Pile o’ Turtles
Turtles, turtles and more turtles! That was my view of a small section of the Chadakoin River last week as over a dozen spiny softshell turtles (Apalone spinifera) lined the exposed concrete and sandbars at the river’s edge. These girls and little boy hauled themselves out of the water and piled themselves onto the concrete debris left in the river from some form of development. While this seems like an unlikely place for these turtles to live, they appear to be well adapted to their urban habitat. We are excited to have the opportunity to begin studying these Muppet-like turtles and...
Read MoreIntern Presentation Tonight
Tonight! The Spiny Softshell Turtle (Apalone spinifera) is a unique species that the Roger Tory Peterson Institute of Natural History and Jamestown Community College students have been studying over the past year, attempting to better understand their habits and behaviors as well as the current conditions of their particular habitat. JCC intern Alivia Sheffield will be presenting on what information has been discovered thus far about the Spiny Softshell Turtles residing in downtown Jamestown on March 12th at 6:00 pm at RTPI. This presentation will be open to the public and is a free event....
Read MoreIntern Presentation
Although winter has come in like a lion for the month of March, be assured that spring will soon be on its way. Warming temperatures and increased daylight will bring everything underneath the snow and ice back to life, including some remarkable reptiles that inhabit the waters of Jamestown’s Chadakoin River. The spiny softshell turtle (Apalone spinifera) is a unique species that the Roger Tory Peterson Institute and Jamestown Community College students have been studying over the past year, attempting to better understand their habits and behaviors as well as the current conditions of their...
Read MoreWater Testing Round 2
Our water testing with SUNY Jamestown Community College interns continues as we get through our eight samples testing for nitrogen, phosphorous, turbidity, dissolved oxygen and temperature. Next week we will finish up going through our samples and share our findings of the water quality of the Chadakoin River. This information will give us more insight about the habitat the Spiny Softshell Turtles are utilizing and what conditions they are tolerable of. Stay tuned as some of our results may surprise you!
Read MoreWater Testing
This week we have been getting outside collecting water samples and running some tests looking for specific elements in the waters of the Chadakoin River. The resulting data will give us more insight into the water quality of the river and the tolerances the Spiny Softshell Turtles appear to have to the existing conditions. We tested temperature and dissolved oxygen levels with our SUNY Jamestown Community College interns and Jan Bowman, JCC professor of biology, and will be testing for levels of phosphorous and nitrogen as well. Spiny Softshell Turtles are rather sensitive to pollutants, so...
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