2021 Research Brief: Using Turtle DNA in Water to Find Turtles

Wildlife technician Bik Wheeler measures the length of a turtle's shell at Witch Hole Pond in Acadia National Park, ME on June 12, 2018.

Photo by Will Greene/Friends of Acadia/NPS

In 2021, researcher Greg LeClair from University of Maine - Orono is investigating whether scientists can use more than just their eyeballs to know if a certain turtle species lives in certain bodies of water. In this case, the fact that Acadia National Park doesn't have a certain species of turtle, makes it the perfect place for Greg's research.

Check out his research brief below and check back for more information and his final results once the project is complete.

What does your research hope to answer or investigate?
My research hopes to develop how reliably we can find rare turtles by just looking for their DNA in the water. We hope to determine how differences in streams and distances from turtles changes our ability to find them this way.

How does this research apply to what we might know about or how we might manage Acadia National Park?
The research is primarily to inform areas outside of Acadia as the species of interest, Wood Turtles, are expected not to exist in Acadia (which is why we chose Acadia since it makes it easier to run controlled studies). However, findings from this study could help us figure out how to find other really hard to find plants and animals as turtles are just about the hardest animals to find with this technique!

Why did you choose Acadia National Park for your research?
Acadia is a great choice because of the assumed lack of Wood Turtles. We need areas that look like good Wood Turtle habitat but don't have Wood Turtles in them so we can place a single turtle into the stream in a controlled way and study how its DNA moves through the environment based on where we can find it when we collect water samples later.

How do you go about doing this? What's the process?
1) Design qPCR detection assays for Wood Turtles (complete) (qPCR is a way to measure DNA)
2) Validate species specific amplification (complete),
3) Source a captive Wood Turtle for controlled experiment research (complete),
3) Locate areas to conduct field trials (in progress),
4) Conduct field trials,
5) Analyze water samples,
6) Determine how DNA detection changes with distance to turtle, water depth, water temperature, water chemistry, etc. (sorry for the jargon heavy start to this one)

Could this be used for find other species?
Yes, I may be able to take additional samples or use my own to look for other species. I may be able to try metabarcoding to get a full read of what vertebrate species' DNA is located in the water, including terrestrial vertebrates.