Abstract Requirements:
- Abstracts should be submitted as word or PDF fil and should consist of a maximum of 250 words in a single paragraph. Please use 10pt font in Times New Roman or Arial with 1.5 spacing. No figures should be included in the abstract.
- Sensitive information that may put animals or habitat should be obscured or removed from the abstract.
- Authors and affiliations should be listed and numbered under the title with an asterisks indicating the presenting author. Presenting author should also provide a contact email below the listed affiliations.
- Title should be succinct but detailed enough to designate the main idea of the presentation. Title should not be all caps, with standard names of study species capitalized and recognized scientific names following in parentheses if applicable.
- 3-5 keywords or phrases should be included to allow for presentation to be placed in the most appropriate session. The scientific name or taxa should be included, along with the major study concept. See example for details.
- Submission Deadline for Abstracts Is August 4th at 11:59pm.
See example Below:
General Ecology and Population Characteristics of a Coastal Population of Florida Box Turtles (Terrapene bauri) in Southwest Florida.
Jordan T. Donini (1)*, Brooke Talley (2), Adrian Rodriguez(1) Juliana Loredo (1), Cristal Navarrete (1), Richard Guevera (1), and Jackie Drew (1)
(1) Florida SouthWestern State College; (2) Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission
[Jtdonini@fsw.edu]
Key Words: Terrapene bauri, Turtles, Home Range, Population Status, Habitat Selection
Florida Box Turtles (Terrapene bauri) range throughout peninsular Florida and occupy a number of habitats from hammock forest, pine uplands, and even shell mound islands. Outside of the long-term studies on Egmont Key, very few studies have investigated the ecology and population of T. bauri in southern Florida. We assessed population demography, morphology, habitat use, and dietary components, in a coastal population of box turtles in southwestern Florida. We used meandering surveys to detect individuals and attached Radio-transmitters to a subset of 15 individuals to monitor movements and habitat use. Standard morphological data was collected along with sex and size class. A subset of individuals were placed into buckets with water for fecal collection to assess diet composition. 282 individuals were captured (109 females, 108 males, 64 juveniles) over a two-year period. Home range estimates are still being analyzed, but habitat use varied with most telemetry encounters coming from Costal Scrub and Mangrove Edge habitats. Direct observations of turtles in the water, along with detected algal growth was indicative of highly aquatic behaviors. Sex ratios for this populations were almost 50/50 , while adult carapace length averaged 133.95 mm. Males were significantly longer than females, in addition to having significantly wider heads. Initial dietary studies indicate a largely generalist and omnivorous diet, with mollusks, arthropods and fruiting plants encompassing the majority of the diet. These baseline data provide a starting point for continued long-term study on a species that may be at risk of extirpation in the coming decades.
Oral and Poster Presentation Guidelines:
- Guidelines are fluid in terms of formatting and style, but please insure that text is limited in the case of oral presentations, and large enough to see. Please do not use bright colored text on light backgrounds as it may inhibit the ability of the audience to interpret information.
- Oral Presentations should be Microsoft PowerPoint or PDF file form should be used if this is not possible, please contact organizers for potential resolution.
- Oral Presentations should not exceed 12 minutes, with 3 minutes reserved for questions.
- Oral Presentations should include a title page with authors and affiliates that closely matches the abstract title.
- Any figures, descriptions, or other information that may put study animals or their habitat at risk should not be included in presentations. Exact GPS locations should not be included if possible.
- Any images or figures that do not belong to the author should be properly credited and cited and references section included.
- Poster Presentations specifically should be no larger than 43 in( 109 cm) and no smaller than 24 in (61 cm) in any dimension.
- Poster presentations should include a title that closely matches that of the abstract along with an identical listing of contributing authors and affiliates.
Contact Jordan Donini (Jtdonini@fsw.edu) with any questions.