Population Structure of the Alligator Snapping Turtle, Macrochelys temminckii, on the Western Edge of its Distribution

A mark-recapture project on Macrochelys temminckii was conducted between 1997 and 2000 at Sequoyah National Wildlife Refuge, Muskogee and Sequoyah counties, in eastern Oklahoma. Turtles were captured in all streams and exhibited equal sex ratios, marked sexual-size dimorphism, and population densities between 28 and 34 animals per km stretch of stream. There was evidence of past population perturbations, with very few large adults captured, and a cohort of subadults highly underrepresented.