Amy followed up on the work of Nicole Basaraba by zeroing in on the winter ecology of painted turtles living in a hydroelectric reservoir near Revelstoke, B.C..  The goal of her study was to understand how the animals are coping with  fluctuating water levels during winter,  in addition to tolerating the relatively long winters under the ice.  Amy used radio-telemetry to monitor the locations of animals overwinter, along with environmental parameters such as water temperature, dissolved oxygen, and depth.  Amy was kept busy by the sometimes-substantial movements made by her submerged study animals.  A neighbouring ‘upland’ pond that contains a large number of painted turtles also has furnished Amy with comparative data.

Our partners on this project were LGL Ltd and the Okanagan Nations Alliance.  Amy now holds a position with the latter as a wildlife biologist.

email: amy-leeming@mytru.ca