Want to go catch turtles?
Come join the Turtle Survival Alliance at Comal Springs on November 7th, 8th, and 9th!
The North American Freshwater Turtle Research Group is the official North American research group for the Turtle Survival Alliance (TSA). This project started in 1999 at a single site in Florida and has grown over the years to include 8 state parks / preserves in Florida, Comal Springs the largest freshwater spring in Texas, Horse Shoe lake in Tennessee a large 40 acre lake, with more sites to come. With sites being planned in Virginia and Pennsylvania. The group’s main focus is longterm population monitoring of freshwater turtle assemblages. Our goal is to study each site for ~25 years to see the changes in turtle populations and communities and to act as an early warning system if negative trends are observed. We capture all turtles observed in our sites by snorkeling or by trap. All turtles are marked with two methods. Standard morphometrics are taken and overall health and damage is noted.
To date we have individually marked ~8500 turtles and captured over 13,000 turtles between all of our sites. The 2015 season marks our 4th year at Comal. In the three years of study we have marked over 2,500 turtles of four species and have found some very interesting things in the process. The NAFTRG is a student / citizen science run volunteer organization. Our goal is to teach young students about population monitoring and the issues with turtle conservation. Anyone who is interested in volunteering with us can email the Principle Investigator Eric Munscher at emunscher@turtlesurvival.org.
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