Range maps for diamondback terrapins – a type of vulnerable turtle species – highlight the entire United States East Coast and Gulf Coast. Until a few years ago, however, the shading hiccupped between Port St. Joe, Florida, and Mobile, Alabama because no verified records of their presence existed. Then researchers and citizen scientists took a closer look.

Captain Underpants, a terrapin found by surveyors in the Florida Panhandle. (Courtesy of Rick O’Connor)

“They were there all along,” said Rick O’Connor, a Florida Sea Grant agent for UF/IFAS Extension Escambia County. “We just had to do a better job of searching for them.”

Earlier this month, O’Connor’s Panhandle Terrapin Project commenced its 20^th season combing the Gulf coast from Wakulla County in Florida to Baldwin County in Alabama in search of terrapins, which are native to marsh environments. Consisting mostly of trained citizen scientist volunteers, the group conducts regular surveys from April to September – terrapin nesting season – to help the U.S. Geological Survey better understand the animals’ habitat and activity.

New funding from the Pensacola and Perdido Bays Estuary Program supports educational materials about terrapin ecology and about laws protecting the animals. There’s new tagging equipment, including radio frequency identification tags and satellite identification tags. Organizers are also exploring the feasibility of acoustic telemetry tags, devices that emit sound and are detected by receivers when an animal approaches.

The project’s goals are to understand the status of terrapins in the Panhandle and to support conservation efforts. Terrapins are considered a keystone species because they are credited with keeping the populations of other animals, including herbivorous invertebrates, in check.

“The decline of terrapins can increase the number of mollusks, which normally feed on the dead grass in the marsh,” O’Connor said. “When there’s an over-abundance of mollusks, they will start attacking the live marsh. So, having terrapins in that ecosystem is very important for keeping the environment in balance.”

But the animals’ survival is threatened by many factors.

Florida Sea Grant agent Rick O’Connor logs terrapin survey data in the Florida Panhandle. (Cat Wofford, UF/IFAS)

Although it’s illegal in Florida and Alabama to possess a diamondback terrapin without a permit, the animals’ compact size and bright, spotted coloring make them attractive to the pet trade. The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, or CITES, has designated terrapins an Appendix II species, meaning they could become threatened with extinction unless trade is closely controlled.

Terrapins are also susceptible to road mortality, boat strikes, predation from raccoons and drowning in crab traps; as of 2023, recreational blue crab traps in Florida waters are required to feature bycatch reduction devices to prevent wayward terrapins from entering them.

A volunteer’s perspective

Since 2005, the Panhandle Terrapin Project has trained more than 270 volunteers. This year, about 125 people attended information sessions in Apalachicola, Baldwin, Bay, Escambia, Okaloosa, Santa Rosa and Walton counties to learn how to measure and tag terrapins and identify their tracks and nests.

Volunteer Mathilda Ravine, co-coordinator for Okaloosa County, attends a training session every year to learn more about the species.

Ravine grew up on Santa Rosa Sound, but she didn’t know terrapins live in her area until she spotted a flyer for the Panhandle Terrapin Project about five years ago.

terrapin survey — Florida Sea Grant agent Rick O’Connor searches for terrapins among the marsh grasses of the Florida Panhandle. (Cat Wofford, UF/IFAS)

Surveys for the project consist of walking a mile in each direction on a designated beach. Ravine searches for signs of activity along the waterline and then along the shaded, vegetated areas where terrapins typically nest.

The project’s tagging efforts revealed some terrapins have ventured as far as 60 miles from tagging sites, Ravine said.

“The literature says they’re supposed to have site fidelity, but as Rick says, ‘turtles don’t read books,’” she said. “So, the tagging efforts are providing the USGS with data it doesn’t necessarily have.”

Although Ravine has seen a terrapin hatchling before, she hopes this season marks her first time spotting one herself.

“Volunteering for this project has been a great opportunity to get outside and learn more about my environment, and I’m so excited our work is shedding new light on terrapins’ behavior and habitats.”

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