{"id":{"repo_id":"sdstate","oai_identifier":"oai:openprairie.sdstate.edu:etd-1120"},"canonical_url":"https://search.dev.ndltd.org/etd/sdstate/oai:openprairie.sdstate.edu:etd-1120","repository":{"repo_id":"sdstate","name":"South Dakota State University","base_url":"https://openprairie.sdstate.edu/do/oai/"},"display":{"title":"Snapping Turtle Life History on Lacreek Refuge, South Dakota","abstract":"Investigations of the snapping turtle population on Lacreek National Wildlife Refuge in south-central South Dakota were conducted during 1965-67. Turtles captured by trapping, “hooking”, boxing nests and catching nesting females were measured, marked and released. Turtles were marked by toe-clipping, routing, flagging, and tagging. Attaching a metal tag with a “pop-rivet gun” was the most successful marking technique. Molluscs (95 percent frequency) and vegetation (91 percent frequency) were the most important food items of 22 turtles captured on Valentine Refuge in north-central Nebraska. Bird remains were found in 23 percent of the stomachs. Recapture of marked turtles indicated that individual movement was not extensive and occurred primarily within a single water management unit. Mean distance moved per year was 0.57 miles and mean distance per day within the same year was 0.07 miles. Procedures for obtaining an index of turtle population size and annual changes based on counting nesting females by driving selected refuge dikes were considered reliable. Capture – recapture methods yielded a population estimate of 2415 adult turtles on Lacreek Refuge in 1967. Fifty-nine percent of turtle nests were destroyed by predators and hatchling emergence success was less than 20 percent in undisturbed nests. Predation upon hatchlings greatly reduced each year class the first three years of life. Reproduction within the refuge contributed little to maintenance or growth of the population during this study. Immigration of adults from downstream and immature from upstream was considered an important factor in population growth. Studies of annuli in bony structures indicated that these may be useful as an aging technique. Measurements of recapture adults and captive turtles, as well as evaluations of shield and long bone annuli suggested growth follows a sigmoid curve.","abstract_html":"Investigations of the snapping turtle population on Lacreek National Wildlife Refuge in south-central South Dakota were conducted during 1965-67. Turtles captured by trapping, “hooking”, boxing nests and catching nesting females were measured, marked and released. Turtles were marked by toe-clipping, routing, flagging, and tagging. Attaching a metal tag with a “pop-rivet gun” was the most successful marking technique. Molluscs (95 percent frequency) and vegetation (91 percent frequency) were the most important food items of 22 turtles captured on Valentine Refuge in north-central Nebraska. Bird remains were found in 23 percent of the stomachs. Recapture of marked turtles indicated that individual movement was not extensive and occurred primarily within a single water management unit. Mean distance moved per year was 0.57 miles and mean distance per day within the same year was 0.07 miles. Procedures for obtaining an index of turtle population size and annual changes based on counting nesting females by driving selected refuge dikes were considered reliable. Capture – recapture methods yielded a population estimate of 2415 adult turtles on Lacreek Refuge in 1967. Fifty-nine percent of turtle nests were destroyed by predators and hatchling emergence success was less than 20 percent in undisturbed nests. Predation upon hatchlings greatly reduced each year class the first three years of life. Reproduction within the refuge contributed little to maintenance or growth of the population during this study. Immigration of adults from downstream and immature from upstream was considered an important factor in population growth. Studies of annuli in bony structures indicated that these may be useful as an aging technique. Measurements of recapture adults and captive turtles, as well as evaluations of shield and long bone annuli suggested growth follows a sigmoid curve.","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Hammer, Donald Arthur"],"institution":null,"degree_name":"Master of Science (MS)","degree_level":"Thesis - Open Access","degree_discipline":"Wildlife and Fisheries Science","degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":[],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":1968,"date_issued":"1968-01-01T08:00:00Z","date_published":"1968-01-01T08:00:00Z","updated_at":"2026-07-24T04:27:36Z","subjects":["Natural Resources and Conservation"],"languages":["en"],"rights":["<p>No Copyright - Non-Commercial Use Only<br /><a href=\"http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC-EDU/1.0/\">http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/NoC-NC/1.0/</a></p>"],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://openprairie.sdstate.edu/etd/120","outbound_label":"Repository record","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Hammer, Donald Arthur"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["Wildlife and Fisheries Science"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["Thesis - Open Access"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["Master of Science (MS)"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["Natural Resources and Conservation"]}]},{"id":"language_rights","label":"Language and Rights","entries":[{"key":"dc:language","label":"Dc Language","values":["en"]},{"key":"dc:rights","label":"Dc Rights","values":["<p>No Copyright - Non-Commercial Use Only<br /><a href=\"http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC-EDU/1.0/\">http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/NoC-NC/1.0/</a></p>"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["https://openprairie.sdstate.edu/etd/120"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["Investigations of the snapping turtle population on Lacreek National Wildlife Refuge in south-central South Dakota were conducted during 1965-67. Turtles captured by trapping, “hooking”, boxing nests and catching nesting females were measured, marked and released. Turtles were marked by toe-clipping, routing, flagging, and tagging. Attaching a metal tag with a “pop-rivet gun” was the most successful marking technique. Molluscs (95 percent frequency) and vegetation (91 percent frequency) were the most important food items of 22 turtles captured on Valentine Refuge in north-central Nebraska. Bird remains were found in 23 percent of the stomachs. Recapture of marked turtles indicated that individual movement was not extensive and occurred primarily within a single water management unit. Mean distance moved per year was 0.57 miles and mean distance per day within the same year was 0.07 miles. Procedures for obtaining an index of turtle population size and annual changes based on counting nesting females by driving selected refuge dikes were considered reliable. Capture – recapture methods yielded a population estimate of 2415 adult turtles on Lacreek Refuge in 1967. Fifty-nine percent of turtle nests were destroyed by predators and hatchling emergence success was less than 20 percent in undisturbed nests. Predation upon hatchlings greatly reduced each year class the first three years of life. Reproduction within the refuge contributed little to maintenance or growth of the population during this study. Immigration of adults from downstream and immature from upstream was considered an important factor in population growth. Studies of annuli in bony structures indicated that these may be useful as an aging technique. Measurements of recapture adults and captive turtles, as well as evaluations of shield and long bone annuli suggested growth follows a sigmoid curve."]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["Snapping Turtle Life History on Lacreek Refuge, South Dakota"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:creator":["Hammer, Donald Arthur"],"dc:description.abstract":["Investigations of the snapping turtle population on Lacreek National Wildlife Refuge in south-central South Dakota were conducted during 1965-67. Turtles captured by trapping, “hooking”, boxing nests and catching nesting females were measured, marked and released. Turtles were marked by toe-clipping, routing, flagging, and tagging. Attaching a metal tag with a “pop-rivet gun” was the most successful marking technique. Molluscs (95 percent frequency) and vegetation (91 percent frequency) were the most important food items of 22 turtles captured on Valentine Refuge in north-central Nebraska. Bird remains were found in 23 percent of the stomachs. Recapture of marked turtles indicated that individual movement was not extensive and occurred primarily within a single water management unit. Mean distance moved per year was 0.57 miles and mean distance per day within the same year was 0.07 miles. Procedures for obtaining an index of turtle population size and annual changes based on counting nesting females by driving selected refuge dikes were considered reliable. Capture – recapture methods yielded a population estimate of 2415 adult turtles on Lacreek Refuge in 1967. Fifty-nine percent of turtle nests were destroyed by predators and hatchling emergence success was less than 20 percent in undisturbed nests. Predation upon hatchlings greatly reduced each year class the first three years of life. Reproduction within the refuge contributed little to maintenance or growth of the population during this study. Immigration of adults from downstream and immature from upstream was considered an important factor in population growth. Studies of annuli in bony structures indicated that these may be useful as an aging technique. Measurements of recapture adults and captive turtles, as well as evaluations of shield and long bone annuli suggested growth follows a sigmoid curve."],"dc:identifier":["https://openprairie.sdstate.edu/etd/120"],"dc:language":["en"],"dc:rights":["<p>No Copyright - Non-Commercial Use Only<br /><a href=\"http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC-EDU/1.0/\">http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/NoC-NC/1.0/</a></p>"],"dc:subject":["Natural Resources and Conservation"],"dc:title":["Snapping Turtle Life History on Lacreek Refuge, South Dakota"],"thesis:degree_discipline":["Wildlife and Fisheries Science"],"thesis:degree_level":["Thesis - Open Access"],"thesis:degree_name":["Master of Science (MS)"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-24T04:27:36Z"}