Lifestyle, latitude and activity metabolism of natricine snakes

Abstract

The snakes Natrix natrix and N. maura were studied in a small Spanish river; the former was a widely foraging predator of frogs, the latter a sit‐and‐wait predator of fish. Natrix natrix was diurnal and terrestrial, N. maura was active by day and night and semi‐aquatic; their thermal niches are described and compared. The activity metabolism of these snakes was investigated to show the direct (activity) and indirect (thermal) effects of lifestyle. At high temperatures, aerobic scope was greater in N. natrix, an adaptation for greater activity. Aerobic scope of N. maura was less temperature sensitive, an adaptation to activity at low temperature and within a broad thermal niche. Lactate production and burst speed were less different. Activity metabolism of low and high latitude N. natrix were compared. The latter had elevated and less temperature sensitive aerobic scope. The functional interpretation of this pattern is noted, but no supporting evidence was found from published data on activity body temperature mean and range in natricine snakes.

Every breath you take: assessing metabolic costs of toxin resistance in garter snakes (Thamnophis)

“…Because terrestrial foraging and aquatic hunting expose snakes to different temperatures and require specific prey acquisition strategies (Secor & Nagy 1994; Stuginski et al . 2018), T. atratus and T. sirtalis should experience different abiotic constraints (Hailey & Davies 1986; Dupoue et al . 2017) that may ultimately influence activity rates, thermal physiology, and temperature‐sensitive physiological processes (such as sodium channel performance dynamics).…”

Every breath you take: assessing metabolic costs of toxin resistance in garter snakes (Thamnophis)

“…Because terrestrial foraging and aquatic hunting expose snakes to different temperatures and require specific prey acquisition strategies (Secor & Nagy 1994; Stuginski et al . 2018), T. atratus and T. sirtalis should experience different abiotic constraints (Hailey & Davies 1986; Dupoue et al . 2017) that may ultimately influence activity rates, thermal physiology, and temperature‐sensitive physiological processes (such as sodium channel performance dynamics).…”

Evolution of alternative foraging tactics driven by water temperature and physiological constraints in an amphibious snake

“…). According to Hailey & Davies (), 25 °C is the average temperature at which N. maura forages in nature, with 14 °C being the minimum temperature for foraging (Hailey & Davies, ). Both our experimental and field observations seem to indicate that Natrix maura from our study area are capable of foraging in water as cold as 8 °C (field observation) and as warm as 30 °C (experimental observation).…”

Modeling Markovian Dependence in Populations of Aralia Nudicaulis

“…The objective of this study was to accomplish this evaluation. Alatalo 1981, Alatalo et al 1985a, 1986, Gustafsson 1988. In general, these investigations compared the foraging niche of a species in parts of its range where it is sympatric and allopatric with putative competitors.…”

Every breath you take: assessing metabolic costs of toxin resistance in garter snakes (Thamnophis)

“…Because terrestrial foraging and aquatic hunting expose snakes to different temperatures and require specific prey acquisition strategies (Secor & Nagy 1994; Stuginski et al . 2018), T. atratus and T. sirtalis should experience different abiotic constraints (Hailey & Davies 1986; Dupoue et al . 2017) that may ultimately influence activity rates, thermal physiology, and temperature‐sensitive physiological processes (such as sodium channel performance dynamics).…”

Evolution of alternative foraging tactics driven by water temperature and physiological constraints in an amphibious snake

“…). According to Hailey & Davies (), 25 °C is the average temperature at which N. maura forages in nature, with 14 °C being the minimum temperature for foraging (Hailey & Davies, ). Both our experimental and field observations seem to indicate that Natrix maura from our study area are capable of foraging in water as cold as 8 °C (field observation) and as warm as 30 °C (experimental observation).…”

Modeling Markovian Dependence in Populations of Aralia Nudicaulis

“…The objective of this study was to accomplish this evaluation. Alatalo 1981, Alatalo et al 1985a, 1986, Gustafsson 1988. In general, these investigations compared the foraging niche of a species in parts of its range where it is sympatric and allopatric with putative competitors.…”

Every breath you take: assessing metabolic costs of toxin resistance in garter snakes (Thamnophis)

“…Because terrestrial foraging and aquatic hunting expose snakes to different temperatures and require specific prey acquisition strategies (Secor & Nagy 1994; Stuginski et al . 2018), T. atratus and T. sirtalis should experience different abiotic constraints (Hailey & Davies 1986; Dupoue et al . 2017) that may ultimately influence activity rates, thermal physiology, and temperature‐sensitive physiological processes (such as sodium channel performance dynamics).…”

Evolution of alternative foraging tactics driven by water temperature and physiological constraints in an amphibious snake

“…). According to Hailey & Davies (), 25 °C is the average temperature at which N. maura forages in nature, with 14 °C being the minimum temperature for foraging (Hailey & Davies, ). Both our experimental and field observations seem to indicate that Natrix maura from our study area are capable of foraging in water as cold as 8 °C (field observation) and as warm as 30 °C (experimental observation).…”

Modeling Markovian Dependence in Populations of Aralia Nudicaulis

“…The objective of this study was to accomplish this evaluation. Alatalo 1981, Alatalo et al 1985a, 1986, Gustafsson 1988. In general, these investigations compared the foraging niche of a species in parts of its range where it is sympatric and allopatric with putative competitors.…”