SCCF’s Coastal Wildlife and Wildlife & Habitat Management departments took part in the 2024 Herpeton Conference, which took place Sept. 27-29 at Florida SouthWestern State College. SCCF helped sponsor the conference.  

The conference brought together herpetology (study of reptiles and amphibians) researchers and advocates in South Florida to present on topics surrounding conservation, science, and captive husbandry of animals like snakes, lizards, gopher tortoises, box turtles, and sea turtles. 

Four SCCF sea turtle staff presented on different aspects of the same overall idea — how sea turtle hatch success is affected by different environmental parameters on Sanibel and Captiva Islands. 

• Coastal Wildlife Director and Sea Turtle Program Coordinator Kelly Sloan discussed how sand characteristics (particle size, bulk density, compaction) affect sea turtle nest temperature, moisture, and groundwater influence.  
• Sea Turtle Biologist Jack Brzoza presented a deep dive on sea turtle nest depredation by coyotes, including different factors that increase the risk of a nest being depredated.
• Sea Turtle Biologist Savannah Weber talked about SCCF’s sea turtle night-tagging database and how it helps us understand how nesting loggerhead individuals vary in nesting metrics such as number of eggs laid, nest distance from the high tide line, and nesting frequencies — and whether these metrics have any correlations with hatch success.  
• Sea Turtle Technician Amanda Manrique spoke on the historical impacts of high tide and storm events on sea turtle nests. 

“The range of our presentations highlights the complexity of sea turtle conservation and all the factors that play a role,” said Coastal Wildlife Director Kelly Sloan. “It’s valuable for our team to share our findings with the broader herpetological community so we can foster collaborative efforts in the continued protection of sea turtles and other vulnerable reptiles.”

The Wildlife & Habitat Management team — including Director Chris Lechowicz, Wildlife Technician Nadine Cobb, and Wildlife Biologist Mike Mills — gave two talks and presented a poster surrounding freshwater turtles and tortoises.

• Mills led a talk regarding hurricane effects on Sanibel’s gopher tortoise population, which SCCF has monitored for years.
• Cobb led a discussion about the reproductive traits of Florida chicken turtles, Florida mud turtles, Florida box turtles, and diamondback terrapins in Southwest Florida.
• The entire team presented a poster about the influence of wetland habitat restoration on the seasonal movements and habitat use of Florida mud turtles and Florida chicken turtles on Sanibel.