Since 2010 Turtle Guardians has been conducting research to answer pertinent questions affecting turtle conservation. We work collaboratively with volunteers, municipal road departments, provincial government bodies, and practitioners to gather data, apply and test solutions to help recover populations, and to help outline best management practices.

Now we are pleased to be launching a coproduction approach with academic institutions to support the science of recovery even further.

Current Research Efforts

Population Ecology and Road Mortality

Turtle Guardians maintains one of the longest-running road ecology datasets for turtles in Canada, based on dedicated patrol routes monitored annually since 2017. Field data are collected using standardized protocols and include information on species, location, mortality, and body condition.

These long-term data allow the organization to examine patterns in turtle populations and road impacts across different landscapes. Current analyses focus on:
• Biomass and age-class structure across species, comparing populations across areas and landscapes.
• Population trends over time, including differences across primary, secondary, and tertiary roads, while accounting for landscape connectivity and habitat availability.

Additional analyses are ongoing to better understand the cumulative impacts of roads on turtle populations and to support conservation and recovery science.

The dataset is also used to identify:

nesting areas,
road mortality hotspots, and
key wildlife crossing locations.

These insights help guide mitigation efforts, including ecopassage placement, road stewardship initiatives, and targeted conservation actions. The database also provides background for Before After Control Impact studies.

Mark Recapture and Movement

Additional analyses are ongoing to better understand the cumulative impacts of roads on turtle populations and to support conservation and recovery science.

The dataset is also used to identify:

nesting areas,
road mortality hotspots, and
key wildlife crossing locations.

Eggshell Integrity (Turtle Egg "Implosions")

Beginning in 2021-2022 and continuing through recent field seasons, Turtle Guardians began observing an unusual phenomenon during nest monitoring and excavation. In some locations, turtle eggs were observed to rapidly collapse inward, effectively imploding within minutes of being uncovered. These events were often preceded by a faint “snap–crackle” sound. At the same time, nests from other areas examined on the same days did not show similar behaviour.

To better understand whether this was a localized or broader issue, we consulted with colleagues and several turtle incubation and rehabilitation programs across Ontario. At the time of our inquiries, similar observations had not been widely reported elsewhere in the province, suggesting the phenomenon may be geographically limited or associated with specific environmental conditions. In 2023 we began gathering data and documenting the implosions to support this hypothesis.

Eggshell integrity in turtles can be influenced by several factors, including maternal health, calcium availability, and local environmental conditions affecting soils and aquatic systems.

At present, the cause of these implosions remains unknown. Possible explanations include environmental conditions such as calcium levels and related pH, or other ecological or physiological stressors. Broader changes in environmental chemistry including shifts in calcium availability, road salt inputs, or contaminants that may influence mineral metabolism or reproductive physiology and are among the factors being considered.

These observations led us to develop a research hypothesis and in 2024 begin seeking scientific partners to investigate the issue more formally. We are pleased to be collaborating with researchers at the University of Manitoba to analyze samples collected through this work and explore the environmental and physiological factors that may contribute to these observations.

At the same time, we continue to seek insights from other regions and organizations working with turtles to better understand whether this phenomenon is occurring elsewhere and under what conditions.

By expanding monitoring, laboratory analysis, and collaboration with researchers, Turtle Guardians and The Land Between aim to better understand the conditions associated with this phenomenon and determine whether it represents localized variation or a broader emerging concern for turtle reproduction.

Ecopassage Fencing Design and Field Testing

Turtle Guardians has developed and is field-testing a prototype ecopassage jump-out fencing system designed to guide turtles safely toward wildlife underpasses while allowing animals that enter the roadway corridor to exit. The design builds on established wildlife exclusion fencing concepts while incorporating new materials intended to improve durability, stability, and ease of installation.

The system has been tested in field conditions over the past five years to evaluate performance under typical roadside stresses, including frost movement, soil shifting, and seasonal weather conditions. The design is intended to be rapid to deploy, cost-effective, and straightforward to maintain, with components that can be easily repaired or replaced when damaged.

The prototype is currently patent pending, and Turtle Guardians is continuing to refine the design through engineering review, including load-bearing assessments and corrosion testing, to better understand long-term performance in roadside environments.

This work supports the development of practical and scalable solutions for reducing road mortality and improving connectivity for turtles and other wildlife.

Overwintering Habitat Availability and Thresholds in Ontario’s Highlands

Turtle Guardians is conducting research to better understand the availability, characteristics, and thresholds of overwintering habitat for freshwater turtles in Ontario’s Highlands with a special focus on Common Snapping Turtles and secondarily on Blanding's Turtles. Overwintering sites are critical for turtle survival, as turtles remain submerged and largely inactive in aquatic habitats for several months each year.

This work focuses on identifying and mapping known overwintering locations and assessing the environmental conditions that support successful overwintering. In addition, we are examining how changing water levels and periods of low water may affect the suitability of these sites.

In addition to documenting the distribution of overwintering areas, this research aims to quantify the amount and quality of habitat required to support Common Snapping turtle populations, helping to identify thresholds of critical overwintering habitat within watersheds.

Understanding these thresholds has important implications for wetland conservation, water level management, and habitat protection, particularly in landscapes where water levels fluctuate or wetlands are altered. By improving our understanding of overwintering habitat availability and environmental limits, this work will help inform conservation planning and stewardship efforts across the region.

Spring Emergence_Snapping Turtles Study

Since approximately 2018, Turtle Guardians has received an increasing number of observations of Common Snapping Turtle hatchlings emerging in the spring, rather than in late summer or early fall when most hatchlings typically leave the nest. Many of these reports have come through our community-based monitoring initiative, the “Tiny Turtle Contest.”

In at least two documented cases, Turtle Guardians staff were called to investigate nests in the spring and excavated them to confirm the presence of live hatchlings that had overwintered in the nest.

We are currently mapping the locations of these observations and compiling environmental data to better understand the conditions associated with this phenomenon. In particular, we are examining relationships between nest substrate, snow cover, and shoulder season and winter temperature conditions to determine how these factors may influence hatchling overwintering and spring emergence.

As additional observations are reported, this work will help determine whether spring emergence is becoming more common and under what environmental conditions it occurs.

For research results, BMP's and observations, see our Resources section below.

For more details about or historic efforts and contributors, as well as upcoming and proposed research, see our Record and Acknowledgements section below.

Sample Mapping 2 - Watercourse Intersection Only

Ongoing Mitigation Efforts

Nest Excavation, Incubation and Hatchling Release.

Turtle Guardians trains volunteers and staff to recognize turtle nesting behaviour and to respond to reports of nesting females in vulnerable locations. Community observations and calls to our hotline help identify nests that may be at risk.

Nests located along primary roads, construction zones, or other high-risk areas are prioritized for intervention. In these cases, eggs may be carefully excavated and incubated ex situ to protect them from immediate threats.

Turtle Guardians operates one of the largest turtle incubation programs in Ontario, receiving and safeguarding hundreds of nests each year. This work is important because in many human-settled landscapes, the vast majority of turtle nests are destroyed by predators within the first 24–48 hours, largely due to increased populations of raccoons, skunks, and other mesopredators that thrive near roads and human development.

Freshwater turtles are particularly vulnerable because they are long-lived species that take many years to reach maturity. Population stability depends on occasional successful recruitment of hatchlings. By protecting vulnerable nests and supporting hatchling survival, incubation programs can help maintain local turtle populations where natural nest survival has become extremely low.

These efforts help offset the combined impacts of high nest predation rates and road mortality, supporting hatchling recruitment in areas where natural nest success is limited.

Durable Jump out and Exclusion Fencing for Ecopassage Installations and Alternative Nesting Mounds.

Ecopassages are tricky, and selecting fencing is key.

Lateral fencing, if not bounding the entire wetlands and crossing areas, can lead to increased mortality, and even some arch shaped fencing creates similar issues while also breaking down or shifting.

Turtle Guardians has been designing and testing alternative, cost effective fencing since 2019. This fencing is both durable and it can be backfilled to ensure any animal can exit the roadway, while also being a fail safe option. The fencing is also inexpensive and easy to produce, while the individual sections are easy to maintain and also follow the road sinuously.

Any ecopassage project or fencing exclusion project should be accompanied by alternative nesting options. We have been testing and installing these alongside our mitigation projects.

To date, four ecopassage and mitigation projects have been installed, and the fencing solutions proven. Support from Eastern Georgian Bay Initiative, the Species at Risk Stewardship Fund, ECCC and the Bernard and Norton Wolfe Family Foundation have been essential to this success.

"Crossing Guards" and "the Turtle Way"

Direct mitigation and threat reduction through volunteer and staff onsite presence cannot be undervalued. We work with community volunteers who patrol roads. Also, in areas of high mortality that are not feasible for ecopassage installations and near urban areas, the charity is working with communities to engage volunteer patrols called "Crossing Guards" and community level efforts with fun branding and green painted symbols across road areas called "the Turtle Way". We use "softer" BACI studies to assess the value of these efforts.

Training, Design and Assessments

We provide training to stakeholders for identification, data collection, handling techniques and also mitigation. We also provide assessments of critical and important habitats, mitigation and ecopassage potential. We have also worked in partnership with development companies to integrate habitat features and best practices in development areas.

Municipal Road Patrols

In partnership with municipalities, we "sweep" roads scheduled for maintenance and improvements for turtle nests, to support them in mitigating harm to nests.

Signage

In areas of high mortality that are not feasible for ecopassage installations or exclusion fencing, the charity designs and installs standard and also unique signage including billboards.

Research Co-Production

Data Sharing, Shared Research and Authorship Conventions

The Land Between and Turtle Guardians maintain extensive long-term datasets and active research programs, and, together with our colleagues, are advancing work on complex conservation questions that require deeper analysis and cross-institutional collaboration. To support this next phase, we are preparing to formalize research partnerships with universities and research institutes across North America.

We are currently developing collaborative frameworks and partnership models, including clear policies, that recognize and respect all contributions, uphold institutional and academic standards, and ensure reciprocal benefits and outcomes for partners, students, and communities. This work is being informed through consultation with universities, professors, and disciplinary experts to ensure alignment with research ethics, authorship norms, data stewardship expectations, and funder requirements.

Our approach is grounded in transparency, accountability, and fairness. As these frameworks are finalized, we will make our policies and partnership opportunities publicly available to support strong, ethical, and productive collaborations that advance conservation outcomes at scale.

Research Archive

Assessing Blanding's relative abundance across The Land Between region. Initiated in 2007
Identification of turtle mortality hotspots across the Land Between bioregion and characterization of mitigation options. Ongoing efforts to assess feasibility and priority of potential ecopassage sites is a core focus of the charity. Initiated in 2010.
Basking surveys (support for overwintering analyses). Area of effort: Haliburton, North Peterborough and City of Kawartha Lakes. Initiated in 2016
Population ecology research-relative to road density and development impacts. Area of focus: Haliburton County, Peterborough County, City of Kawartha Lakes, and parts of the District of Muskoka. This dataset represents a long term study. Analysis begun in 2025. Initiated in 2016
Plastron identification to estimate Blanding's turtle movements and recapture. This is an ongoing effort of the charity, under wildlife research permits. Initiated in 2017.
Data collection from our "Tiny turtle contest" of nesting areas, recruitment and also spring emergence of Snapping turtles. This effort is ongoing. Initiated in 2018.
Incubation success and anomalies. Ongoing. Initiated in 2018.
Design and trials for innovative durable and backfilled ecopassage fencing. Testing of prototype stability, durability and effectiveness. Initiated in 2019.
Turtle egg implosions. Formation of preliminary hypothesis in 2022. Collection of preliminary data relative to egg implosions and mapping of aquatic calcium levels and anthropogenic impacts in 2023 and 2024. Collection of additional eggs and also soil and water sampling with guidance from Trent University for a masters thesis by Michaela Bouffard in 2025.
Midland Painted Turtle bridge photo recognition for turtle movements and mark recapture sampling. Ongoing. Initiated in 2023.
Alterative nest mound pilot (Blanding's turtles). Initiated in 2023.
Overwintering habitat availability and water level impacts for Snapping turtles. Ongoing. Initiated in 2025.
Upcoming: Willingness to use analysis of ecopassage fencing prototypes.
Proposed: Hesitancy in juvenile turtles related to perceived or actual obstacles as a result of two deceased juvenile turtles along exposed parts of our ecopassage fencing in 2025.
Pending: Movement of adult turtles in response to anthropogenic footprints.
Insufficient testing: Response to pheromone cues by hatchlings.

Research Contributions

Since 2017, Turtle Guardians has independently led and coordinated long term turtle road ecology, nesting, incubation, movement, mortality, and mitigation research across Ontario’s Highlands and surrounding regions. These efforts include the development of research scopes, field methodologies, monitoring protocols, community science frameworks, and long term datasets that continue to inform conservation action and applied mitigation strategies.

Our work has been strengthened through the guidance, mentorship, and collaboration of many valued experts and partners. We are especially grateful to Kari Gunson of EcoKare International, Jeff Hathaway of Scales Nature Park, and Dr. David Lean.

We also acknowledge the contributions of students, interns, and emerging researchers through programs including ULinks, the Trent Centre for Community Based Education. We further recognize an early partnership from 2011 to 2013 with Haliburton Highlands Land Trust and Glenside Ecological Services to assess ecopassage potential in Haliburton Highlands.

In 2026, we would also like to acknowledge Stephan Kohout for ongoing research contributions related to legislative tools and policy pathways for turtle protection in Ontario.

Staff & Research Contributors

The following staff and team members made important contributions to Turtle Guardians research, monitoring, field implementation, and data collection efforts as part of broader long term program initiatives:

Kendra Chalmers - Sept 2010 to 2013
Jaime Kearnan - May 2016 to April 2022
Daniel Grenon - May 2016 to August 2022 Angela VanderEyken - May 2018 to August 2020
Kristyn Bennett - May 2020 to September 2022
Sabrina Hasselfelt - May to Sept 2021
Grace Wiley - May 2020 to January 2025
Michaela Bouffard - April 2024 to January 2026
Meghan Ward - 2023 and 2024; October 2025 to present
Kyle Miller - January 2026 to present

Student Researchers

Esme Batchelor - 2025-26
Karmin McDonald - 2025-26

Field Observations & Independent Contributions

Turtle Guardians maintains a growing Field Observations archive documenting notable ecological patterns, behavioural observations, mortality trends, nesting anomalies, mitigation outcomes, and emerging research questions identified through ongoing monitoring programs.

Observations or findings identified within Turtle Guardians programs are considered part of broader long term institutional studies unless otherwise specified. Unique observations or independently developed research contributions submitted by individual staff, students, or collaborators may be separately credited within the Field Observations archive or linked as independent contributions where appropriate.

Beginning in 2024, the charity also initiated expanded university research partnerships and has been developing a formal Research, Authorship, and Intellectual Property Policy to support ethical collaboration, appropriate attribution, and transparent co production practices.

For additional information regarding research collaborations, data access, authorship practices, or institutional partnerships, please contact us.

Notable observations:

Egg implosions: beginning in 2022 with the hypothesis that these were related to a lack of environmentally available calcium in the Highlands (as no other incubator experienced this phenomenon) and that an exacerbating factor also contributed to this finding such as the presence of endocrine disruptors or pollutants.
Spring Snapping Turtle Hatchling emergence in Ontario and including parts of the Highlands beginning in 2019, and at increasing rates each year reported to us through our Tiny Turtle Contest platform. Excavation of some nests in the spring. Emergency did not coincide with high levels of snow cover in some instances.
Significant presence (more than 10 individuals) of Snapping Turtle and also Painted Turtle hatchling deformities including "stump" legs, beginning in 2023.
Dropping eggs: Snapping turtles in 2025 during a drought were simply dropping eggs as they walked, at the same time as burying only a handful successfully in a nest. Theory that this is related to dehydration alongside high temperatures.
Hatchling and juvenile turtle mortality associated with exposed arches alongside our ecopassage fencing in 2025. BMP update required to ensure complete backfilling. Proposed study to look at tenacity and inhibitions of juveniles to perceived or actual barriers.