This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process and policies. Editors have highlighted the following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility: Harmful algal blooms pose serious threats to people, animals and the environment. The University of Toledo's Dr.
Jeanine Refsnider counts it as a positive discovery that northern map turtles tend to steer clear, as she and an undergraduate collaborator recently reported in the Journal of Great Lakes Research. "It wasn't quite what we were expecting to see," said Refsnider, a professor in the College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics' Department of Environmental Sciences. "We don't know if they leave because of the algal bloom or if the bloom just coincides with a time of year when they head to a different habitat, but it's nice they seem to be relatively safe." The discovery reflects a new field technique for Refsnider, a herpetologist with years of experience using radio telemetry to track turtles through the forests and wetlands of the Oak Openings Region.
In tracking the movements of 10 female northern map turtles from a nesting beach in western Lake Erie in 2022, Refsnider and Di'Carlo Jackson, then an undergraduate student at Park University participating in the Research Experiences for Undergraduates program at UToledo, explored the potential for acoustic and satellite telemetry. Acoustic telemetry allows scientists to track the movements of their subjects, each of which is affixed with an acoustic transmitter, via a network of acoustic receivers. Locally, these receivers are strategically positioned throughout the Maumee River and Lake Erie under the Great Lakes Acoustic Telemetry Observation System.
Acoustic telemetry is more commonly used with fish, including the sturgeon studied by Dr. William Hintz, an associate professor in the Department of Environmental Sciences. Satellite telemetry, meanwhile, transmits data from specialized transmitters to satellites.
"This was kind of a proof of concept," Refsnider said. "It ended up working well that we used both acoustic and satellite telemetry because they both worked in very different situations. Acoustic worked well when the turtles were underwater, whereas satellite picked up when they were up a tributary and farther away from the receivers." The data the researchers collected through both techniques allowed them to map the movements of the turtles, including their extensive travel up a tributary—a range of 6 to more than 13 miles (10 to more than 21 kilometers).
The finding is valuable for informing how herpetologists understand this species and its interactions with its habitat over the course of a year, particularly given the comparatively little research published on lake rather than river habitats. Refsnider and Jackson were particularly keen to learn to what degree northern map turtles were exposed to harmful algal blooms, which emerge annually in the western basin of Lake Erie and typically peak in August. "The turtles headed into open water after they nested, but we didn't detect any in Lake Erie after late July," Refsnider said.
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