EPOW - Ecology Picture of the Week

A Bayou Cooter

River Cooter (Pseudemys concinna), Family Emydidae
Jean Lafitte National Historical Park and Preserve, Louisiana, USA

Explanation:  Right at home in these warm sluggish waters of a back bayou is this River Cooter.   

Here is a species that is relatively well-distributed and in no apparent danger of population declines, at least here in south coastal Louisiana, USA.  Still, no full study seems to have been conducted on its overall status across its full geographic distribution in the eastern and southern United States.

Seen here basking in a warm summer sun, note how the shell seems "muddy," as it is often adorned with pieces of vegetation and bottom mud.  This is unstudied, but may signal a key ecological function of how this turtle may serve as an agent of dispersal of plants, seeds, and other organisms as it moves through these waterways and onto the land.  

Here is the bayou habitat where I found this turtle specimen.
(And "bayou" refers to swampy, sluggish backwater
outlets of lakes in the Deep South of the U.S.)

Note the very patchy distribution of submergent and emergent vegetation here.
It is possible that the local population of River Cooters
may contribute to the spread of plants, algae, seeds,
and other organisms along this waterway.

Sometimes we take for granted what we think we know --
a drowsy turtle on a rock or log, for instance --
without thinking deeper into what key ecological
roles they may play in their ecosystems!