Are you looking for read ebook online? Search for your book and save it on your Kindle device, PC, phones or tablets. Download Habitat Use Activity Patterns And Home Range Analysis Of The Northern Pine Snake Pituophis Melanoleucus Melanoleucus At Arnold Air Force Base Tennessee PDF full book. Access full book title Habitat Use Activity Patterns And Home Range Analysis Of The Northern Pine Snake Pituophis Melanoleucus Melanoleucus At Arnold Air Force Base Tennessee.
| Author | : Gary W. Gerald |
| Publisher | : |
| Total Pages | : 162 |
| Release | : 2003 |
| Genre | : Pine snake |
| ISBN | : |
| Author | : Joanna Burger |
| Publisher | : Nova Novinka |
| Total Pages | : 0 |
| Release | : 2011 |
| Genre | : Pine snake |
| ISBN | : 9781612094526 |
At the northern limit of their range, the Pine Snake (Pituophis melanoleucus) is listed as a threatened species by the state of New Jersey. They occur in the southern portion of the state in an area known as the Pine Barrens, where they are isolated from other conspecifics much farther south in Tennessee, Virginia, Kentucky and the Carolinas. The major threat that Pine Snakes face throughout their range is habitat loss. Measures to protect Pine Snakes are discussed in this book, particularly habitat protection, enhancement of known nesting areas, construction of hibernacula and protection of nesting and hibernation habitats from off-road vehicles
| Author | : Gabriel J. Miller |
| Publisher | : |
| Total Pages | : |
| Release | : 2008 |
| Genre | : |
| ISBN | : |
Pine snakes predominately used pocket gopher burrows as fossorial refuges, though I did not detect an association with any refuges during their above-ground activities. Florida pine snakes used large areas and selected for mixed pine-hardwood forest. Snakes were highly fossorial; therefore refuges, particularly southeastern pocket gopher burrows, are important resources for Florida pine snakes. It appeared that fragmentation by major roads and intensive agriculture may impede pine snake movements. Effective conservation of Florida pine snakes will require the protection, restoration and management of native habitats. Protecting native upland ecosystems and natural disturbance processes such as fire, will benefit pine snakes and, thereby, provide and maintain necessary resources.
| Author | : Ronald M. Smith |
| Publisher | : |
| Total Pages | : 212 |
| Release | : 2013 |
| Genre | : Crotalus |
| ISBN | : |
In New Jersey, italicCrotalus horridusitalic, a state-endangered species, and italicPituophis melanoleucusitalic, a state-threatened species, are vulnerable to extirpation due to habitat loss and direct human impacts. I used radio-telemetry to determine the spatial ecology of these two species at the Warren Grove Range (WGR). italicCrotalus horridusitalic had no significant differences in home range size, seasonal activity, core activity area, range length, distance traveled per day, or seasonal differences in distance traveled per day between male and female snakes. They utilized hardwood swamp habitat the greatest proportion of use as compared to the six other habitat types identified at WGR. italicPituophis melanoleucusitalic had no significant differences in home range size, core activity area, range length, or distance traveled per day, between sexes or between locations in or outside of the target zone. italicPituophis melanoleucusitalic tracked in 2005 and 2006 traveled larger total distance, larger distance per day, and had larger home range compared to snakes in 2003 and 2004. There were no significant differences in maximum distance dispersed or location of hibernacula within home range by year or sex for italicP. melanoleucusitalic, which moved in all potential directions away from their hibernaculum, up to 2764.1 m away. A circular buffer around a hibernation site, based on dispersal distances, encompasses 2388 ha of land need to protect habitat and resources for the subpopulations of each hibernaculum. A minimum of 2388 ha, should be protected around hibernacula to support the current population of italicP. melanoleucusitalic. The WGR is an important location for snakes because the landscape is protected, relatively inaccessible, and free of negative impacts associated with urban development, agriculture, and high-use paved roadways. These data on the spatial ecology of these two snakes are important as baselines for evaluating threats to these snakes and can aid in developing mitigation and conservation strategies in light of the continued development in the Pine Barrens.
| Author | : Kevin P.W. Smith |
| Publisher | : |
| Total Pages | : 178 |
| Release | : 2014 |
| Genre | : Chemical ecology |
| ISBN | : |
Due to the cryptic and fossorial nature of northern pine snakes (Pituophis melanoleucus) there is a lack of data on their early life behavior and dispersal. As a New Jersey State Threatened species, it is vital to elucidate the ecological role and needs of all life stages of this species. An understanding of first season life history traits from hatching to ingress is particularly difficult to monitor. Because of this, I used a combination of chemosensory assays and radio telemetry to investigate factors influencing neonate dispersal and habitat use. This multifaceted approach allowed me to compare field observations with controlled experimental data. To investigate their spatial ecology, I surgically implanted 18 P. melanoleucus neonates with small weight-to-mass transmitters and radio-tracked them after leaving their nests in September until hibernaculum ingress in November. I monitored neonate activity daily and recorded environmental and behavioral data. With these data, I performed a compositional analysis to describe the habitat utilization of this life stage. I performed two different chemosensory behavioral tests with the neonates, one to investigate intraspecific communication, and one to examine interspecies cue response. For intraspecies communication, neonates (n=15) were selected to run a y-maze test with the options of following a scent trail from a sibling and from a non-sibling conspecific neonate, as well as another group of neonates (n=12) with the options of a nestmate scent trail and no scent trail. To quantify interspecies cue responses, I modified an existing tongue flicking/attack assessment to include behaviors more commonly seen in this species and monitored neonate and adult responses to potential prey and non-prey chemical cues. All neonates utilized habitat for foraging and thermoregulation within maximum distances of 34m to 450m of their nest. First year hibernacula were in close proximity to nest sites, and consistent distances between both years of study, with the majority within 100 meters. While this is typically described as an upland species, the neonates readily used wetlands at similar rates when encountered. They also readily used disturbed and shrub dominated uplands. Neonates did not prefer sibling scent trails, however they had a tendency to follow neonate scent trails rather than no scent trail. There was a difference in tongue flicking behavior between individuals who followed siblings and those that did not, indicating the potential for in recognition. Also, both pine snake neonates and adults displayed high behavioral interest scores in response to rodent scent above all other offered scents. This behavioral response combined with a regurgitated sample passively retrieved from a neonate suggests that neonate pine snakes are consuming adult rodents within two weeks of leaving the nest. Insight into the spatial and ecological needs of this life stage will help us better denote protected areas and potential nest sites for this threatened species. In addition, this is the first study to implant snake neonates soon after hatching, release them within 24 hours, and successfully track them through their first months. These multifaceted methods will be useful through adapting to a wide variety of herpetofauna.
| Author | : |
| Publisher | : |
| Total Pages | : |
| Release | : 2008 |
| Genre | : |
| ISBN | : |
The U.S. Air Force (USAF) manages natural resources on New Boston Air Force Station (NBAFS) through the implementation of an Integrated Natural Resource Management Plan (INRMP) (USAF 2006). The NBAFS INRMP supports the military mission of the station by ensuring the long-term sustainability of species, habitats, and ecosystems on NBAFS, and thus proactively avoids conflicts associated with natural resource compliance issues. Natural resources are managed at NBAFS using an adaptive management process that integrates new findings and a developing understanding of human impacts on natural systems into future strategies and plans. The NBAFS INRMP describes the overall management goals and objectives at NBAFS. It identifies the projects planned over a 5-year period that would be implemented to support those objectives. In the INRMP, goals, objectives, and projects were identified for seven specific natural resource management topical areas, including (1) threatened, endangered, and rare species populations; (2) wetlands; (3) rare natural communities; (4) forest management; (5) control of invasive nonnative plant species; (6) outdoor recreation; and (7) unexploded ordnance remediation. Goals, objectives, and projects associated with the management of threatened, endangered, and rare species on NBAFS focus on determining distributions, habitat use, and habitat needs; developing management strategies to sustain or improve habitat conditions; and ensuring that populations of these species continue to exist or expand on NBAFS. Three projects were identified in the INRMP that address the status and management of the eastern hognose snake (Heterodon platirhinos) on NBAFS: (1) Project TE-4.1.1: Continue the monitoring study of eastern hognose snakes to determine seasonal habitat use and movements. (2) Project TE-4.1.2: Conduct a radiotelemetry study of adult eastern hognose snakes and determine vegetation, soils, topography, other characteristics, and the ecological context of seasonal habitats and movement corridors. (3) Project TE-4.2.1: Develop and implement a management plan for eastern hognose snakes and their habitats. This report presents and discusses the work conducted on Project TE-4.1.2 in 2006 and 2007. This is the final report for this 2-year project. The eastern hognose snake is listed by the State of New Hampshire as threatened. It was first positively identified on NBAFS in 1997, and from 1997 through 2004 more than 20 confirmed sightings of the species were made on the station (Kostrzewski et al. 2006). Both adult and juvenile snakes have been observed at the station, and it is known that a reproductive population exists there. The regularity of sightings of eastern hognose snakes on NBAFS and the observation of an individual in a borrow pit reclamation project area indicated that there was a need for a better understanding of movement patterns and habitat use on the station. Studies of eastern hognose snakes were conducted on NBAFS in 2004 (Najjar and Drake 2005) and 2005 (Kostrzewski et al. 2006). In 2004, systematic searches of known use areas (Boresight Tower and the reclaimed borrow pit) were made to document presence and determine life stage, length, and weight of individual snakes. In 2005, a similar study was conducted with the addition of a test of the feasibility of tracking adult hognose snakes using radiotelemetry. Two adults were surgically implanted with radiotransmitters (one in May and one in September) and tracked for the remainder of the year to determine movement patterns. The adult captured in May made several long-distance movements from its original point of capture (near East Meadow Road in the north central portion of NBAFS), to the central portion of NBAFS (near Joe English Pond; 1 km moved), to the southwestern corner of NBAFS (near the Boresight Tower; 1.8 km moved), and back toward the center of NBAFS (P51 Hill; 1.1 km moved). The second adult moved little after its capture in September near the Boresight Tower (0.3 km moved). The study objectives in Project TE-4.1.2 included determinations of (1) the overall distribution of the species on NBAFS, (2) the home range size of individuals, (3) movement and activity patterns, and (4) habitat preferences. The results are to be used in making natural resource management decisions and to enable avoidance of impacts on this species that could result from future management or development decisions.
| Author | : John Gilbert Himes |
| Publisher | : |
| Total Pages | : 116 |
| Release | : 1998 |
| Genre | : |
| ISBN | : |
| Author | : |
| Publisher | : |
| Total Pages | : 28 |
| Release | : 1998 |
| Genre | : |
| ISBN | : |
This report addresses the four subspecies of pine snake (Pituophis melanoleucus) that occur east of the Mississippi River: Northern Pine Snake (P. m. melanoleucus), Florida pine snake (P. m. mugitus), Black Pine Snake (P. m. lodingi), and Louisiana Pine Snake (P. m. ruthveni). These subspecies typically inhabit areas of sandy soil dominated by scrub pines and shrubs, flat sandy pine barrens, sandhills, and dry mountain ridges. Pine snakes in the southeastern United States are former candidate species for listing as threatened or endangered by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The Louisiana subspecies is considered one of the rarest and least understood snakes in North America. Habitat loss and fragmentation appear to be the primary threats to the continued survival of pine snakes. Pine snakes have been documented on several military installations in the Southeast. This report is one of a series of Species Profiles being developed for threatened, endangered, and sensitive species inhabiting southeastern United States plant communities. The work is being conducted as part of the Department of Defense (DoD) Strategic Environmental Research and Development Program (SERDP). The report is designed to supplement information provided in plant community management reports for major United States plant communities found on military installations. Information provided on pine snakes includes status, life history and ecology, habitat requirements, impacts and cause of decline, management and protection, and inventory and monitoring.
| Author | : Evan J. Menzel |
| Publisher | : |
| Total Pages | : 192 |
| Release | : 2008 |
| Genre | : Agkistrodon piscivorus |
| ISBN | : |
Adult male Agkistrodon piscivorus leucostoma were captured and implanted with radio transmitters and Thermochron® i-Buttons as part of a larger radio telemetry study on home range analysis, spatial patterns, habitat use and thermoregulation of cottonmouths in southwestern Missouri. There were significant differences in home range size between males, non-gravid females and gravid females in all home range area estimates, except core use area (50% Kernel home range area estimates), with males having the largest home ranges. A principal components analysis of snake locations revealed that snakes use the habitat in a non-random fashion at landscape, macrohabitat, and microhabitat scales. Snake population segments used habitat in distinctly different ways, to fulfill various key resource requirements. Male snakes were typically found relatively far from water in association with grassland habitats, apparently to exploit high densities of large rodent prey. All females were typically found in association with riparian woodland relatively close to water. However gravid females differed from non-gravid females in their use of habitat edges and gaps within the forest canopy to accommodate thermal needs during gestation. The thermal preference range (Tset) of four male snakes was determined to be 23.5 -- 29.5 °C with a mean temperature of 26.3 °C (± 0.253). The mean body temperature of field-active males was 22.54 °C (± 0.028). Thermal indices indicated that male cottonmouth snakes did not deviate much from thermoconformity.
| Author | : Dane C. Ward |
| Publisher | : |
| Total Pages | : 218 |
| Release | : 2015 |
| Genre | : Conservation biology |
| ISBN | : |
Estimating local population density for threatened and endangered species is critical for successful conservation and management. For a cryptic and fossorial species such as the northern pinesnake (Pituophis melanoleucus), this problem is not easily resolved with classic mark-recapture studies because of low detection probabilities, low recapture rates, and unknown geographic distributions of local populations. Pituophis melanoleucus is a threatened species in New Jersey where the current population size and local population densities remain unknown. Because P. melanoleucus demonstrates long-term site fidelity for communal hibernacula, I used census data from select hibernacula along with spatial ecology data to estimate local P. melanoleucus density at Warren Grove Gunnery Range, Burlington County, New Jersey. I used maximum distance dispersed from hibernaculum (Max-D) to create idealized concentric circles around each hibernaculum, delimited the potential area that could be used by each snake, and estimated the density per hectare. Adult Max-D ranged from 386 m to 2765 m (x̅ = 1535 m ±95 m) with no observed differences between sexes. Local adult density ranged from 0.003 snakes/ha to 0.008 snakes/ha (x̅ = 0.005/ha) among hibernacula. Total population density (adults, sub-adults, and neonates) ranged from 0.004/ha to 0.022/ha (x̅ = 0.011 /ha). There was a positive relationship (r^2 = 0.63) between the maximum distance egressed and the number of adult snakes occupying each hibernacula. I determined that P. melanoleucus densities were below one snake per hectare. I calculated that 33,836.2 ha (14%) of former pinesnake habitat (236,281.8 ha) had been lost to development from 1986 to 2007 and that 20,203.5 ha (59.7%) of habitat loss occurred within core habitat patches. I considered intact natural forest areas as core habitat and only used patches greater than 200 ha in my analysis. I considered patches less than 200 ha unable to sustain a long-term viable P. melanoleucus population and assumed these habitat sinks ( 200 ha) supported fewer snakes than larger patches ( 200 ha). I estimated that the current available habitat (202,445.6 ha) supported between 810 and 4454 P. melanoleucus. Although I set 200 ha as the habitat patch size threshold, smaller patches, provided they are not degraded, still have ecological value to buffer larger patches and for snakes to “island hop” to larger patches. In addition, I measured the movement rate (m/s) of adult pinesnakes across three road substrate types (asphalt, concrete, sand) to determine resistance values between habitat patches. Adults traveled faster on sand (x ̅ = 0.12 m/s) compared to asphalt (x ̅ = 0.09 m/s) or concrete (x ̅ = 0.03 m/s). My metric for estimating population size, that incorporated road resistance values between habitat patches will be important for determining where to maintain or establish landscape conservation areas for this declining threatened species in New Jersey.
