The cover image features an ornate box turtle (Terrapene ornata) in a prairie in Illinois. They are a terrestrial species, inhabiting grasslands and prairies throughout the central and western United States and northern Mexico. Many T. ornata populations are now small and isolated because much of their habitat has been converted to agriculture. In our study, we used several decades of capture-recapture surveys to estimate demographic traits and project population persistence, revealing concerning declines and providing insights into their future viability.

