Steve Fermier and Associated Press
A Maryland man has pleaded guilty in a turtle trafficking case in New York. The U.S. Attorney's Office in Buffalo says 57-year-old Michael Johnson of Chestertown, Md., ran a turtle meat processing facility in Millington, Md., in 2007 and 2008, at times buying common snapping turtles for their meat from individuals in various states.
Prosecutors say he twice purchased turtles from undercover conservation officers in New York state, where the turtles are a protected species. Johnson faces up to a year in jail after pleading guilty Tuesday to attempted trafficking in prohibited wildlife.
Besides pleading guilty, prosecutors say Johnson has donated $7,500 to the Buffalo Zoo, $5,000 to the Tifft Nature Preserve in Buffalo and $7,500 to Teatown Lake Reservation in Westchester County, all for turtle research and education.
Showing posts with label common snapping turtle. Show all posts
Showing posts with label common snapping turtle. Show all posts
Friday, February 10, 2012
Friday, February 4, 2011
Turtle Size Linked To Habitat (Via HerpDigest)
Turtle Size Linked To Habitat- Biologists from the UCLA Division of Life Sciences have reported the first quantitative evidence for an evolutionary link between habitat and body size in turtles and tortoises.
RedOrbit 2/2/11---Biologists from the UCLA Division of Life Sciences have reported the first quantitative evidence for an evolutionary link between habitat and body size in turtles and tortoises.
The study, whose lead author is a high school student volunteer in the laboratory of UCLA evolutionary biologist Michael Alfaro, is currently available online in Biology Letters, a journal of the Royal Society. It will appear in a print edition later this year.
Turtles and tortoises, also called chelonians, represent a diverse group of reptiles that have been present on Earth for more than 200 million years. The 330 species of present-day chelonians can be found dwelling on remote islands, traveling across vast expanses of ocean, and living in desert and freshwater habitats on every major continent.
Even more surprising than the wide variety of places animals call home is the vast disparity in their body sizes. The largest chelonians weigh over 1,000 pounds and are more than 6 feet in length, while the smallest weigh just a few ounces and would easily fit in the palm of your hand.
Combining statistical computer modeling with genetic data and the fossil record, Alfaro, an associate professor of ecology and evolutionary biology, and his colleagues demonstrated that different environments have specific optimal body sizes for their chelonian inhabitants.
These researchers act as "evolutionary detectives," piecing together how the tremendous diversity in living chelonians today evolved from a common ancestor that lived millions of years ago. DNA sequences from modern chelonians provide important clues for determining the evolutionary path followed by their progenitors, said co-author Graham Slater, a National Science Foundation-funded UCLA postdoctoral scholar in ecology and evolutionary biology.
The results show a surprisingly strong statistical correlation between habitat change and significant adjustments in body size. Chelonians living in marine or island habitats have an optimal body size several times larger than their cousins on the mainland, said first author Alexander Jaffe, a high school student at Harvard-Westlake School in North Hollywood, Calif
. Marine turtles have the largest optimal shell length (about 4.5 feet), followed by island tortoises (approximately 2.5 feet), while freshwater and mainland chelonians are several times smaller (roughly 1 foot).
Evolutionary biologist have long assumed there is a connection between habitat and body size in chelonians, but it was not possible until recently to show quantitative evidence for the relationship, Alfaro said.
Chelonians have had a special place in the history of evolutionary biology due to the attention given them in the writings of Charles Darwin, Alfaro said.
Giant island tortoises found in the Galapagos and Seychelles provide a classic example of "island gigantism," a well-observed phenomenon in which an island-dwelling species evolves to be much larger than its mainland counterparts. Because they provide uniquely isolated habitats, islands are regarded as natural experiments in evolutionary biology, according to Alfaro.
"Our study was focused on testing whether there was any evolutionary signal in support of the idea that being on islands allowed the tortoises to evolve large size," he said.
While it is clear that habitat is an important signal in the chelonian evolutionary tree, the specific ecological conditions that trigger the change in body size are more difficult to determine, Alfaro said.
One of the oldest groups of reptiles, marine chelonians such as early sea turtles might have fallen prey to giant seafaring Mesozoic reptiles, a situation which would make larger size a distinct advantage, Jaffe said. Larger size also plays a key role in maintaining body temperature and allowing for migration across considerable distances.
In the case of the giant tortoises, a larger body size gives them the ability to survive long periods without food, which may be necessary due to prolonged droughts that can occur in island habitats. Large body size also may allow giant tortoises to "raft" across vast expanses of ocean while going weeks without food, a feat documented through observations of giant tortoises with barnacle growth found on the mainland, Alfaro said.
"What is exceptional about chelonians is that they are one of the most distinctive groups of vertebrates, arose early in the history of terrestrial vertebrates, and persisted for a long time," Alfaro said. "Chelonians are good examples of evolutionary survivors."
The main goals of Alfaro's research group include studying the evolution of vertebrates and their subsequent diversity in shape, size and structure. This involves developing methods to identify time periods and locations on the tree of vertebrate life in which unusual amounts of species diversification have occurred, Alfaro said.
An 'incredible opportunity'
Jaffe, a senior at Harvard-Westlake School, started volunteering in Alfaro's laboratory when he was 16, after e-mailing Alfaro about his interest in conducting research. Jaffe spent almost 30 hours a week in the lab for two full summers and was able to turn his results into a first-authored paper - a feat rarely accomplished by high school students.
"Being part of this research group has been an incredible opportunity for me," Jaffe said. "I can't say how grateful I am. Not only did I learn the tools of the trade, especially in the lab, but also what it is like to start off with an abstract question and address it through data collection and interpretation."
Jaffe hopes to study biological sciences and pursue further research in college.
"Alexander was ready to take intellectual ownership of a project," Alfaro said. "In addition to being a very conscientious young scientist, Alexander really showed an interest in the questions that we are asking and in getting the data to answer those questions."
This research was federally funded by the National Science Foundation.
For more on Alfaro's research, visit his website at http://pandorasboxfish.squarespace.com.
RedOrbit 2/2/11---Biologists from the UCLA Division of Life Sciences have reported the first quantitative evidence for an evolutionary link between habitat and body size in turtles and tortoises.
The study, whose lead author is a high school student volunteer in the laboratory of UCLA evolutionary biologist Michael Alfaro, is currently available online in Biology Letters, a journal of the Royal Society. It will appear in a print edition later this year.
Turtles and tortoises, also called chelonians, represent a diverse group of reptiles that have been present on Earth for more than 200 million years. The 330 species of present-day chelonians can be found dwelling on remote islands, traveling across vast expanses of ocean, and living in desert and freshwater habitats on every major continent.
Even more surprising than the wide variety of places animals call home is the vast disparity in their body sizes. The largest chelonians weigh over 1,000 pounds and are more than 6 feet in length, while the smallest weigh just a few ounces and would easily fit in the palm of your hand.
Combining statistical computer modeling with genetic data and the fossil record, Alfaro, an associate professor of ecology and evolutionary biology, and his colleagues demonstrated that different environments have specific optimal body sizes for their chelonian inhabitants.
These researchers act as "evolutionary detectives," piecing together how the tremendous diversity in living chelonians today evolved from a common ancestor that lived millions of years ago. DNA sequences from modern chelonians provide important clues for determining the evolutionary path followed by their progenitors, said co-author Graham Slater, a National Science Foundation-funded UCLA postdoctoral scholar in ecology and evolutionary biology.
The results show a surprisingly strong statistical correlation between habitat change and significant adjustments in body size. Chelonians living in marine or island habitats have an optimal body size several times larger than their cousins on the mainland, said first author Alexander Jaffe, a high school student at Harvard-Westlake School in North Hollywood, Calif
. Marine turtles have the largest optimal shell length (about 4.5 feet), followed by island tortoises (approximately 2.5 feet), while freshwater and mainland chelonians are several times smaller (roughly 1 foot).
Evolutionary biologist have long assumed there is a connection between habitat and body size in chelonians, but it was not possible until recently to show quantitative evidence for the relationship, Alfaro said.
Chelonians have had a special place in the history of evolutionary biology due to the attention given them in the writings of Charles Darwin, Alfaro said.
Giant island tortoises found in the Galapagos and Seychelles provide a classic example of "island gigantism," a well-observed phenomenon in which an island-dwelling species evolves to be much larger than its mainland counterparts. Because they provide uniquely isolated habitats, islands are regarded as natural experiments in evolutionary biology, according to Alfaro.
"Our study was focused on testing whether there was any evolutionary signal in support of the idea that being on islands allowed the tortoises to evolve large size," he said.
While it is clear that habitat is an important signal in the chelonian evolutionary tree, the specific ecological conditions that trigger the change in body size are more difficult to determine, Alfaro said.
One of the oldest groups of reptiles, marine chelonians such as early sea turtles might have fallen prey to giant seafaring Mesozoic reptiles, a situation which would make larger size a distinct advantage, Jaffe said. Larger size also plays a key role in maintaining body temperature and allowing for migration across considerable distances.
In the case of the giant tortoises, a larger body size gives them the ability to survive long periods without food, which may be necessary due to prolonged droughts that can occur in island habitats. Large body size also may allow giant tortoises to "raft" across vast expanses of ocean while going weeks without food, a feat documented through observations of giant tortoises with barnacle growth found on the mainland, Alfaro said.
"What is exceptional about chelonians is that they are one of the most distinctive groups of vertebrates, arose early in the history of terrestrial vertebrates, and persisted for a long time," Alfaro said. "Chelonians are good examples of evolutionary survivors."
The main goals of Alfaro's research group include studying the evolution of vertebrates and their subsequent diversity in shape, size and structure. This involves developing methods to identify time periods and locations on the tree of vertebrate life in which unusual amounts of species diversification have occurred, Alfaro said.
An 'incredible opportunity'
Jaffe, a senior at Harvard-Westlake School, started volunteering in Alfaro's laboratory when he was 16, after e-mailing Alfaro about his interest in conducting research. Jaffe spent almost 30 hours a week in the lab for two full summers and was able to turn his results into a first-authored paper - a feat rarely accomplished by high school students.
"Being part of this research group has been an incredible opportunity for me," Jaffe said. "I can't say how grateful I am. Not only did I learn the tools of the trade, especially in the lab, but also what it is like to start off with an abstract question and address it through data collection and interpretation."
Jaffe hopes to study biological sciences and pursue further research in college.
"Alexander was ready to take intellectual ownership of a project," Alfaro said. "In addition to being a very conscientious young scientist, Alexander really showed an interest in the questions that we are asking and in getting the data to answer those questions."
This research was federally funded by the National Science Foundation.
For more on Alfaro's research, visit his website at http://pandorasboxfish.squarespace.com.
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
The Turtle Gatherer of the Bronx (Via HerpDigest)
The Turtle Gatherer of the Bronx
by Vincent M.Mallozi
June 30, 2010, City Room Blog of NYTimes
One of Erik Zeidler's subjects. Mr. Zeidler, who just graduated from the Bronx High School of Science, won a young naturalist award for his survey of the snapping turtle population in the Bronx.
Erik Zeidler arrived at the New York Botanical Garden on a recent Friday afternoon, carrying in his backpack a notebook, a hanging scale and a tiny saw.
Mr. Zeidler, 18, who just graduated from the Bronx High School of Science, made his way down a grassy embankment along a stretch of the Bronx River just north of Fordham Road and began pulling several large, cylindrical nets filled with snapping turtles from the shallow water.
"I punched a hole in peanut butter jars, filled them with carp and put the jars in the nets as bait," said Mr. Zeidler, who had left the nets out the night before. "I trapped a dozen turtles, which is an average day's catch."
Mr. Zeidler, who has been studying snapping turtle populations at five locations in the Bronx during the past year as part of a school project, picked up one of them and examined it briefly before dropping it in his backpack. He attached the scale to the backpack, and scribbled "32 pounds" into his notebook. He pulled out the turtle and used his saw to notch a small number on its shell.
"This is to help me keep track and recognize individual species of turtles," he said. "This particular turtle has a bent tail. It could be the result of a bite or some genetic deformity."
Last summer, while most of his friends were lying on beaches, going to Yankee games or tooling around in their first cars, Mr. Zeidler spent his days kayaking on the Bronx River, or on the lake at Van Cortlandt Park, aboard an inflatable raft in search of his slow-moving subjects. He also spent time sifting through shallow ponds in Pelham Bay Park to conduct research for an essay he wrote, titled "Investigating the Ecology of Chelydra S. Serpentina, the Common Snapping Turtle, in a Highly Urban Setting."
"I want to be a herpetologist," he said, referring to the branch of zoology regarding the study of reptiles and amphibians. "I don't have many friends into this kind of stuff, and some of them think I'm strange, but I have a girlfriend and I used to wrestle in high school and I love hanging out and playing sports; it's just that I enjoy being around reptiles."
In June, Mr. Zeidler was one of 13 aspiring scientists from around the country chosen by the American Museum of Natural History as a winner of its Young Naturalist Award, given to those students who submitted the best detailed and analyzed scientific investigations.
"We received over 850 essays," said Rosamond Kinzler, the executive director of the National Center for Science Literacy, Education and Technology, which helped judge the contest. "Several elements of Erik's work really stood out, including the amount of effort and time he put into his essay and the fact that he used techniques on par with scientific surveys."
According to Mr. Zeidler's mother, Eileen Zeidler, her son had charted a course for a different kind of academic voyage long before he boarded his inflatable raft.
"When he was just 1½, I was strolling him along a fishing dock in Florida when he leaned out of the carriage, reached into a bucket full of live bait and pulled out a mullet," Ms. Zeidler remembered. "He held it in his hands and just kept staring at it."
When he was 4, she asked him if he wanted a dog.
"No," he responded. "I'd rather have a turtle."
By first grade, his favorite dinosaurs looked more like Godzilla than Barney. That year, he chose as a science project to write an essay titled "Why Does a Lizard Shed Its Skin?
He was rewarded with a lizard of his own. His parents bought him a bearded dragon he named Spotty.
"By the time he was in middle school," Ms. Zeidler said, "he had a complete fascination with reptiles."
In September, Mr. Zeidler will attend the University of Kansas, where he will study ecology in evolutionary biology. He said he wants to work "at a zoo or a science lab or anywhere else I can be around reptiles.''
While he is away, his mother will have to care for Spotty and Chomper, the turtle she gave him when he was 4, as well as three other turtles, two other lizards and four snakes.
"I'm going to miss those guys," Mr. Zeidler said, "and I know they're going to miss me."
by Vincent M.Mallozi
June 30, 2010, City Room Blog of NYTimes
One of Erik Zeidler's subjects. Mr. Zeidler, who just graduated from the Bronx High School of Science, won a young naturalist award for his survey of the snapping turtle population in the Bronx.
Erik Zeidler arrived at the New York Botanical Garden on a recent Friday afternoon, carrying in his backpack a notebook, a hanging scale and a tiny saw.
Mr. Zeidler, 18, who just graduated from the Bronx High School of Science, made his way down a grassy embankment along a stretch of the Bronx River just north of Fordham Road and began pulling several large, cylindrical nets filled with snapping turtles from the shallow water.
"I punched a hole in peanut butter jars, filled them with carp and put the jars in the nets as bait," said Mr. Zeidler, who had left the nets out the night before. "I trapped a dozen turtles, which is an average day's catch."
Mr. Zeidler, who has been studying snapping turtle populations at five locations in the Bronx during the past year as part of a school project, picked up one of them and examined it briefly before dropping it in his backpack. He attached the scale to the backpack, and scribbled "32 pounds" into his notebook. He pulled out the turtle and used his saw to notch a small number on its shell.
"This is to help me keep track and recognize individual species of turtles," he said. "This particular turtle has a bent tail. It could be the result of a bite or some genetic deformity."
Last summer, while most of his friends were lying on beaches, going to Yankee games or tooling around in their first cars, Mr. Zeidler spent his days kayaking on the Bronx River, or on the lake at Van Cortlandt Park, aboard an inflatable raft in search of his slow-moving subjects. He also spent time sifting through shallow ponds in Pelham Bay Park to conduct research for an essay he wrote, titled "Investigating the Ecology of Chelydra S. Serpentina, the Common Snapping Turtle, in a Highly Urban Setting."
"I want to be a herpetologist," he said, referring to the branch of zoology regarding the study of reptiles and amphibians. "I don't have many friends into this kind of stuff, and some of them think I'm strange, but I have a girlfriend and I used to wrestle in high school and I love hanging out and playing sports; it's just that I enjoy being around reptiles."
In June, Mr. Zeidler was one of 13 aspiring scientists from around the country chosen by the American Museum of Natural History as a winner of its Young Naturalist Award, given to those students who submitted the best detailed and analyzed scientific investigations.
"We received over 850 essays," said Rosamond Kinzler, the executive director of the National Center for Science Literacy, Education and Technology, which helped judge the contest. "Several elements of Erik's work really stood out, including the amount of effort and time he put into his essay and the fact that he used techniques on par with scientific surveys."
According to Mr. Zeidler's mother, Eileen Zeidler, her son had charted a course for a different kind of academic voyage long before he boarded his inflatable raft.
"When he was just 1½, I was strolling him along a fishing dock in Florida when he leaned out of the carriage, reached into a bucket full of live bait and pulled out a mullet," Ms. Zeidler remembered. "He held it in his hands and just kept staring at it."
When he was 4, she asked him if he wanted a dog.
"No," he responded. "I'd rather have a turtle."
By first grade, his favorite dinosaurs looked more like Godzilla than Barney. That year, he chose as a science project to write an essay titled "Why Does a Lizard Shed Its Skin?
He was rewarded with a lizard of his own. His parents bought him a bearded dragon he named Spotty.
"By the time he was in middle school," Ms. Zeidler said, "he had a complete fascination with reptiles."
In September, Mr. Zeidler will attend the University of Kansas, where he will study ecology in evolutionary biology. He said he wants to work "at a zoo or a science lab or anywhere else I can be around reptiles.''
While he is away, his mother will have to care for Spotty and Chomper, the turtle she gave him when he was 4, as well as three other turtles, two other lizards and four snakes.
"I'm going to miss those guys," Mr. Zeidler said, "and I know they're going to miss me."
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