THE GENETIC TALE OF TURTLE TAILS.  

Mandy L. Fross, Michael A. Romano, and Richard V. Anderson.
Department of Biological Sciences, Western Illinois University,
Macomb, IL 61455.  

Migration and movement has long been defined in terms of gene
flow, however little has been done to correlate actual animal
movement through radiotelemetry and capture-recapture studies
with genetic evidence.  As part of a project to correlate gene
flow and movement among Trachemys scripta, the slider turtle,
protein starch gel electrophoresis was conducted on turtles near
Lock and Dam 19.  Three distinct locations were trapped with tail
biopsies taken from the resulting turtles.  Electrophoresis
conducted on these samples showed preliminary results which
indicate a high degree of genetic differentiation between the
three subpopulations.  Fst, which measures such differentition,
was high with a value of .247, showing a great deal of genetic
difference between turtle populations.  This further indicates
that little gene flow occurs between subpopulations of the
Trachemys scripta.  This coupled with turtle movement as
documented by radiotelemetry and capture-recapture studies
indicates a high degree of site fidelity among slider turtles
with little breeding between populations.  

Keywords:  reptiles, genetics, turtles