During the 2019 season, 1,698 turtles were reported via the carapace.ca platform. A total of 4,218 turtles (Table 1) have been reported since the official launch of the platform in 2017. We even received a report for a turtle in the state of Vermont in the United States! The percentage of injured turtles has increased slightly (7% in 2019 instead of 5% in 2018, Table 2), so the problem is still present. It’s important to remember that the maintenance of turtle populations depends on a high survival rate for females. An adult mortality rate exceeding 5% may be sufficient to cause population declines. Consequently, even a mortality rate as low as 7% can have a significant impact on Quebec's turtle populations (Quebec Turtle Recovery Team, 2020).
 

Table 1. Review of turtle reports on Carapace


Table 2. Condition of reported turtles

 

For the first time since the creation of the Carapace platform, turtles were observed in Manitoba, Nova Scotia, Vermont and the Côte-Nord administrative region of Quebec (Pointe-aux-Anglais)! The Montérégie (28%), Outaouais (24%), Laurentians (18%) and Estrie (11%) regions accounted for 81% of all observations reported on the platform (Table 3).
 

Table 3. Turtle observations by region


Snapping and painted turtles were the most frequently observed in 2019, with more than 1,000 sightings of snapping turtles and 400 sightings of painted turtles (Table 4).



Although, unlike the previous year, no Eastern musk turtles were observed in 2019, an equally rare and interesting turtle was observed: the spiny softshell! This species can be distinguished from other turtles in Quebec by its flattened shell covered with skin that resembles leather and the fine soft spines near its head. Once found in the Ottawa, St. Lawrence and Richelieu Rivers, there is now only a single population in Lake Champlain. If you live in this region, find out about Mikinak, the Pike River Turtle Festival, which aims to convey understanding of the importance of the environment, showcase the region's turtles in order to better protect them, and make citizens aware of the fragility of their ecosystem.




Table 4. Turtle observations by species


In 2019, the species most often found dead or injured on the roads were the most widespread in Quebec, namely painted turtles and snapping turtles. The same trend was observed in previous years: 49% of the turtles that died or were injured in the 2017-2019 period were snapping turtles, and 32% were painted turtles (Table 5). Although these two species are not considered threatened in Quebec, the status of the snapping turtle is considered to be of special concern in Canada. A similar situation could be replicated in Quebec considering the large number of mortalities reported on the Carapace platform.




Table 5. Percentage of injured and dead turtles for the period 2017 to 2019, by species.




The vast majority of turtles (79.7%) that died or were injured were observed on the road network. This represents 276 turtles killed and 46 injured in three years on Quebec roads (Table 6). It is estimated that this mortality particularly affects females who are on the move for egg-laying, even as the survival of adult females is crucial to the health of Québec turtle populations. Late sexual maturity and a high rate of predation on eggs and the young make turtles one of the groups of animals most threatened by road mortality.

Municipal and citizen initiatives to reduce the negative impact of roads on Quebec's turtle populations have been multiplying. The municipality of Brownsburg-Chatham (Laurentians) installed turtle crossing signs in 2019 to reduce road mortality and thus contribute to the recovery of Quebec turtles. A similar effort was made on Île-Bizard, near Montréal, but this time it was a project carried entirely by committed citizens. Increasingly, Carapace is being approached by people who want to learn about the possibility of putting up this type of signage and the steps to be taken to carry out a similar project. The Quebec company Martech Signalisation Inc. manufactures and sells turtle crossing signs. If you would like to install signs on a road in your community, please contact a local conservation organization or contact your municipality directly. We share the Carapace database with organizations that request it to help them in their decision-making.

Some people wonder about turtles' shells. Can a turtle survive without its shell? Can a shell become too small for the turtle that lives in it? Does a turtle change its shell like a hermit crab?
The answer is no, the shell is more than just a simple enclosure protecting the turtle from predators. It is actually formed by the fusion of the turtle's ribs and vertebrae. It includes the spinal column, as well as a complex network of blood vessels and nerves. A turtle can therefore feel pain and bleed when its shell is injured. A turtle's shell will grow with age through moulting. Yes, similarly to snakes and lizards that regularly renew their skin, turtles discreetly renew their shell by losing scales, piece by piece.

Since its creation in 2016, the Carapace platform has already identified more than 70 road sections in Quebec that are problematic for turtle mortality. This data is essential for planning turtle conservation in Quebec. Without the efforts of citizens and volunteers, our scientists would never be able to carry out such a large-scale study to map this problem throughout Quebec. Continue to share the existence of the Carapace platform with those around you: your efforts are bearing fruit and these results prove it. Help us continue to increase the number of reports across Quebec!