turtle habitat Archives - Oak Ridge Today

As part of their study abroad service learning class, Roane State students constructed a turtle habitat for ASVO, a conservation organization in Costa Rica. (Photo by Roane State Community College)

Sixteen Roane State Community College students traveled to Costa Rica this summer to build a sea turtle nursery, give needed school supplies to elementary school children, help teach English to college students, and immerse themselves in a foreign culture.

The students were part of a Roane State study abroad service learning class. The class has been offered for the past eight years and gives students the opportunity to travel to Costa Rica and earn college credit in business or education.

Costa Rica is home to four species of sea turtles. Roane State students constructed a nursery that will protect turtle eggs from poachers, tourists, and other harmful elements. The eggs are monitored around the clock until they hatch. [Read more…]

A Terrapene carolina, or eastern box turtle, near Lake Poinsett, Ark., in 2013. (Photo by Beth A. Reinke)

KNOXVILLE—Although a turtle’s home may be on its back, some North American turtles face an uncertain future as a warming climate threatens to reduce their suitable habitat.

A new study conducted at the National Institute for Mathematical and Biological Synthesis at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville reconstructs the effects of past climate changes on 59 species of North American turtles and finds that the centers of the turtles’ ranges shifted an average of 45 miles for each degree of warming or cooling. While some species were able to find widespread suitable climate, other species, many of which today are endangered, were left with only minimal habitat.

Species in temperate forests and grasslands, deserts and lake systems, primarily in the central and eastern United States, were more affected by climate change than species along the Pacific Coast, in the mountain highlands of the western United States and Mexico, and in the tropics, according to the study, published in the journal PLOS ONE. [Read more…]

Roane State students construct turtle habitat in Costa Rica

UT study finds climate change threatens North American turtle habitat