Editing Spotted turtle (section)

==Distribution==
The spotted turtle ranges from southern [[Maine]], [[Quebec]], and [[Ontario]], south along the [[Eastern United States|eastern US]] to [[Florida]] in the east and central [[Indiana]] and [[Ohio]] in the west.<ref name="Ernst205"/><ref name=NYSDEC>{{cite web|url=http://www.dec.ny.gov/animals/7150.html |title=Spotted Turtle Fact Sheet |access-date=2011-01-18 |year=2009 |publisher=New York State Department of Environmental Conservation }}</ref> Disjunct populations exist in the Canadian portion of its range and also in central Illinois, central Georgia,<ref name=NYSDEC/><ref name=Buhlmann73>{{Harvnb|Buhlmann|Tuberville|Gibbons |2008|p=73}}</ref> North Carolina, South Carolina, and Indiana.{{sfn|Gielewski|p=2}} In Indiana and Illinois, the species is found only in the northern portion of the state but it is found on most of the [[Lower Peninsula of Michigan|lower peninsula of Michigan]]. The highly fragmented distribution of spotted turtles in Ohio only covers the northern two-thirds of the state.{{sfn|Gielewski|p=2}}

The spotted turtle occupies a variety of habitats including swamps, bogs, fens, marshes, woodland streams, and wet pastures. Also, brackish streams that are influenced by tides can also serve as a home to this turtle<ref name=Ernst207/> in addition to ditches, vernal pools, and sedge meadows.<ref name='Environment Canada'/> For a habitat to be sufficient for spotted turtle survival it must have areas of soft substrate and at least some aquatic vegetation.<ref name=Ernst207>{{Harvnb|Ernst|Barbour|Lovich|1994|p=207}}</ref> An optimum habitat would include shallow and slow-moving waters with soft muddy soil, sedge tussocks, water lilies, sphagnum moss, and cattails.<ref name='Environment Canada'/> Because it is so often found in areas that contain [[Lemnoideae|duckweed]], the yellow spots on these turtles may serve as a form of [[camouflage]].<ref name=Buhlmann73/> The spotted turtle avoids artificial reservoirs and deep, open-water areas.<ref name="Buhlmann73"/>

The spotted turtle can be decidedly terrestrial, spending a good amount of time on land<ref name=Ernst207/> and sometimes [[Ectotherm|basking]] on patches of grass near its body of water.<ref name=Ernst72/> The females during times of nesting will travel onto land and lay eggs on sunny soil. Nesting also may take place in other terrestrial locations, for instance near man-made dikes or the nest of a muskrat.<ref name='Environment Canada'/>