Today was my first day of turtle research! I woke up at 7am and got dressed and ready to head to the van by 8am. Because it was everyone's first day on the project every student researcher was together for training. We visited Mount Union first, where we saw eleven northern map turtles which were about to begin nesting. We collected information about their shell length, mass, age, and assigned each turtle a unique ID code on the marginal scutes of their shells.

Today I worked the morning shift (8am-12:30pm) at the Mount Union site. It rained this morning, which is a good thing since the turtles like to nest in cool, rainy summer climates. Today was the first time I got to use my paint code on a northern map turtle. Every researcher has a unique paint code which helps the team recognize who processed which turtles. My paint code is "S" for Sullivan. Paint codes go 1-9 and then through the alphabet. The turtle in the photo is "S 1", my first turtle. By the end of the shift, I processed 19 turtles, making it all the way to "S J". Collectively, our team processed 40 turtles and protected 3 nests so, it was a successful day to say the least. 

This morning we processed 45 northern map turtles at the Mount Union site and protected eight nests. We even saw a very large female snapping turtle nesting on the coal pile! It was rewarding to see some of the turtles that I had identified yesterday, come back and complete their nests, so I could protect them. 

After my morning shift, I came back for a much needed nap. Then I went to the Juniata football field for a speed and agility workout before cooking lunch.

Around 6pm I headed back to Fouse's Crossing and the Juniata Field Station to identify turtles in the area. We processed the one below before watching her snack on a sidewalk worm. In total we processed eight turtles at these sites, but saw no complete nests.

This morning I drove to Riverside park, in search of more map turtles to process and nests to protect at a new site. My team found 9 northern map turtles including one attempting to nest in the parking lot. The picture below explains more about the experience of protecting her nest. 

After logging their information, I headed back to Juniata campus for a nap, lift in Kennedy, and some lunch. Then I went back to Fouse's crossing with new team members where we saw three box turtles that had already been processed and paint marked. So, we did not disturb them or handle them. However, we did admire how beautiful the sunset looked on Raystown Lake near our study site. 

Today I got to learn how to do something that I have never done before: turtle telemetry! After hearing that Dr. Nagle had attached tracking devices to two mating pairs of box turtles at seven points marina, I desperately wanted to tag along with a research technician named Lexi to learn how to do their weekly check-up. The check-up itself was easy, but finding the turtles in order to complete the task was more challenging. She used this large antenna and telemetry box to pic up the magnetic transmissions of the trackers fastened to the turtle shells. We followed the beeping by volume coming from the telemetry box until we could turn the gain completely down and still hear loud beeping coming from one direction when pointing the antenna at the ground. The turtles were all hidden well and I would never have found them if it wasn't for the tracking system. Lexi and I had hiked four miles and for 90 minutes before our four check-ups were finished. It was a physically demanding day, but very rewarding when we finally found the turtles we were searching for and saw that they were generally doing well. One female had even lost enough weight to safely assume she had laid a nest of eggs! I hope I get to do turtle telemetry again someday because it was truly fascinating.

Today was a personal day similar to yesterday. There was no turtle hunting. I went to church at my favorite church in the world which I usually do not have access to when I am home, so that made me very happy. Then, I went to the grocery store to pick up a few things I needed for the week. Then I studied for my summer class for a long time.

Today was one of the busiest turtle days that I have had in a while. I went to Mount Union and found turtles from 8am to 1pm. While I was there, Dr. Grant and four of his students came to learn about our research procedure. I was just a little bit nervous to explain everything to them because I have only been on this project for a little bit. However, I think I did a well enough job at explaining the procedure and purpose of everything because his students were able to effectively help us process turtles. Here is a raw picture of me protecting and writing up a map turtle nest at Mount Union this morning. 

Then, I came back to campus and lifted in the Kennedy sports center before making myself lunch and heading back out to Fouse's crossing to look for more turtles. I found four new turtles to process at the Raystown Field Station. 

Then, I took a small break to enjoy the research tech bonfire with a few of my friends. We roasted hot dogs and smores, played spikeball, and then went kayaking for a little while. I had so much fun with everyone. Then from 9-11 I went back out to turtle hunt. My partner, Sam, and I found two more turtles. We worked them up and then headed to bed after a long day.

<---The very angry snapper!

I caught the snapper!! Today, I headed out to the coal piles of Mount Union and we saw six northern map turtles to process and one female wood turtle. Also, the female snapping turtle from yesterday was back! And she layed a nest! This female laid just under 50 eggs! We protected her nest with a cage, similar to what we do for the northern map turtles. Then, Dr. Nagle showed us how to handle such a large and aggressive turtle so that we did not get bit and I was able to hold her while he processed and came up with an ID code for her scutes. She was not happy and lunged several times at both of us. I was surprised at how agile she was. In this photo you can see her sharp-beaked-mouth completely open just before she lunges and tries to strike over her shell at my hand. Thankfully, due to proper instruction, my hands were far enough back that she did not have a chance at reaching me. I also learned that snapping turtles have a more tapered/restricted (a smaller) plastron (the underside of the shell) than northern map turtles which is interesting because with such a large clutch size, the eggs largely go unprotected on the underside of the turtle. I loved getting to see her again today and learning more about the snapping turtle species. 

Today was a busy turtle day at the Riverside site. On my way driving to the site, I saw a turtle in the road about to cross, one mile away from the nesting mounds. She rode in my car the rest of the way to the site where I could process her, assign an identification code, and collect statistics. I assigned the paint code AD to her shell and placed her on the nesting mound where she immediately began to dig and lay eggs. It was rewarding to watch her lay eggs, in particular, because I happened to be in the right place at the right time when finding her in the road. If I had not stopped to help her, she might have been road-kill! Now she will have babies someday soon!

In addition to AD, I found five northern map turtles and protected two additional nests at the Riverside site. 

Today was a hot day. As we have talked about before, the turtles prefer to nest in cooler or rainy days when the ground is softer. So, today was relatively slow. I went to the riverside site and processed five new turtles, saw a snapping turtle nesting, and protected three nests. Once the heat of the day started to sink in, all the turtles finished digging or nesting and returned to the river so, I made friends with a snail instead. 

Today I worked the morning shift at Mount Union. However, it was SO SLOW! There were absolutely no turtles on the coal mound-not a soul. So, I got off early and headed back to my room to answer some emails, make a spreadsheet of turtle data, and study animal nutrition. 

I also had a tough workout today. I did a speed and agility workout with our strength and conditioning coach, Jarrett. And then completed a tough lift.

Then, I went to Fouse's Crossing where I set up some new turtle traps in the creek. I also got to go to a mound that I had never been to before which was about a mile away from the mound we had previously been protecting nests at. We did not find any turtles, but the view was breathtaking!

Today was an exciting turtle day! I began at the Mount Union coal pile. I saw a map turtle with a deformed and interesting plastron. It was not deformed enough to attach a tracker to, but still something I have never seen before. Then, we saw a female snapper nesting. She was pretty docile so we were able to process her which was awesome!

Then I came back to campus to run my monthly timed mile for volleyball, make turtle data excel spreadsheets, and study animal nutrition. 

My last task of the day was to go to Fouse's Crossing and check the turtle traps in the creek which we set yesterday. We caught two turtles and a snake! We safely removed the snake and both turtles were able to be processed. We also saw two eastern box turtles which had previously been processed. 

Today is my last day with the turtles this summer! It is bitter-sweet because I am sad to leave this work for the summer, but I am grateful for the experience and ready to move onto my next opportunity with cattle research. However, it was the perfect final day of field research.

There was a group of students working with Dr. Grant who are interested in helping with the turtle project. Last week I showed them the procedure and purpose for our research and today, I got to train them out in the field. The passed few days have been slow so I didn't have much hope for us to see a lot of turtles. However, we went to Mount Union and saw 15 turtles including a snapping turtle. This northern map turtle had a deformed carapace with off centered scutes which I have never seen before. 

Then we got a frantic call from Lexi at Riverside who had six northern map turtles and no identifying equipment. So, we took a ride over to that site and helped her process those turtles. 

After this hard days work, I turned in all of my equipment including the telemetry gear and turtle bag, with the identification tools and records in before going to pack up and head back to Pittsburgh. 

Woke up to a few texts from my research teammates. First, they sent a group photo we took at Raystown Lake. I miss working with them, but I am excited to return to turtle work this fall.

They also reported that they found a spiny softshell turtle at the Riverside site. This type of turtle is a rare find. They are a species of special concern in Pennsylvania. This means that the spiny softshell turtle is not listed as a threatened or endangered species, but has been documented by the Pennsylvania Conservation Center as being at risk of becoming threatened or endangered. There is very minimal data available for spiny softshell turtles in Huntingdon County and no data about this species in the northeastern corner of the state. So for us to find one in the Juniata River was pretty special!

One of Dr. Nagle's students sent me this photo of a baby map turtle at the coal piles. I got some devastating news as they went to dig up the hatching nests, which was that only 3/33 protected nests remained in tact over the nesting period. The other 30 nests were dug up by a racoon that Dr. Nagle caught on a trail camera. The racoon had learned that cage = nest = food source, and dug under the deep edges of the cage to eat the protected eggs. That news was heartbreaking, however the other nesting sites: the field station and Riverside park, had many successful hatchings which were released into the Juniata River. 

In an effort to understand more about the Northern Map Turtles, I wanted to partner with Dr. Lamendella to cultivate a complete microbiome profile. I had my first meeting with her to detail a sample design, DNA extraction plan in addition to quantification using Qubit, PCR and gel electrophoresis to make sure the PCR was successful, then sequencing and analyzing the DNA. 

A microbiome profile for turtles will contain DNA from nesting substrate, egg and yolk contents, and urine concentration from mother turtles. 

Today I completed all my wet lab practice and began sample collection for the first phase of defining a northern map turtle's gut microbiome profile, that being nesting substrate. I took two sediment samples from each of three different sites in Huntingdon County: the coal pile, fenceline, and riverside park. 

I used antiseptic tequnique to collect the samples in sterile conicle tubes to make sure not to contaminate the DNA contents of the soil and returned to JCEL where I added Zymo (a cell lysing buffer) to the tubes. Then, I stored all of my samples in the refrigerator until DNA extraction. 

Today I ran DNA extraction on my samples. I stored the final pure DNA product in the freezer and plan to complete Qubit and PCR next week. 

I began today by running a Qubit analysis on my samples.  This is done to see how much DNA concentration is present in your samples before completing PCR. It is a good checkpoint in case PCR is unsuccessful. Unfortunately, all of my samples except for number 5 read an undetectable amount of DNA in the Qubit. This means the DNA concentration was too low to be detected, so if PCR is unsuccessful, I may have to backtrack and rethink my DNA extraction method. 

I completed the PCR method in the hood by adding primers for the 16srRNA gene of microbial DNA and PCR buffer to my samples and them placing them into the thermocycler where they underwent many rounds of denaturation, annealing, and elongation. The whole process took about 3 hours. Next week I will use Gel electrophoresis to see if my PCR worked!

Today I ran my gel electrophoresis by placing some gel water, fluorescent dye, and a sample into each well of the gel and pipetting a control sample into another well on the bottom row. I placed the gel into the gel machine and used a blacklight to read my samples. 

My gel was perfect! I have bright clear bands with no smudges right in the places that I expected to see them, so we have microbe DNA in the samples! The next step is to analyze and sequence my samples!