{"id":{"repo_id":"uiuc","oai_identifier":"oai:www.ideals.illinois.edu:2142/107873"},"canonical_url":"https://search.dev.ndltd.org/etd/uiuc/oai:www.ideals.illinois.edu:2142/107873","repository":{"repo_id":"uiuc","name":"University of Illinois - Urbana-Champaign","base_url":"https://www.ideals.illinois.edu/oai-pmh"},"display":{"title":"Ornate box turtle (Terrapene ornata) demography in northern Illinois","abstract":"Demographic studies of wildlife populations are needed to guide management decisions for threatened species. Without data on population vital rates, decisions are often speculative and based on general information about a species rather than at the population level. The Ornate Box Turtle (Terrapene ornata) is a threatened species in Illinois and lacks essential demographic data. Over the last two centuries, nearly all Illinois prairie has been converted to agriculture, and consequently, Ornate Box Turtles are now confined to small isolated habitat fragments. Despite their threatened status and patchy Illinois distribution, we understand little about the demography of remaining populations. I collected population vital rates and projected persistence for two Ornate Box Turtle populations in northern Illinois. I estimated reproductive output by radiographing female turtles, and of the 70 females radiographed, 28 had visible eggs. Clutch size ranged from 1 to 6 eggs, with a mean of 2.53 at Ayers Sand Prairie and 4.20 at Nachusa Grasslands. To estimate annual survival, I conducted capture-mark-recapture surveys. Annual apparent survival was 0.970 at Ayers Sand Prairie and 0.860 at Nachusa Grasslands. Matrix population models showed the Ayers Sand Prairie population as stable, whereas the Nachusa Grasslands population was in decline. Population growth was most sensitive to adult survival. My results highlight the importance of long-term demographic studies for threatened species and show protecting adult female Ornate Box Turtles is critical for ensuring populations continue to persist in Illinois.","abstract_html":"Demographic studies of wildlife populations are needed to guide management decisions for threatened species. Without data on population vital rates, decisions are often speculative and based on general information about a species rather than at the population level. The Ornate Box Turtle (Terrapene ornata) is a threatened species in Illinois and lacks essential demographic data. Over the last two centuries, nearly all Illinois prairie has been converted to agriculture, and consequently, Ornate Box Turtles are now confined to small isolated habitat fragments. Despite their threatened status and patchy Illinois distribution, we understand little about the demography of remaining populations. I collected population vital rates and projected persistence for two Ornate Box Turtle populations in northern Illinois. I estimated reproductive output by radiographing female turtles, and of the 70 females radiographed, 28 had visible eggs. Clutch size ranged from 1 to 6 eggs, with a mean of 2.53 at Ayers Sand Prairie and 4.20 at Nachusa Grasslands. To estimate annual survival, I conducted capture-mark-recapture surveys. Annual apparent survival was 0.970 at Ayers Sand Prairie and 0.860 at Nachusa Grasslands. Matrix population models showed the Ayers Sand Prairie population as stable, whereas the Nachusa Grasslands population was in decline. Population growth was most sensitive to adult survival. My results highlight the importance of long-term demographic studies for threatened species and show protecting adult female Ornate Box Turtles is critical for ensuring populations continue to persist in Illinois.","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Edmonds, Devin"],"institution":"University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign","degree_name":"M.S.","degree_level":"Thesis","degree_discipline":"Natural Res & Env Sciences","degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":["Dreslik, Michael J","Suski, Cory","Phillips, Christopher"],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2020,"date_issued":"2020-08-26T21:54:16Z","date_published":"2020-08-26T21:54:16Z","updated_at":"2026-07-22T22:24:47Z","subjects":["conservation","chelonian","Emydidae","fecundity","matrix population model","reptile","sensitivity analysis","threatened species"],"languages":["en"],"rights":["Copyright 2020 Devin Edmonds"],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"http://hdl.handle.net/2142/107873","outbound_label":"Handle","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor","label":"Contributor","values":["Dreslik, Michael J","Suski, Cory","Phillips, Christopher"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Edmonds, Devin"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date","label":"Dc Date","values":["2020-08-26T21:54:16Z","2020-04-14","2020-05"]},{"key":"dc:type","label":"Dc Type","values":["text","Thesis"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["Natural Res & Env Sciences"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["Thesis"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["M.S."]},{"key":"thesis:institution_name","label":"Thesis Institution Name","values":["University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["conservation","chelonian","Emydidae","fecundity","matrix population model","reptile","sensitivity analysis","threatened species"]}]},{"id":"language_rights","label":"Language and Rights","entries":[{"key":"dc:language","label":"Dc Language","values":["en"]},{"key":"dc:rights","label":"Dc Rights","values":["Copyright 2020 Devin Edmonds"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["http://hdl.handle.net/2142/107873"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description","label":"Description","values":["Demographic studies of wildlife populations are needed to guide management decisions for threatened species. Without data on population vital rates, decisions are often speculative and based on general information about a species rather than at the population level. The Ornate Box Turtle (Terrapene ornata) is a threatened species in Illinois and lacks essential demographic data. Over the last two centuries, nearly all Illinois prairie has been converted to agriculture, and consequently, Ornate Box Turtles are now confined to small isolated habitat fragments. Despite their threatened status and patchy Illinois distribution, we understand little about the demography of remaining populations. I collected population vital rates and projected persistence for two Ornate Box Turtle populations in northern Illinois. I estimated reproductive output by radiographing female turtles, and of the 70 females radiographed, 28 had visible eggs. Clutch size ranged from 1 to 6 eggs, with a mean of 2.53 at Ayers Sand Prairie and 4.20 at Nachusa Grasslands. To estimate annual survival, I conducted capture-mark-recapture surveys. Annual apparent survival was 0.970 at Ayers Sand Prairie and 0.860 at Nachusa Grasslands. Matrix population models showed the Ayers Sand Prairie population as stable, whereas the Nachusa Grasslands population was in decline. Population growth was most sensitive to adult survival. My results highlight the importance of long-term demographic studies for threatened species and show protecting adult female Ornate Box Turtles is critical for ensuring populations continue to persist in Illinois.","Submission original under an indefinite embargo labeled 'Open Access'. The submission was exported from vireo on 2020-08-25 without embargo terms","The student, Devin Edmonds, accepted the attached license on 2020-04-09 at 10:29.","The student, Devin Edmonds, submitted this Thesis for approval on 2020-04-09 at 10:41.","This Thesis was approved for publication on 2020-04-14 at 11:37.","DSpace SAF Submission Ingestion Package generated from Vireo submission #14948 on 2020-08-25 at 17:06:40","Made available in DSpace on 2020-08-26T21:54:16Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 3 EDMONDS-THESIS-2020.pdf: 1764419 bytes, checksum: d36678769bd9418aac4331a07e358536 (MD5) Edmonds_Ornate_Box_Turtle_Demography_MSc_Thesis.docx: 2662866 bytes, checksum: ab5637567959c7c7fc9977a59c3cd671 (MD5) LICENSE.txt: 4210 bytes, checksum: f4095c80d4ba247372023aa565854f14 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2020-04-14"]},{"key":"dc:format","label":"Dc Format","values":["application/pdf"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["Ornate box turtle (Terrapene ornata) demography in northern Illinois"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor":["Dreslik, Michael J","Suski, Cory","Phillips, Christopher"],"dc:creator":["Edmonds, Devin"],"dc:date":["2020-08-26T21:54:16Z","2020-04-14","2020-05"],"dc:description":["Demographic studies of wildlife populations are needed to guide management decisions for threatened species. Without data on population vital rates, decisions are often speculative and based on general information about a species rather than at the population level. The Ornate Box Turtle (Terrapene ornata) is a threatened species in Illinois and lacks essential demographic data. Over the last two centuries, nearly all Illinois prairie has been converted to agriculture, and consequently, Ornate Box Turtles are now confined to small isolated habitat fragments. Despite their threatened status and patchy Illinois distribution, we understand little about the demography of remaining populations. I collected population vital rates and projected persistence for two Ornate Box Turtle populations in northern Illinois. I estimated reproductive output by radiographing female turtles, and of the 70 females radiographed, 28 had visible eggs. Clutch size ranged from 1 to 6 eggs, with a mean of 2.53 at Ayers Sand Prairie and 4.20 at Nachusa Grasslands. To estimate annual survival, I conducted capture-mark-recapture surveys. Annual apparent survival was 0.970 at Ayers Sand Prairie and 0.860 at Nachusa Grasslands. Matrix population models showed the Ayers Sand Prairie population as stable, whereas the Nachusa Grasslands population was in decline. Population growth was most sensitive to adult survival. My results highlight the importance of long-term demographic studies for threatened species and show protecting adult female Ornate Box Turtles is critical for ensuring populations continue to persist in Illinois.","Submission original under an indefinite embargo labeled 'Open Access'. The submission was exported from vireo on 2020-08-25 without embargo terms","The student, Devin Edmonds, accepted the attached license on 2020-04-09 at 10:29.","The student, Devin Edmonds, submitted this Thesis for approval on 2020-04-09 at 10:41.","This Thesis was approved for publication on 2020-04-14 at 11:37.","DSpace SAF Submission Ingestion Package generated from Vireo submission #14948 on 2020-08-25 at 17:06:40","Made available in DSpace on 2020-08-26T21:54:16Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 3 EDMONDS-THESIS-2020.pdf: 1764419 bytes, checksum: d36678769bd9418aac4331a07e358536 (MD5) Edmonds_Ornate_Box_Turtle_Demography_MSc_Thesis.docx: 2662866 bytes, checksum: ab5637567959c7c7fc9977a59c3cd671 (MD5) LICENSE.txt: 4210 bytes, checksum: f4095c80d4ba247372023aa565854f14 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2020-04-14"],"dc:format":["application/pdf"],"dc:identifier":["http://hdl.handle.net/2142/107873"],"dc:language":["en"],"dc:rights":["Copyright 2020 Devin Edmonds"],"dc:subject":["conservation","chelonian","Emydidae","fecundity","matrix population model","reptile","sensitivity analysis","threatened species"],"dc:title":["Ornate box turtle (Terrapene ornata) demography in northern Illinois"],"dc:type":["text","Thesis"],"thesis:degree_discipline":["Natural Res & Env Sciences"],"thesis:degree_level":["Thesis"],"thesis:degree_name":["M.S."],"thesis:institution_name":["University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-22T22:24:47Z"}