Turtle tag
Mr. Clean has nothing on Bill Peterman, a senior biology major at Butler University. Peterman has spent some quality time with the wildlife in the canal located behind Butler University and along Westfield Boulevard.
“I learned how to get out canal stains and smells quickly,” he says.
Peterman joined forces with Dr. Travis Ryan, science professor at Butler University, last summer to study the urban ecology of the turtle population inhabiting the canal that runs along the campus.
In 2001, Ryan and Butler students began the Urban Turtle Ecology Research Project (UTERP). Its mission is to “understand the persistence of and threats facing wildlife living within one of the largest urban areas [Indianapolis] in the Midwestern United States.”
The students focus on the character of the habitat in which most of their specimens are found. These areas in the canal are defined as commercial, residential, river, road, woodlot and open (cleared habitat that doesn’t fit under any other category), all of which extend 50 meters on either side of the canal. By doing this type of study, they are able to find the preferred habitat for the turtles and use the knowledge to protect their environment.
The turtles that can currently be found in the UTERP lab downstairs in Butler’s Gallahue Hall are musk turtles, painted turtles and common map turtles. Other turtles that exploit the canal for lodging include the snapping turtle, red-eared slider and the spiny soft shell turtle.
The turtles must first be captured in traps. Each day one of the four students begins by checking all 10 hoop traps that are placed on the west side of the canal between College Avenue and 30th Street, though focusing mainly on the area south of Meridian Street and north of 38th Street.
The traps are cylinder-shaped nets that are supported by circular wires. They are 2 to 5 feet in length with a funnel opening at one end for entry and a tied end for removing the turtle. Turtle-bait typically includes a can of sardines.
A normal turtle observation day for Peterman involves a bike ride along the canal. Attached to the back of the bike is a turtle carriage that allows him to transport the turtles back to the lab. As if on a newspaper route, he stops at each site and slithers down the steep bank toward the murky waters to check the trap. Occasionally, if a trap is difficult to reach or tangled in weeds, he will have to wade in the water. Peterman jokes that this is the reason he believes that his Teva sandals were his “smartest purchase” of the year. When a turtle is captured, he will record characteristics of the turtle and the site in which it was found.
The turtles are not the only organisms lured to the traps. Carrie VanTassel and Ana Stachniw, two of Peterman’s peer turtle observers, once had a surprise encounter with a 4-foot catfish.
Once the turtles are brought back to the labs, they are placed in bins and kept overnight. In the morning, they are weighed and marked. The markings allow the researchers to identify a recaptured turtle by the location it was last found. A yellow marker is used to indicate the month a turtle is found. In order to identify a specific individual, the students drill small holes in the marginal scutes of the turtle. The scutes are sections located on the perimeter of the shell and are similar to the fingernail of a human being. Each scute is assigned a letter. The turtle is named according to the combination of lettered scutes that have been marked. Each individual is kept in a database with its species name, locations in which it was found, reproductive condition, damage, length, shell depth, width and mass.
The research that Ryan’s students have done has allowed them to determine favored basking sites and to observe the turtles’ movement. They have found that turtles like to bask in certain areas. Most of the turtles’ favorite places include commercial and wood lots because they contain driftwood and other objects that allow them to spend time out of the water in the sun.
They have also found that the habitats change throughout the year since turtles hibernate in the winter. During this time, the turtles can be found in the wood lot areas.
The turtles can also be tracked by a radio transmitter that is attached to the shell. Each transmitter is set at a radio frequency that is only slightly different than the others. “Each is like a different radio station,” Ryan explains.
VanTassel found that turtles can move 200 to 300 feet in one day, while others barely lift a tail. “It’s basically individual,” she says.
Ryan credits his interest in turtles mostly to the fact that the canal is just outside of his office window at Butler. Studying the turtles is a long-term project in which all of his students can be involved. The turtles are abundant in number and are able to be collected continually.
Though the majority of the studies are done by students who are planning to major in science, students in Ryan’s general ecology classes also help in capturing and classifying the specimens. Ryan stresses the importance of having reliable, trustworthy students who partake in the majority of the project. “It’s a labor intensive operation,” he says. Though it is not a requirement to take one of his classes beforehand, he feels that it is a good way to get to know the student and his/her work ethic.
While Ryan is currently trying to publish some of the information he and other students have gathered, studies and contacts with former students remain important. Chris Conner, a Butler graduate, is also a founder in the UTERP. He has continued similar studies in graduate school.
Conner found that turtles along the canal are similar to others throughout the world. “The turtles are dealing with urbanization, and what we find [in Indianapolis] can be applied to what we find globally,” he says.
Conner took one of Ryan’s first classes his junior year. “We clicked and decided to set up the turtle project,” he says.
Conner is currently a student at the University of Missouri. He is an example of how the work Ryan’s students do is equivalent to that required to complete a master’s degree. “I came straight from my bachelor’s degree to my master’s degree,” he says.
This is exactly what Ryan was hoping for when he chose Butler to be his home. He wanted to set up a program that would involve undergraduates in research. He wanted them to have some experience before jumping into a specific concentration. “It’s like graduate school with training wheels,” he says.
For more information on Ryan’s studies, check out www.butler.edu/uterp/home.htm. Look for this year’s crop of traps to be planted in early spring.