Effects of human disturbance on risk‐taking behavior in painted turtles

• Published in: Ethology 2023-08, Vol.129 (8), p.406-420
• Main Authors: Turcotte, Audrey, Garant, Dany, Blouin‐Demers, Gabriel
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: among‐individual variance; Animal behavior; Animal populations; Animals; Anthropogenic factors; Behavior; boldness; Defensive behavior; Disturbance; Floating platforms; human activities; Human impact; Human influences; Perturbation; Populations; recreational boating; repeatability; Risk; Risk taking; risk‐taking propensity; Threatened species; Turtles
• ISSN: 0179-1613; 1439-0310
• DOI: 10.1111/eth.13377

Animals are exposed to high levels of anthropogenic disturbance, which has profound consequences for population persistence. Individuals can adjust their behavior plastically when faced with perturbations in their environment and may show consistent differences in the way they perceive and respond to risky situations. Over time, this variability among individuals in response to risk can affect the dynamics of populations exposed to human disturbance. Thus, understanding how animals cope behaviorally with human disturbance is important, especially for species vulnerable to human perturbations, such as turtles. In this context, we evaluated whether risk‐taking behaviors are consistent within individual painted turtles (Chrysemys picta) and assessed how these behaviors are related to the extent of human disturbance along the Rideau Canal, Ontario, Canada. Specifically, we conducted repeated measurements of the number of active defensive behaviors used during handling and the time taken to escape a floating platform for 730 painted turtles (1117 observations) from 22 sites varying in human disturbance along the canal. We also quantified the emergence of the turtles from the water after escaping the platform. First, individual painted turtles showed consistent differences in all risk‐taking behaviors. Second, painted turtles in areas with high boat activity displayed more active defensive behaviors, while turtles from sites in proximity to more houses with access to the canal used fewer. Our study highlights the importance of studying animal behavior to better understand the impact of human activities on animal populations. Understanding how animals behaviorally adjust to perturbations is important to determine their capacity to persist in human‐impacted landscapes. Here, we assessed the consistency of risk‐taking behaviors in painted turtles (Chrysemys picta) and how their behavioral responses were influenced by human activity along the Rideau Canal, Canada. We showed that risk‐taking behaviors were consistent and that turtles living in areas frequently disturbed by recreational boating are more prone to take risks.