is classified as protected in the majority of its range and threatened in Ohio, is only about five inches long. It needs areas that offer both open, wet prairie areas and dryer uplands in which to lay its eggs. “Ohio has lost about 90 percent of its original wetlands,” Harms pointed out, which makes it even more crucial to preserve remaining turtle habitat.

Harms has spent the better part of the last three years tracking the turtles in the Kitty Todd Nature Preserve in Swanton and at Bumpus Pond, part of property off Angola Road near Crissey recently acquired by the Metroparks.
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