Supercooling and freeze tolerance in hatchling painted turtles (Chrysemys picta)

1989 ◽  
Vol 67 (4) ◽  
pp. 1082-1084 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gary L. Paukstis ◽  
Robert D. Shuman ◽  
Fredric J. Janzen
Keyword(s):  
Freeze Tolerance ◽  
Chrysemys Picta ◽  
North Central ◽  
Nest Cavity ◽  
Cooling Cycle ◽  
Laboratory Conditions ◽  
Painted Turtles ◽  
Northern Distribution ◽  
Cavity Nest

Hatchling painted turtles, (Chrysemys picta) in north central Nebraska overwinter terrestrially within the nest cavity. Nest temperatures as low as −2.1 °C were recorded during January 1982 within nests from which hatchlings survived. Under laboratory conditions, nine turtles survived a cooling cycle (0 to −8.0 to 0 °C) over a 29-h period. Four of these turtles exhibited the ability to supercool to temperatures as low as −8.9 °C at which point freezing occurred. Partial freeze tolerance was exhibited by one individual. The ability of hatchling painted turtles to supercool and to survive subfreezing temperatures may be an important factor in the northern distribution of this species.

Natural freezing survival by painted turtles Chrysemys picta marginata and C. picta bellii

1992 ◽  
Vol 262 (3) ◽  
pp. R530-R537 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. A. Churchill ◽  
K. B. Storey
Keyword(s):  
Freeze Tolerance ◽  
Chrysemys Picta ◽  
Painted Turtle ◽  
Survival Times ◽  
Painted Turtles ◽  
Ice Content ◽  
Total Body ◽  
Natural Freezing ◽  
Free Amino Acid Pools ◽  
Continuous Freezing

Hatchlings of both the Midland (Chrysemys picta marginata) and Western (C. picta bellii) subspecies of the painted turtle tolerate the freezing of extracellular body fluids while overwintering in terrestrial nests. Fall-collected hatchlings survived 3 days of continuous freezing at -2.5 degrees C, with ice contents of 43.5 +/- 1.0% of total body water (SE; n = 24) for C. picta marginata and 46.5 +/- 0.8% (n = 32) for C. picta bellii. Survival times dropped to 4-5 h when temperature was lowered to -4 degrees C, correlated with ice contents of greater than or equal to 50%. However, C. picta marginata tested immediately after excavation from nests in the spring showed greater freeze tolerance, with survival extending to 11 days at -2.5 degrees C and a higher mean ice content of 50.2 +/- 1.2% (n = 6). Spring hatchlings also had high supercooling points, -1.07 +/- 0.13 degrees C (n = 8), that dropped within 3 days to -4.83 +/- 0.83 degrees C (n = 4), suggesting a breakdown of endogenous ice-nucleating agents when hibernation ended. A search for possible cryoprotectants showed that both subspecies accumulated glucose and lactate in liver during freezing (net increase = 3-13 mumols/g wet wt); both also maintained large free amino acid pools in organs, with taurine making up 21-47% of the total.

Thermal environment for overwintering hatchlings of the painted turtle (Chrysemys picta)

1997 ◽  
Vol 75 (3) ◽  
pp. 401-406 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gary C. Packard ◽  
Sarah L. Fasano ◽  
Marcus B. Attaway ◽  
Leslie D. Lohmiller ◽  
Trina L. Lynch
Keyword(s):  
Low Temperatures ◽  
Thermal Environment ◽  
Chrysemys Picta ◽  
Painted Turtle ◽  
National Wildlife Refuge ◽  
North Central ◽  
Wildlife Refuge ◽  
Painted Turtles ◽  
Frozen State

We monitored temperatures during the winter of 1995–1996 inside 18 nests containing hatchling painted turtles (Chrysemys picta). The study was performed at the Valentine National Wildlife Refuge in north-central Nebraska to assess survival of neonatal turtles in relation to the thermal environment inside their hibernacula. Minimum temperatures in the nests varied from −3 to −21 °C, and were better predictors of survival of hatchlings than other measures of the thermal environment. All hatchlings survived in nests where the temperature never went below −7 °C, some animals survived in nests where the minimum was between −7 and −13 °C, but no turtle survived in a nest where the minimum was below −14 °C. Hatchlings probably survived the cold by sustaining a state of supercooling, because the duration of exposure to low temperatures was far too long for animals in most nests to have survived in a frozen state.

Winter survivorship of hatchling painted turtles (Chrysemys picta) in Michigan

2000 ◽  
Vol 78 (2) ◽  
pp. 226-233 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roy D Nagle ◽  
Owen M Kinney ◽  
Justin D Congdon ◽  
Christopher W Beck
Keyword(s):  
Snow Cover ◽  
Air Temperature ◽  
Freeze Tolerance ◽  
Ambient Air ◽  
Chrysemys Picta ◽  
Winter Mortality ◽  
Painted Turtles ◽  
Subzero Temperatures ◽  
Soil Temperatures ◽  
The Impact

Hatchling painted turtles (Chrysemys picta) often exhibit delayed emergence by remaining in shallow sub- terranean nest cavities throughout winter. As a result, those at northern latitudes are sometimes exposed to lethal subzero temperatures. Our field study compared survivorship of hatchling C. picta during a winter in which low subzero temperatures coincided with the absence of insulating snow cover (1995-1996) with survivorship during the following three winters (1996-1997, 1997-1998, and 1998-1999), which were characterized by more moderate conditions. Ambient-air and soil temperatures were monitored at a weather station located within ~1 km of all nests. During the first winter of our study (1995-1996), minimum ambient-air temperature reached -25.6°C on 2 February, concomitantly with the complete absence of snow cover, and soil temperatures fell to between -7 and -9°C. Resultant over-winter hatchling mortality was 45%. Because some hatchlings survived temperatures well below the lethal limits described for freeze tolerance (-1 to -4°C), it is likely that hatchlings in Michigan sometimes survive by supercooling. During the following three winters, soil temperatures remained above -2°C, except during brief periods when they fell to -4°C in the absence of snow cover. Over-winter hatchling mortality was <3% during each of these last 3 years. Our study highlights the importance of insulating snow cover to survival of hatchling C. picta. Air temperature and snowfall data from southeastern Michigan over the past 33 years indicate that conditions associated with substantial winter mortality occurred in 3 out of 33 years (9.1%). We demonstrate that the impact of substantial over-winter mortality on hatchling recruitment is dependent on nest survivorship during the preceding nesting season.

Tolerance of hatchling painted turtles to subzero temperatures

1989 ◽  
Vol 67 (4) ◽  
pp. 828-830 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gary C. Packard ◽  
Mary J. Packard ◽  
Paul L. McDaniel ◽  
Leonard L. McDaniel
Keyword(s):  
Minimum Temperature ◽  
Low Temperatures ◽  
Chrysemys Picta ◽  
North Central ◽  
Painted Turtles ◽  
Subzero Temperatures

We measured temperatures inside seven natural nests of painted turtles (Chrysemys picta) at our study site in north central Nebraska during the winter of 1987–1988. Although the lowest temperature recorded in some nests was only slightly below 0 °C, the minimum temperature measured in other nests was as low as −6.2 °C. Viable hatchlings were present in all of the nests at the end of the winter, however, which indicates that hatchling painted turtles can withstand exposure to low temperatures that would kill hatchlings of other species.

Resistance to freezing in hatchling painted turtles (Chrysemys picta)

1999 ◽  
Vol 77 (5) ◽  
pp. 795-801 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gary C Packard ◽  
Jeffrey W Lang ◽  
Leslie D Lohmiller ◽  
Mary J Packard
Keyword(s):  
North Dakota ◽  
Minimum Temperature ◽  
Freezing Point ◽  
Equilibrium Temperature ◽  
Body Fluids ◽  
Chrysemys Picta ◽  
Ice Crystals ◽  
Loamy Sand ◽  
North Central ◽  
Painted Turtles

We assessed the ability of hatchling painted turtles (Chrysemys picta) from northern Minnesota to resist freezing when exposed to conditions like those occurring in natural hibernacula (natal nests). We placed animals individually into artificial hibernacula constructed in jars of damp, loamy sand and then lowered the temperature to approximately -0.4°C, which was below the equilibrium freezing point for water in the soil (approximately -0.1°C) but above that for body fluids of the turtles (approximately -0.7°C). Next, ice was used to initiate freezing of water in the soil, after which the substratum was allowed to freeze to an equilibrium temperature of -0.4°C. The minimum temperature then was reduced by 1°C/day to either -2.5 or -6.5°C. The minimum was maintained for 9 days in the former treatment and for 5 days in the latter, so that turtles in both treatments were exposed for the same length of time to temperatures below the equilibrium freezing point for their body fluids. Some animals in each treatment were inoculated by ice crystals that penetrated their integument, and these turtles froze and died. However, many other animals resisted inoculation, remained unfrozen, and survived the test of tolerance. We conclude that hatchling painted turtles from northern Minnesota, like those from North Dakota, north-central Nebraska, and northern Illinois, withstand the cold of midwinter by supercooling and not by tolerating freezing.

Temporal Variation in Growth Rate and Age at Maturity of Male Painted Turtles, Chrysemys picta

1993 ◽  
Vol 130 (2) ◽  
pp. 314 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nat B. Frazer ◽  
Judith L. Greene ◽  
J. Whitfield Gibbons
Keyword(s):  
Growth Rate ◽  
Temporal Variation ◽  
Chrysemys Picta ◽  
Age At Maturity ◽  
Painted Turtles

Helminths of Chrysemys picta belli in Manitoba including Polystomoides pauli sp.n. (Monogenea: Polystomatidae)

1979 ◽  
Vol 57 (5) ◽  
pp. 1046-1051 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shannon F. Timmers ◽  
Paul D. Lewis Jr.
Keyword(s):  
Oral Mucosa ◽  
Chrysemys Picta ◽  
First Report ◽  
Painted Turtles ◽  
Species Inquirendae

One new monogenean is described and 11 other helminths are reported from painted turtles from eastern Manitoba. Polystomoides pauli sp.n. from the host's oral mucosa most closely resembles P. coronatum (Leidy) and P. oris Paul. It differs from the former in having more and larger genital coronet spines, and possession of anterior cecal diverticula, and from the latter in size, larger number of genital coronet spines, and possession of great hooks with entire, not bifid, roots. Price's emendation of P. coronatum to include five species he held to be its synonyms is rejected; and the five species, P. opacum Stunkard, P. megacotyle Stunkard, P. microcotyle Stunkard, P. albicollis MacCallum, and P. digitatum MacCallum are designated species inquirendae. Polystomoides coronatum is restricted to the redescription given for it by Stunkard. The trematodes Crepidostomum sp., Eustomos chelydrae, Microphallus opacus, Protenes angustus, Spirorchis parvus, S. scripta, Telorchis attenuatus, and T. corti, the cestode Proteocephalus sp., and the nematodes Serpinema trispinosa and Spiroxys contortus are reported from Chrysemys picta belli. Except for P. angustus, all represent first reports from turtles in Canada. This is the first report of E. chelydrae from the host stomach, and the second report of M. opacus from naturally infected turtles.

Patterns and Possible Significance of Water Exchange by Flexible-Shelled Eggs of Painted Turtles (Chrysemys picta)

1981 ◽  
Vol 54 (1) ◽  
pp. 165-178 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gary C. Packard ◽  
Mary J. Packard ◽  
Thomas J. Boardman
Keyword(s):  
Water Exchange ◽  
Chrysemys Picta ◽  
Painted Turtles
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