Muhlenberg Bog Turtles Finally Listed as Threatened Species -- Part II: Habitat
Although the pet trade probably takes a great toll on Muhlenberg Bog Turtles (Clemmys Muhlenbergii) recently listed as a threatened species by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS), habitat destruction is certainly a primary threat as well. Much bog turtle habitat is on private land.
The bog turtle's name is a little misleading because its habitat, at least in the few cases I've seen, isn't a bog. The primary vegetation of most true bogs is sphagnum moss. I've mucked about true bogs in the Pocono Mountains of eastern Pennsylvania that were primarily sphagnum, bog rosemary, leatherleaf, cattails and a number of other plants I don't recall or necessarily recognize.
In its early stages, a true bog often have at least some part that is a thick wet sphagnum mat floating on water. When you walk on this sphagnum it may quake, hence the name "quaking bog."
As untraditional bog vegetation colonizes the bog — a sphagnum mat is a great place to grow — you'll see water-tolerant shrubs and trees and eventually less and less true bog. I still have a sample of sphagnum, rosemary and leatherleaf from a true bog. It's been growing in a tub in my backyard. The plants are 20 years old and may be all that is left of the original bog which was surrounded by a summer home community. The developer's intention was to flood the bog to make a lake. A true crime!
In comparison to true bogs, the bog turtle habitats I studied contained no sphagnum. I'd describe them as sedge meadows made up primarily of an almost waste-high sedge tall enough so that if you crouched among them you could hide. Unfortunately, like bogs, sedge meadows are subject to colonization by plants that will eventually destroy the unique sedge meadow habitat.
The life of the bog turtles I saw was quite secretive. Turtles spent their days (I can't account for nights) strolling, eating and sleeping along hundreds of turtle trails varying from a few inches to perhaps two feet wide. These trails snake in and around the individual sedges, which form tussocks.
When the sedge meadow contains a few inches of water in spring, the turtle trails are canals and only the base of the sedge tussocks are under water. When summer comes and the water recedes, damp hidden trails remain open for turtle use.
Go To Page: 1 2
