Distribution: Blanding's turtle is a semiaquatic species found from southwestern Quebec and southern Ontario south through the Great Lakes region, and west to Iowa, northeastern Missouri, southeastern South Dakota, and west-central Nebraska. Scattered localities include southeastern New York, eastern Massachusetts, southern New Hampshire, and adjacent Maine, and Nova Scotia (Graham et al. 1987). The species has crossed Lake Erie to northwestern Pennsylvania (Ernst 1985).

Habitat: This species is found in productive, eutrophic habitats, with clean shallow water, a soft but firm organic bottom, and abundant aquatic vegetation. It is found in lakes, ponds, marshes, creeks, wet prairies, and sloughs.

Behavior: The Blanding's turtle is primarily active during daylight hours, especially during morning hours. It frequently basks on muskrat lodges, steep banks of dikes and ditches, stumps, logs, piles of driftwood, sedge clumps, and cattail debris. Basking generally occurs from 0800-1730 hr (water temperature 15-27 ^oC) under sunny to partly cloudy conditions. At night, the Blanding's turtle sleeps suspended in aquatic vegetation or on pond bottoms beneath aquatic vegetation (Rowe and Moll 1991). Turtles are active from late March until September (varies geographically). Hibernation generally begins between September and November when water temperatures drop to 6-13 ^oC.

Reproduction: Courtship and mating have been observed in every month from March to November, but are most common from March to July (Vogt 1981). The nesting season lasts from late May to early July, depending on geographic location and weather conditions (Rowe 1992). The flask-shaped nests are dug with the hind limbs and are usually completed at night by 2300 hr. Some turtles have demonstrated site fidelity. Only a single clutch (3-22 eggs total; x range 10-15) is deposited yearly (Ernst et al. 1994; Joyal 1996). Incubation time varies as a function of temperature. Laboratory studies showed incubation times from 47 to 82 days (Ewert 1979). In a Michigan study (Ewert 1979), hatchlings emerge from the middle of August to early October; the time between laying and emergence is 73-104 days (x= 84). Gender determination is temperature-dependent.

Food habits: Crayfish account for 50 percent of their diet, but insects (e.g., Odonata, Coleoptera, Diptera), fish and their eggs, frogs and plant material (filamentous algae and duckweed) are also ingested (Kofron and Schreiber 1985).

Populations: Sex ratios of Blanding's turtle population range from essentially 1:1 to strongly female-biased (Congdon and van Loben Sels 1991). Density (turtles per hectare) in various locations include: 8.8-10 (Michigan), 27.5 (Wisconsin), 55.0 (Missouri), and 6.3 (Massachusetts). Wetland alteration or destruction is believed to be an important factor in the decline of several populations of Blanding's turtles (Kofron and Schreiber 1985). In addition to habitat destruction, the pet trade industry has also been attributed to population declines throughout its range.