Hibernacula and Summer Den Sites of Pine Snakes (Pituophis melanoleucus) in the New Jersey Pine Barrens

Burger, Joanna; Zappalorti, Robert T.; Gochfeld, Michael; Boarman, William I.; Caffrey, Michael; Doig, V.; Garber, Steven; Lauro, Brook; Mikovsky, Maria; Safina, Carl; Saliva, Jorge E.

doi:10.2307/1564337

Cited by 42 publications

(20 citation statements)

References 10 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…They live in open sandy areas, pitch pine ( Pinus rigida ) uplands, pitch pine–oak uplands, grassland fields, and on the edges of Atlantic white cedar ( Thuja occidentalis ) swamps (Burger and Zappalorti, 1988, 1989). The snakes often hide under debris, logs, or low-hanging branches, or take refuge in shallow summer burrows (Burger et al, 1988). They begin to move to hibernation sites in late September to October, and remain nearby until they finally enter dens in late October to early November.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Hibernation is crucial to survival for ectotherms in temperate-zone winters because they are unable to generate metabolic heat (Gregory, 1982; Brown, 1992; Brown and Weatherhead, 2000). In habitats where there are few suitable winter den locations (e.g., Harvey and Weatherhead, 2006), hibernacula are sometimes used repeatedly, often by groups of snakes (Burger et al, 1988; Johnson, 1995; Shine and Mason, 2004). The value of determining the location and use of snake hibernation sites at the northern limits of their range is important for conservation and management.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In the New Jersey Pine Barrens, preferred hibernation sites are in abandoned mammal burrows or stump holes, and have partial or full canopy openings, with some sun penetration to the ground. These habitat features are limited (Burger et al, 1988, 2012). …”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Hibernation Site Philopatry in Northern Pine Snakes (Pituophis melanoleucus) in New Jersey

Burger¹,

Zappalorti²

2015

Journal of Herpetology

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Northern Pine Snakes (Pituophis melanoleucus) are one of the few snakes that spend the winter in underground hibernacula that they excavate. We report the use of hibernacula by Pine Snakes from 1986 to 2012 in the New Jersey Pine Barrens. We determined whether philopatry to a specific hibernaculum varied as a function of age, sex, and location of the hibernaculum. Three hibernacula were occupied nearly continuously for 27 yr by 1 to 27 snakes each year. With known-age snakes (N = 120), captured mainly as hatchlings and 2-yr-olds, we found that 23% were always philopatric. Philopatry was related to age of last capture, sex, and capture location. Philopatry was higher for 1) females compared with males, 2) snakes at two solitary hibernacula compared with a hibernaculum complex, and 3) snakes 6 yr old or younger, compared with older snakes. Of hatchlings found hibernating, 24% used the same hibernation site the next year, and 38% were located at year 4 or later. The number of snakes that always used the same hibernation site declined with the age of last capture. Snakes that entered hibernacula as hatchlings were found more often than those that entered as 2-yr-olds. For the seven snakes that were 14 yr or older, females were found 64– 86 % of the time, whereas males were found 15 to 50% of the time. Understanding the behavior and habitat requirements of snakes during different seasons is central to life-history analysis and for conserving viable populations.

show abstract

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Hibernation Site Philopatry in Northern Pine Snakes (Pituophis melanoleucus) in New Jersey

Burger¹,

Zappalorti²

2015

Journal of Herpetology

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Females show high site fidelity to nest sites, and such site-specific habitats need to be protected [57]. Similarly, pine snakes require fairly open patches for hibernation sites to keep the soil from freezing, while still allowing the snakes to be above the gravel layer that impedes digging [58,59]. Most snakes hibernate at depths of 50 -111 cm (maximum of 200 cm), indicating that sand depths without gravel need to be at least 111 cm to avoid winter temperature stresses [58].…”

Section: Northern Pine Snakementioning

confidence: 99%

“…Similarly, pine snakes require fairly open patches for hibernation sites to keep the soil from freezing, while still allowing the snakes to be above the gravel layer that impedes digging [58,59]. Most snakes hibernate at depths of 50 -111 cm (maximum of 200 cm), indicating that sand depths without gravel need to be at least 111 cm to avoid winter temperature stresses [58]. Pine snakes also show fidelity to hibernation sites, and optimal sites are occupied continuously for over 20 years [54], suggesting that these specific habitat sites need to be protected.…”

Section: Northern Pine Snakementioning

confidence: 99%

Habitat protection for sensitive species: Balancing species requirements and human constraints using bioindicators as examples

Burger¹,

Gochfeld²,

Powers³

et al. 2013

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Vertebrates have particular habitat needs as a function of life cycle and reproductive stage. This paper uses four species as examples to illustrate a paradigm of environmental assessment that includes physical, biological, toxicological and human dimensions. Species used include Chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha), northern leopard frog (Rana pipiens), northern pine snake (Pituophis m. melanoleucus), and red knot (Calidris canutus rufa, a sandpiper). The life cycles of these species include reliance on habitats that are aquatic, terrestrial, aerial, or combinations of these. Two species (frog, snake) are sedentary and two (salmon, sandpiper) are long-distance migrants. While some measurement endpoints are similar for all species (reproductive success, longevity, contaminant loads), others vary depending upon life cycle and habitat. Salmon have a restricted breeding habitat requiring coarse sand, moderate current, and high oxygen levels for adequate egg incubation. Leopard frogs require still water of appropriate temperature for development of eggs. Pine snakes require sand compaction sufficient to sustain a nest burrow without collapsing, and full sun penetration to the sand to allow their eggs in underground nests to incubate and hatch. Red knots migrate to high Arctic tundra, but incubate their own eggs, so temperature is less of a constraint, but feedinging habitat is. These habitat differences suggest the measurement endpoints that are essential to assess habitat suitability and to manage habitats to achieve stable and sustainable populations. Habitat use and population stability have implications for human activities for some, but not all species. Salmon are important economically, recreationally, and as part of Native American culture and diet. Red knots are of interest to people mainly because of their long, intercontinental migrations and declining populations. Other measurement endpoints for these four species illustrate the differences and similarities in metrics necessary to assess habitat needs. The implications of these differences are discussed.

show abstract

Room without a view—Den excavation in relation to body size in brown bears

Shiratsuru

Friebe²,

Swenson

et al. 2020

Ecology and Evolution

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Hibernation is an adaptive strategy to survive harsh winter conditions and food shortage. The use of well‐insulated winter dens helps animals minimize energy loss during hibernation. Brown bears ( Ursus arctos ) commonly use excavated dens for hibernation. Physical attributes of excavated dens are expected to impact the bear's heat retention and energy conservation. The objective of this study was to examine the determinants of cavity size of excavated dens and the impact of physical attributes of excavated dens on energy conservation in hibernating bears, hypothesizing that bears excavate dens in a way to minimize heat loss and optimize energy conservation during hibernation. We predicted that den cavity size would be determined by the bear's body size and that older bears would excavate better‐fitting cavities to minimize heat loss, due to their previous experience. We further predicted that physical attributes of excavated dens would affect the bears’ posthibernation body condition. Our results revealed that bears excavated a den cavity in relation to their body size, regardless of sex, and that older bears tended to excavate better‐fitting den cavities compared to young bears, as we expected. Older bears excavated better‐fitting den cavities, suggesting a potentially experience‐based shift with age in den‐excavation behavior and an optimum cavity size relative to a bear's body size. Our key finding is that insulation of excavated dens provided by wall/rood thickness and bedding materials had a significant positive effect on bears’ posthibernation body condition. We believe that our study provides new insight into how not only the quality of denning habitat, but also the quality of dens may affect hibernating animals, by presenting a potential adaptive aspect of den preparation (age effect on efficiency in den excavation) and effect of den attributes on the posthibernation body condition of brown bears.

show abstract

Hibernacula and Summer Den Sites of Pine Snakes (Pituophis melanoleucus) in the New Jersey Pine Barrens

Cited by 42 publications

References 10 publications

Hibernation Site Philopatry in Northern Pine Snakes (Pituophis melanoleucus) in New Jersey

Hibernation Site Philopatry in Northern Pine Snakes (Pituophis melanoleucus) in New Jersey

Habitat protection for sensitive species: Balancing species requirements and human constraints using bioindicators as examples

Room without a view—Den excavation in relation to body size in brown bears

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About