Turtle power
Photos courtesy of Molly Schafer, Mat Smith, Andy Tocydlowski, Maya Walker, Jim White, Kenneth Geisert and University Archives September 10, 2024
The discovery of a 60-year-old turtle shell in UD’s Ecology Woods reveals a web of Blue Hen connections
A box turtle shell found on campus has unveiled a tapestry of University of Delaware connections dating back more than half a century. The turtle, between 60 and 70 years old when he died, walked the UD College of Agriculture and Natural Resources (CANR) campus before humans walked on the moon.
Kenneth Geisert discovered it in February. A double major in insect ecology and conservation and wildlife ecology and conservation, Geisert stumbled upon the shell during a Wildlife Techniques (ENWC 315) course.
The novel classroom has no walls. Instead, students like Geisert learn in UD’s Ecology Woods—a 35-acre active research site. Officially preserved in 1965, the “woodlot” is a remnant of a larger woodland, with its western and northern sections over 150 years old.
While learning about habitat fragmentation—which occurs when development or deforestation splits forests into isolated patches, thus hindering the movement and survival of animals—Geisert happened to find the shell of a Terrapene carolina ssp. carolina, otherwise known as an eastern box turtle, a subspecies of the common box turtle.
But common is a misnomer. Fragmentation has had a profound effect on box turtles. The genus only occurs in North America and is already extinct in Canada. The six remaining subspecies found in the United States and Mexico are considered vulnerable by the International Union for Conservation Red List.
Geisert knew the species was vulnerable and thought it best to leave the shell where he found it. He snapped a photo and uploaded it to iNaturalist, a popular app for recording nature observations. He had no idea that the turtle linked together a long and proud Blue Hen history.
Shortly after sharing his photo, Geisert received a comment on his post. The comment sought more information and noted that the shell was from a marked turtle.
Scientists mark turtles by filing a series of tiny V-shaped notches along the edges of their shells. Each turtle is notched in a unique pattern, allowing researchers to identify individual turtles and collect data on ecological, behavioral and population changes throughout their lives.
However, only one notch was visible in Geisert’s photo. The iNaturalist commentator hoped to identify the turtle, so Geisert returned to Ecology Woods for additional photos. With the extra images, the commenter confirmed the shell’s owner: a box turtle known as L2. First marked and studied at UD in 1965 as a juvenile (less than 10 years old), L2 was last seen alive in 2002. Due to the state of the shell, the commentator noted, L2 most likely died over the summer of 2023.
But just how did the internet stranger know such esoteric information? Geisert was intrigued.
It turns out that Geisert had been communicating with UD alumnus Nate Nazdrowicz.
In addition to being Delaware’s state herpetologist within the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control’s (DNREC) Division of Fish and Wildlife, Nazdrowicz teaches herpetology (the study of amphibians and reptiles) at UD. He might well be the foremost expert of turtle observations throughout the First State.
“This is the first marked box turtle from Ecology Woods I’ve seen on iNaturalist!” said Nazdrowicz, who graduated from UD with a M.S. in Entomology and Applied Ecology in 2003 and a Ph.D. in Entomology and Wildlife Ecology in 2015.
He sent Geisert a copy of “Population Ecology of the Eastern Box Turtle in a Fragmented Landscape,” published in 2008 in the Journal of Wildlife Management. The paper was part of Nazdrowicz’s master’s thesis at UD. Geisert immediately recognized one of his co-authors, Jake Bowman, chair of the UD Department of Entomology and Wildlife Ecology.
“I thought, wow, this turtle is really connected to campus,” Geisert said. “It was part of someone’s thesis, and it was cool to rediscover it 20 years later.”
However, L2’s connection to UD goes back further than that.
“This goes back to Roland Roth and the early 1970s,” said Jake Bowman, Entomology and Wildlife Ecology department chair.
The late Roth, a beloved professor emeritus of entomology and wildlife ecology, was one of the world’s top experts on the wood thrush, a migratory songbird. He was known for conducting the longest continuous study on the population health of the wood thrush, initiated in 1972. This study took place in Ecology Woods and involved more than 100 undergraduate and graduate students over 33 years.
The box turtle study has a similar history.
“The box turtle project started with a group of researchers in 1965,” Bowman said. “Roth took over the work and kept doing it until I came to UD [in 2000]. He told me this was the kind of thing UD should keep doing because of our unique ability to study a species over time. So we kept doing it.”
Indeed, time exists on a different, almost unimaginable scale in UD’s Ecology Woods.
On July 8, 1965, an anonymous box turtle received the moniker L2, a nod to the notch placed on the second scute (geometric pattern) on his left shell. The first Earth Day wouldn’t take place for five years. It would be another 34 before UD students could major in wildlife conservation, now known as wildlife ecology and conservation.
Over the decades, Blue Hens have added to the pool of box turtle data. Their culminating project would be the 2008 study by Nazdrowicz, Bowman and Roth.
“We have a giant database on box turtles,” said Bowman. “That's not something you see anywhere else.”
Ecology Woods helps spur such rich data, particularly for students like Nazdrowicz. He completed his master’s and Ph.D. at UD, but just like L2, his UD connection goes back even further. As a child, Nazdrowicz volunteered at Ashland Nature Center in Hockessin, Delaware, where he helped UD alumnus and adjunct instructor Jim White with animal care.
“Jim was marking turtles at Ashland,” Nazdrowicz said. “And that’s honestly where I first learned about marking turtles.”
Research published by Nazdrowicz, Bowman, and Roth in 2008 shows that the box turtle population in Ecology Woods declined from approximately 91 turtles in 1968 to approximately 22 in 2002. Over the course of the study, they found that the number of females in the population declined disproportionately to the males. No juveniles were observed after 1992, indicating that recruitment of new turtles to the population was failing. Box turtles can live for 35 to 60 years, and some have been documented to live for an astounding 100.
“With species that live a long time, it is easy for people to be misled and think there are lots of turtles,” Bowman said.
“You’re not going to see population crashes quickly,” added Nazdrowicz. “Turtles can hang on for a long time, but you can essentially have very little to no reproductive success over a long period. Then there are no new turtles to replace any potential loss in the population.”
Bowman and Nazdrowicz identified mortality from agricultural mowing as a fixable threat to the species. The mowers killed female box turtles that were using the adjacent fields for nesting with their eggs.
“We recommended keeping the mower height at least six inches off the ground,” Bowman said. “And it worked. We had turtles wearing radio transmitters, and their antenna would get nicked by the mower blade. Now they could mow right over the turtles without hurting them!”
“This is what we were focusing the research on,” Bowman added. “We were trying to get people to think deeper about these long-lived species and catch a population decline before it happens so we can change it.”
As our state’s herpetologist, Nazdrowicz continues working to conserve turtles while keeping the UD connections going. There are several UD alumni among the employees he has hired at DNREC.
Maya Walker is one of those employees. The UD alumna graduated in 2022 with an honors bachelor’s degree in wildlife ecology and conservation. She works alongside Nazdrowicz as a herpetological aid.
“Whenever we see a box turtle, we notch it and then put it in our database,” Walker said. “A lot of the notches that are on box turtles from Wilmington and down South were made by me.”
“This is an awesome job because I get to contribute to statewide conservation efforts,” she continued.
Walker credits her time in Ecology Woods with preparing her for field work with DNREC.
“A few days ago, I was banding geese, affixing labeled bands around their legs,” Walker said of the technique used in avian biology to keep track of individuals over long distances. “And the only reason I knew how to do it was because of my UD Wildlife Techniques course.”
The class without walls helps faculty, students and alumni across generations break down their own. They no longer see the world through a 2024 lens. Instead, they travel through time.
Box turtle L2 predated Geisert, Nazdrowicz, Bowman and Walker’s days at UD. He lived through 59 graduating classes, the arrival of CANR’s first female faculty member in 1974, and the very first Ag Day also in 1974.
Though he may be departed, L2’s story, memory and legacy of inspiring Blue Hens to continue the vital work of wildlife conservation lives on.
Learn more about the University of Delaware Department of Entomology and Wildlife Ecology.
Dr. Roland Roth, faculty member and former department chair in Entomology and Wildlife Ecology, passed away in June 2024. During his nearly 35-year tenure, he advised, taught, and mentored hundreds of students. Many of those students have gone on to become mentors and educators themselves, extending Dr. Roth’s legacy to future generations. In his memory, the department has created the Roland Roth Ecology Woods Fund to formalize and ensure ongoing undergraduate research experiences like those Dr, Roth fostered for so many students. To support this effort, visit https://ud.alumniq.com/giving/to/makeagift, select “I’d like to search for a different option,” then enter “Roth Ecology Woods.”
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