Socioecology of the Midland Painted Turtle (Chrysemys picta marginata)
Date
2020-12-17
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Abstract
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.
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Keywords
Turtle, sociality, behaviour, basking, nesting, association, social network