The Alabama Map Turtle, Graptemys pulchra, as originally defined and considered until the late 20th century, included all of the populations of big-headed Gulf Coast Graptemys (except for G. barbouri) from northwestern Georgia and Florida's western Panhandle across Alabama and Mississippi to eastern Louisiana. However, two new species were split out by Lovich and McCoy (1992) as G. ernsti from the Conecuh-Escambia and Yellow River systems and G. gibbonsi from the Pascagoula and Pearl River systems, and the latter subsequently split by Ennen et al. (2010) to include a third new species, G. pearlensis from the Pearl River system.

The Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources assesses Graptemys pulchra as a Species of Moderate Concern as a reflection of its abundance and distribution. While the core of the distribution is in Alabama, where it appears relatively secure, population monitoring should be periodically performed to ascertain its survival under ongoing threats. The species is popular in the pet trade and while Alabama has regulations in place to prohibit the commercial collection of these turtles, the regulations can only be enforced with adequate state support. The effect of past overcollection is unknown. Motorized recreational vehicles in and along streams are an unregulated threat.  These threats include propeller strikes on turtles in rivers with motorized boats and off-road vehicle damage to nesting beaches. Nest predation under natural conditions is high, but with human use of rivers, discarded food likely subsidizes mesopredators and increases the rate of nest predation. Habitat degradation is an ongoing threat with salvage logging of submerged tree trunks and snag removal, stream bank degradation from improper logging activities, water quality degradation from paper mills, wastewater treatment facilities, and energy production plants. Within the range of G. pulchra are 31 major dams disrupting turtles’ movement and fragmenting populations. The long-term genetic effect of fragmentation upon the species has not been investigated. Although most populations at present appear to possibly be stable or some perhaps even increasing slightly, there are insufficient data to warrant either downlisting or uplisting the species from its previous assessment in 2011 as Near Threatened (van Dijk 2011). As a result, we assess it again as Near Threatened (NT) under criteria A2bcd+4bcd, reflecting past and ongoing habitat loss and degradation, decreased area of occupancy, impacts of the global pet trade, and the potential effects of pollution.

Graptemys pulchra inhabits rivers and associated tributaries of the Mobile River Basin in Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi, and peripherally in Tennessee (Ernst and Lovich 2009, Lindeman 2013, Lovich et al. 2014, TTWG 2021). Major rivers are the Coosa, Cahaba, lower Tallapoosa, Alabama, Black Warrior, and Tombigbee. These rivers drain into the Mobile-Tensaw Delta, where the occurrence of G. pulchra appears to be only in the upper freshwater reach; as waters of the delta increase slightly in salinity, G. pulchra is no longer present.

The estimated historical indigenous range (area of occupancy, AOO) of G. pulchra, based on fine-scaled level 12 hydrologic unit compartments (HUCs), was ca 47,597 sq. km, and the estimated historical indigenous extent of occurrence (EOO) was ca 128,237 sq. km (TTWG in press). Reasonable estimates for the current range are between 3,250 and 4,000 linear km of streams, or a current AOO of ca 6,500–8,000 sq. km. The altitude of inhabited streams ranges from 2 to 230 m asl.

Tinkle (1959) investigated turtle distributions along the Fall Line in Alabama in the Tombigbee, Warrior, and Alabama rivers. His total number for Graptemys pulchra across all three rivers was 41; for comparison the total for the syntopic G. nigrinoda was 407. These numbers are totals for turtles captured in traps and hand capture. Tinkle’s ratio of captured G. pulchra to G. nigrinoda was 1:9.9. He further examined the distribution of these species above and below the Fall Line, reporting G. pulchra evenly distributed across the Fall Line.

In 2001 and 2003, Godwin (2003) surveyed basking turtles in the Mobile River basin, the mean number of G. pulchra observed was 2.3/river km. Below the Fall Line G. pulchra mean number of basking individuals was 1.8/river km, while above the Fall Line the mean number was 4.5/river km. This geological division generally coincides with free-flowing rivers in natural channels below the Fall Line with slow flowing impoundments without distinct channel demarcation above the Fall Line. A total of 234.3 river km were covered during the 2001 and 2003 surveys, with 207.8 river km below the Fall Line and 26.7 above the Fall Line. Densities of 2.3–3.8 basking animals per km of river was reported during these surveys (Blankenship et al. 2008).

Surveys conducted in Alabama by Godwin (2003) reported mean number of basking G. pulchra from the Alabama, Black Warrior, Cahaba, Coosa, Tallapoosa, Tensaw, and Tombigbee rivers for the years 2001 and 2003. Graptemys pulchra was the second most commonly documented basking turtle during these surveys, after G. nigrinoda, with the reported mean number of individuals per river km presented in Table S1 (see Supplementary Information).

A total of 488 G. pulchra, all age classes, were recorded during these surveys, and 1,719 G. nigrinoda. The resulting G. pulchra to G. nigrinoda ratio is 1:3.5, a ratio higher than that based on Tinkle's (1959) numbers.

Jensen (2015) surveyed the Coosa River in Georgia and reported a mean of 0.5 individuals/river km, with all age classes and numerous juveniles observed. Brown and Wilkins (unpubl. data, 2023) surveyed the Upper Coosa between Neely Henry and Weiss Lakes in northeast Alabama. They found G. pulchra to be one of the most abundant basking turtle species across three stretches of river. Mark-resight surveys found G. pulchra to occur at densities of 15.5–29.5 per river kilometre. Additional standardized basking surveys incorporating environmental covariates and mark-resight studies are needed to demonstrate population trends.

Graptemys pulchra inhabits the main channels of medium-sized to large rivers and creeks, specifically areas with an abundance of freshwater mussels and snails and snags for basking. The species does not occur in estuarine, backwater or floodplain swamp habitats. Females nest on large, relatively open sandbars of fine sand. All the large rivers in the range of G. pulchra have been impounded except for the Cahaba River. The species has adapted to the lentic conditions of the impoundments. Males and juveniles are presumed to feed mainly on insects (Ernst and Lovich 2009), while adult females feed almost exclusively on gastropod and bivalve molluscs, including the introduced Asian clam Corbicula fluminea being the females’ primary prey (Marion 1986). Lindeman (2016) quantified the diet of G. pulchra and reported female diets with 77% C. fluminea and 22% native bivalves; male G. pulchra diet included 64% C. fluminea, 11% native bivalves, and 23% insect fragments.

Females mature at an age of about 14 years, males at 8–10 years. Females nest from late April or May through August and produce 6–7 clutches per female per year, each clutch with 4–6 eggs (Ernst and Lovich 2009). Males reach a maximum of 12.2 cm straight-line carapace length (SCL), females 27.9 cm SCL. (Lovich et al. 2014, Coleman 2020). Hatchlings measure about 25–29 mm SCL (Lovich in Ernst and Lovich 2009). Longevity is considered to exceed 20 years (Ernst and Lovich 2009). Based on female maturity at 14 years, generation time is estimated at 32 years (Iverson 2024).

While data are lacking on nest predation it is expected to be high as it is with other freshwater turtle species that inhabit rivers and nest on exposed sandbars. Crows, armadillos, racoons, foxes, coyotes, and feral swine are likely the significant nest predators. Nest and hatchling mortality from recreational use on riverine sandbanks is also expected to be a factor affecting population recruitment. Water quality throughout the range of G. pulchra is at potential risk from catastrophic mishaps at upstream industrial facilities, including paper mills, wastewater treatment facilities, steam plants for energy generation, and manufacturing facilities, potentially affecting the turtles’ filter-feeding prey and the turtles themselves. Additional threats include potential salvage logging of submerged tree trunks and snag removal for boating purposes. The species is in some demand in the global pet trade and persistent collection could locally impact the species. Impacts on native mussel populations from riverine developments and pollution may be offset to some degree by the spread of the invasive Asian Corbicula mussel.

Graptemys pulchra is in some demand in the global pet trade and persistent collection could impact the species locally.

All broad-headed Graptemys spp. (G. barbouri, G. ernsti, G. gibbonsi, G. pearlensis, and G. pulchra) have been proposed for inclusion as Threatened under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) (USFWS 2021). The genus Graptemys was included in CITES Appendix III (United States) since 2006, and all broad-headed Graptemys spp., including G. pulchra, have been included in Appendix II since 2023.

The species is protected under State regulations in Alabama as a Protected Nongame Species, while it is listed as Rare in Georgia but take is currently unregulated. The Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources assesses Graptemys pulchra as a Species of Moderate Concern as a reflection of its abundance and distribution (Shelton-Nix 2017). Graptemys pulchra occurs in several protected areas across its range. Conservation measures needed include closing commercial and unregulated personal take in Georgia, and population monitoring and continued distribution and status surveys throughout its range.

See coded 'Conservation Actions Needed' and 'Research Needed' for further recommendations.