About the Clemson Turtle Team:
Who are we?
Hannah Meredith is a master's student in Wildlife and Fisheries Biology at Clemson University. She is studying eastern box turtle behavior and conservation outreach.
Her advisor, Dr. Kyle Barrett, is interested in the effects of urban development and climate change on wildlife, especially reptiles and amphibians.
Several undergraduate students participate in this project every semester through Clemson's Creative Inquiry program.
What do we do?
Since box turtles frequently occupy residential and recreational areas, we aim to use outreach to collect important data, educate locals, and build a community that is enthusiastic about turtle conservation.
What do we study?
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Box turtle behavior and personality
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Impacts of urban development on box turtles
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Public engagement with box turtles and research
How do we collect data?
We use radio telemetry to tag and locate turtles, so we don't have to remove them from their homes. Then, we can use short, simple trials to observe turtle boldness in response to human handling and exploration of new environments. We want to know if turtles in developed areas have different personality traits than turtles in the forest.
Click here to see how we respectfully handle our study animals.
How can you help?
If you see a box turtle in Clemson, use our website to report it ASAP. Follow our social media profiles to learn about more ways to help. Also, be respectful of your local box turtles!
Scan the turtle
My name is Alexa Young
Our community science project
Some of our study turtles have QR codes on their shells.
If you spot one, scan the QR code to tell us where you found the turtle and what it was doing!
Meet some of the turtles
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Marley
Clemson Neighborhood
Shelly
Clemson Forest
Uno
Nettles Park
Bear
Clemson Forest
Safe handling methods
My name is Alexa Young
We use radio telemetry to locate our test subjects, so that we do not ever need to remove them from their habitats for testing. We attach a small transmitter with waterproof epoxy putty, which can then be pried off without damaging the shell. The transmitter is carefully placed within one scute (shell plate) to avoid crossing growth lines and interfering with growth. We angle it backwards to prevent interference with burrowing or mating.
We also attach small aluminum QR codes to some turtles with the same type of epoxy. They are used to collect data from local community members who might encounter the turtle. They are small enough to avoid crossing growth lines or interfere with the turtle's daily life. We are continuing to monitor the status of these turtles and their QR codes, as this is a unique and novel method for turtle data collection.
All attached materials add up to less that 5% of the animal's body mass. This research has been approved by Clemson University Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC).
