SREL Reprint #2893

Ecology of the Jamaican Slider Turtle (Trachemys terrapen), with Implications for Conservation and Management

Tracey D. Tuberville1, Kurt A. Buhlmann1,2, Rhema Kerr Bjorkland3, and Doug Booher3

1Savannah River Ecology Laboratory, P.O. Drawer E, Aiken, South Carolina 29802 USA
2Conservation International, Center for Applied Biodiversity Science,
1919 M Street NW, Washington, D.C. 20036 USA
3University of Georgia, Institute of Ecology, Athens, Georgia 30602 USA

Abstract: We investigated populations of the Jamaican slider turtle (Trachemys terrapen), a species apparently endemic to Jamaica and the only native freshwater turtle species known to occur there. We captured 54 turtles at four sites (three along the southern coast and one in the northwest) representing a variety of habitats, including a permanently ponded wetland, farm ponds, and a stream in karst landscape. Turtles were also found in a series of seasonal ponds where they retreat into cave refugia during dry periods when caves remain flooded, thus allowing the slider population to exist in this seasonally arid landscape. We did not observe or capture turtles during limited sampling in a large river or a brackish mangrove swamp. Individuals from the northwest population (n = 12) were morphologically distinct from turtles captured along the south coast (n = 42) and descriptions provided in the literature for T. terrapen. Jamaican slider turtles are harvested incidentally by local residents wherever they are found, and concentrated populations, such as those in cave refugia, are heavily exploited. Our preliminary research suggests that T. terrapen is a highly threatened species needing conservation action in order to ensure its persistence.

Keywords: Reptilia; Testudines; Emydidae; Trachemys terrapen; Trachemys scripta elegans; turtle; distribution; ecology; conservation; status; natural history; Jamaica; West Indies

SREL Reprint #2893

Tuberville, T. D., K. A. Buhlmann, R. K. Bjorkland, and D. Booher. 2005. Ecology of the Jamaican slider turtle (Trachemys terrapen), with implications for conservation and management. Chelonian Conservation and Biology 4:908-915.

This information was provided by the University of Georgia's Savannah River Ecology Laboratory (srel.uga.edu).