Modern Toolbox to address a decades-old problem in the conservation of freshwater turtles: Blanding's Turtles as a case study.

Abstract

Research into freshwater turtles can be challenging because of their physiology, behavioural processes, and interaction with their environments. Traditional monitoring and survey methods such as radio telemetry and visual encounter surveys have many limitations and have experienced few advancements in the past decades. Limitations such as limited behavioural inference, high labour costs and long periods between tracking require the use of a new toolkit to explore novel questions in turtle ecology. Here we briefly summarize the emerging innovated technology including multi-sensor bio-loggers, eDNA, and pattern recognition software and then review questions related to turtle ecology and behaviours that can be addressed using these new tools. Our goals are to highlight the emerging methods for Blanding’s turtle conservation and encourage researchers to incorporate this new toolkit into their research programs.