Eastern box turtles (Terrapene carolina carolina) are widely distributed throughout the eastern United States. Although once common throughout much of its distribution, the species has experienced declines in local populations. Understanding resource selection is important for the conservation of this species; however, few data exist on resource selection for eastern box turtles in the southeastern United States. We estimated home range and resource selection for 100 individual turtles in the Blue Ridge, Ridge and Valley, and Cumberland Plateau and Mountains physiographic regions in Tennessee, USA, from 2016 to 2018. We used step‐selection functions to investigate eastern box turtle resource selection during May–August 2017 and May–August 2018 at 2 spatial scales. We classified vegetation type, measured vegetation composition and structure, recorded time since fire, and measured coarse woody debris abundance at 1,225 used telemetry locations and 1,225 associated available points. Home range sizes averaged 9.3 ha ± 3.0 (SE) using minimum convex polygon analysis, 8.25 ha ± 2.88 using 95% kernel density analysis, and 1.50 ha ± 0.56 using 50% kernel density analysis. Box turtles selected areas with greater visual obstruction at the 0–0.25‐m level, greater amounts of 10‐hour and 100‐hour fuels (timelag categories used in fire‐danger ratings), and greater litter depths compared to available locations. Box turtles were more likely to select areas with greater cover of brambles and coarser woody debris and were less likely to select areas with less vegetation cover. Vegetation type and time since last fire did not affect selection. Our data suggest that management activities that encourage greater understory vegetation cover, greater visual obstruction at the 0–0.25‐m level, and greater bramble cover will enhance habitat quality for eastern box turtles. © 2020 The Wildlife Society.

中文翻译：

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东部箱龟的空间生态与资源选择

东方箱龟（Terropene carolina carolina）广泛分布于美国东部。尽管曾经在其大部分分布中很普遍，但是该物种的本地种群却在减少。了解资源选择对于保护该物种很重要；但是，关于美国东南部东部箱龟的资源选择的数据很少。我们估算了2016年至2018年美国田纳西州蓝岭，岭和山谷，坎伯兰高原和山脉自然地理区的100只海龟的栖息地和资源选择。我们使用了分步选择功能来研究东部箱龟的资源选择分别在2017年5月至8月和2018年5月至2018年8月两个空间尺度上。我们对植被类型进行了分类，测量了植被组成和结构，记录了火灾发生后的时间，并在1,225个使用的遥测位置和1,225个相关的可用点处测量了粗糙的木质碎片的丰度。使用最小凸多边形分析时，平均范围大小平均为9.3 ha±3.0（SE），使用95％内核密度分析时为8.25 ha±2.88，使用50％内核密度分析时为1.50 ha±0.56。与可用地点相比，箱龟选择的区域在0-0.25-m的水平上具有更大的视觉障碍，10小时和100小时的燃料量（在火灾危险等级中使用的时滞类别）和较大的垫料深度。盒龟更有可能选择荆棘覆盖率较高且木屑较粗糙的区域，而不太可能选择植被覆盖率较低的区域。自上次火灾以来的植被类型和时间不影响选择。我们的数据表明，鼓励更大的林下植被覆盖，在0-0.25-m水平上更大的视觉障碍以及更大的荆棘覆盖率的管理活动将提高东部盒龟的栖息地质量。©2020野生动物协会。