Browsing by Author "Rouleau, Carter J."

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Socioecology of the Midland Painted Turtle (Chrysemys picta marginata)
(2020-12-17) Rouleau, Carter J.
The cryptic nature of sociality in many reptile species suggests that their social behaviour may indeed be more complex and varied than previous research supposes. I propose that the Midland Painted Turtle (MPT; Chrysemys picta marginata) demonstrates cryptic social organization in its nesting and basking behaviours. In this thesis, I aim to: i) describe patterns of social organization in MPT, and ii) investigate influences on the social behaviour of MPT. In Chapter I, I investigate the potential for kin-bias in the communal nesting behaviour of MPT. I show that this bias is not present in MPT, and suggest that environmental factors and body size largely govern MPT nesting behaviour. In Chapter II, I investigate social organization in basking aggregations of MPT. I show that kin-bias is present in this behaviour. Further, I demonstrate that sex, body size, and capture frequency of MPT affect their social behaviour.