Ready, Set, Reintroduce!

Originally posted on the San Francisco Bay Area National Parks Science and Learning Blog The Presidio’s Mountain Lake restoration is moving forward this year with several native species reintroductions. The Sierran chorus frog (Pseudacris sierra), is slated to be the first species reintroduced. This species was extirpated from the Presidio Read more

By Wendy St. John, ago

Baby Turtles

These are western pond turtles (Emys marmorata), California’s only native freshwater turtle. They are also tiny and adorable right after they hatch (yes I am a scientist I have data to prove this). 😀 These babies were incubated in their nests (at my field site), and the eggs were collected last week, so they could hatch in the lab. They’ll be raised for either one or two years at one of three local zoos, before being released back into the wild.

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By Wendy St. John, ago

End of Field Season

And … as of a few hours ago, my field season for this year has officially ENDED. I didn’t think I was even going to find any turtles today, but then, at the tail end of my last walkthrough, I found this gorgeous lady, JUST after she finished nesting (which is the absolute best time to find them, for a bunch of different reasons). So, YAY Turtle #261! My last turtle of what might be my last official field season on this project. Isn’t she the prettiest princess EVER?

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By Wendy St. John, ago

Turtles!

TURTLES! We found four of them last night. This one is #248. AND SHE IS THE PRETTIEST PRINCESS IN PRINCESS TOWN! She was really adorable, too. She stuck her head out while we were taking photos.

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By Wendy St. John, ago

Graduate Showcase

My presentation at today’s Graduate Showcase went really well! I’m posting the slides here, in case anyone is interested. It only hits on two of my research questions, and all the stats were removed, as this was geared toward a non-scientific audience. Still, it should give an idea about the focus of my research.

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By Wendy St. John, ago

Biometry Presentation

Giving a short presentation tomorrow in my biometry class on my turtle research. So here, have some slides! It was actually REALLY cool to have a first stab at analyzing my preliminary data, from three field seasons. I still have one more field season before I’ll be finished with this project. But, it was COOL! I’m not yet able to answer my main question: do these turtles exhibit nest site fidelity? But I’m starting to tease apart the various factors that may influence how they decide where to nest. 

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By Wendy St. John, ago

Soon, Very Soon . . .

See this? This is a turtle egg. This is a turtle egg with a hole. Do you know why it has a hole? Because the baby turtle is TRYING TO GET OUT! WHOO HOO! We call this “pipping,” and it means that sometime in the near future – maybe even tonight – THERE WILL BE A BABY TURTLE HATCHED IN MY LAB! 🙂 🙂 🙂

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By Wendy St. John, ago