LB 3-25 - Habituation to artificial turtle nests reduces predation by raccoons

Turtles are a globally imperiled taxon. While turtles face many barriers to population persistence, one of the earliest is the reduction in juvenile recruitment due to nest predation. Many predator species rely on turtle eggs and turtle young as a food source, but as humans continue to urbanize landscapes, mesopredators have become more common and exert a stronger predation pressure on turtle species than before. In this study, we quantify repeated measures of nest predation risk in one painted turtle (Chrysemys picta) population, where raccoons (Procyon lotor) are the primary nest predator. We constructed artificial turtle nests with no reward and measured raccoon predation on artificial and real nests over the course of four weeks. For the first time in this population, we demonstrate predator habituation time, as predation of artificial nests decreased each day over the study period. We propose that the implementation of artificial nests may be one effective way to reduce depredation of real turtle nests in this area and may be used as a viable conservation method for other freshwater turtle species.