Methods used in wildlife ecology can influence population‐ and community‐level estimates, such as species richness, sex ratio, age and size structure, occupancy and detection probabilities, and community composition. Various trapping and sampling biases exist for freshwater turtles including bait and trap choice and survey technique. To date, no study has investigated the influence of hoop net and mesh size on various population‐ and community‐level estimates. Here, we use detection models to determine if trap and mesh size influence detection probability of nine species of freshwater turtles over 3 consecutive years (2016–2018) in west Tennessee. Additionally, we use multivariate models to determine if freshwater turtle community composition was influenced by hoop trap and mesh sizes. Our results indicated that there was a bias related to mesh size in detection probabilities and community composition. Smaller mesh sized traps were better at detecting smaller‐bodied turtle species, which then changed community species richness but not catch‐per‐unit‐effort estimates (i.e., abundance). Additionally, larger mesh sized traps were better at detecting common snapping turtles (Chelydra serpentina), which supports previous research. Our results suggest that researchers should account for the variation in detection probabilities by mesh size when conducting mark‐recapture and occupancy analyses. Moreover, erroneous inferences about population trends and changes in diversity within turtle communities through time could cause managers to misidentify population declines and conservation value of a site. © 2021 The Wildlife Society.

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尺寸问题：陷阱和网孔尺寸对海龟捕获的影响

野生动植物生态学中使用的方法可以影响种群和社区水平的估计，例如物种丰富度，性别比，年龄和大小结构，占有率和检测概率以及社区组成。淡水龟存在各种诱捕和抽样偏差，包括诱饵和诱捕器选择以及调查技术。迄今为止，还没有研究调查环网和网格大小对各种人口和社区水平估计的影响。在这里，我们使用检测模型来确定田纳西西部连续3年（2016-2018年）内陷阱和网眼尺寸是否影响9种淡水龟的检测概率。此外，我们使用多元模型来确定淡水龟的群落组成是否受到圈套和网眼尺寸的影响。我们的结果表明，在检测概率和社区组成方面与网格大小有关。较小的网眼陷阱能更好地发现体型较小的乌龟，从而改变了群落物种的丰富度，但没有改变单位捕获量的估计（即丰度）。此外，较大的网状陷阱能更好地检测常见的鳄龟（Chelydra serpentina），它支持以前的研究。我们的结果表明，研究人员在进行标记重新捕获和占用率分析时应考虑检测概率随网格大小的变化。而且，关于种群趋势和乌龟群落内物种多样性随时间变化的错误推论可能会导致管理者误认种群数量的减少和该地点的保护价值。©2021野生动物协会。