Limited information exists on eastern box turtles (Terrepene carolina carolina) and prescribed fire. My thesis focuses on the effects of prescribed fire, nesting ecology, hatchling movements, and efficacy of post-burn surveys for eastern box turtles in a 1226 ha recreation area in Michigan. Using a combination of tracking techniques, I monitored 34 female and 6 male adult eastern box turtles, and 58 hatchlings between 2013 and 2015. In Chapter 1, I summarized the nesting behavior of females, resultant clutch sizes and success, and hatchling movements using summary statistics and general linear mixed models to find that average clutch size was 6 (SE = 0.47), total clutch success ranged from 45.5% to 53.6% of the total clutch emerging, hatchling movements ranged from 3.3 to 123.7 m within the first two weeks of emerging, and that vegetation cover type had a significant effect on clutch success. In Chapter 2, I tested the efficacy of post fire surveys for box turtles and found that average detection probability 48 hrs after a fire was low (0.11) (SE = 0.05) and highly variable among surveyors (range = 0.00 – 0.50). I estimated that 26 hour-long surveys per ha would be required to reliably (95% confidence) detect turtles that were present in burned areas. In Chapter 3, I observed the direct behavioral effects of a growing season prescribed fire on radio tagged box turtles (n = 4). Behaviors included burying and actively negotiating flame fronts. I documented 1 post fire mortality. My results suggest prescribed fire should not be applied annually in grassland areas to minimize hatchling mortality and slow moving, patchy growing season fires should be considered in dry-mesic southern forests to minimize adult box turtle mortality.
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