Demographics of a Previously Undocumented Diamondback Terrapin (Malaclemys terrapin) Population

Abstract

Coastal habitats are some of the most imperiled due to climate change and anthropogenic activities. As such, it is important to understand population dynamics of the species that may play a role in regulating coastal systems. Diamondback terrapins in Northwest Florida have been understudied, which has resulted in a gap in our knowledge for this region. To help fill this gap, we conducted a capture-mark-recapture study in St. Joseph Bay, Florida, from 2018 to 2021. Overall, we captured 518 individuals, including 146 recaptures, and we used several modeling frameworks to estimate apparent survival, recapture probability, population entrance, and population size. Our estimates of apparent survival were relatively low, especially for adult males (0.77) and adult females (0.83), but there is a considerable amount of uncertainty around our estimates. Our models indicated that the super-population consists of 1122 individuals (971–1327 95% CI), and the population is comprised of more adult males (753; 665–866 95% CI) than adult females (102; 85–130 95% CI) and juveniles (267; 221–331 95% CI). Estimates of population entrance varied by year throughout our study duration. This study is the first to document a Malaclemys terrapin population in this region of Florida, and we recommend long-term monitoring in order to gain inferences for the management of this declining coastal species.