Nest Site Selection by Pine Snakes, Pituophis melanoleucus, in the New Jersey Pine Barrens

Burger, Joanna; Zappalorti, Robert T.

doi:10.2307/1444896

Cited by 62 publications

(43 citation statements)

References 17 publications

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“…In the New Jersey Pine Barrens, pine snake nests are usually located 15.2_ 7.6 cm below the ground (Burger and Zappalorti 1986), whereas hibernacula are always deeper than 50 cm and are usually as deep as 100 cm . Further, nests are usually in areas with few trees where there is complete sun penetration to the ground, whereas hibernacula are usually in areas with pine tree cover.…”

Section: Incubation Temperature and Behavioral Differencesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effects of incubation temperature on behavior of hatchling pine snakes: implications for reptilian distribution

Burger

1991

Behav Ecol Sociobiol

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Incubation temperatures in vertebrates affectincubation periods, and in some reptiles incubation temperature determines sex ratios and some limited behavior. Here I present evidence that incubation temperature in pine snakes (Pituophis melanoleucus) affects not only incubation periods and posthatching behavior in the laboratory, but also the behavior of hatchlings required for successful emergence and survival. These behavioral differences have evolutionary implications for selection of hatchlings from particular temperature nests. With increasing temperature, incubation periods decreased in the laboratory. In addition, incubation temperature affected hatching and emergence times as well as movement speed and foraging ability. Hatchlings from medium temperature conditions emerged from nests in the field in less time than hatchlings incubated at high or low temperatures, and hatchlings from low temperatures moved slower and were less able to capture and eat mice in the laboratory than hatchlings incubated at medium or high temperatures. Taken together, these laboratory and field experiments suggest that hatchlings from low temperature nests, compared to those from higher temperature nests, would be less able to emerge, find food, and locate hibernation sites prior to the onset of cold temperatures in the New Jersey Pine Barrens. These results suggest that incubation temperature affects a whole range of behavior and that distributional ranges of reptiles and other poikilotherms could be affected by summer temperatures (via incubation period and subsequent behavior) as well as ambient winter temperatures.

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Section: Incubation Temperature and Behavioral Differencesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effects of incubation temperature on behavior of hatchling pine snakes: implications for reptilian distribution

Burger

1991

Behav Ecol Sociobiol

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“…A female may exhibit fidelity to a given nest for several years, only to select a different nest site on the Bluff in a subsequent year, even while the original nest site is still being used as such by other females. The minimum of fifteen females known to utilize Nest #1 over a limited period is notably greater than the maximum of four females per-nest recorded for the Northern Pine Snake (Burger and Zappalorti 1986), the taxon for which communal nesting in Pitu ophis has been most thoroughly documented. Known Bullsnake nests documented at Bullsnake Bluff other than Nest #1 were not excavated for purposes of examination to avoid disturbing snakes and perhaps rendering the sites unusable.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 75%

Bullsnake, <em>Pituophis catenifer sayi</em>, Nesting Biology in Alberta

Wright

2008

Can Field Nat

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Bullsnakes were opportunistically observed at a site on Alberta’s Red Deer River at the northern extreme of their range near the town of Drumheller. This site is significant for its importance to the local nesting ecology of this snake. Data were collected from captured snakes, and individuals were marked and photographed to enable identification upon subsequent recapture. A minimum of 39 adult Bullsnakes were known to utilize a single bluff over a period spanning five years from 1998 to 2002. Fifteen gravid females were found over this span nesting in a single burrow complex. Bullsnakes were found to excavate their own nesting burrows at the site, and to show nest site fidelity. The congregation of numbers of these snakes at localized sites of importance to nesting biology renders them potentially vulnerable, and may present conservation challenges.

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“…Pine snake eggs in the Pine Barrens normally hatch from late August to late September (Burger and Zappalorti, 1986). Most pine snakes travel to hibernacula in October, and by early November have entered the hibernacula or are near its entrance .…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…I was particularly interested in whether hatchling snakes could discriminate between odors and no odors and whether incubation temperature or prior experience with live mice affected their responses. In nature, pine snake eggs experience differences in temperature similar to those used in this experiment (Burger and Zappalorti, 1986).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 97%

Response to prey chemical cues by hatchling pine snakes (Pituophis melanoleucus): Effects of incubation temperature and experience

Burger

1991

J Chem Ecol

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The ability of hatchling pine snakes (Pituophis melanoleucus) to select and follow or avoid chemical odors of prey (mice,Mus musculus) on a shavings and paper substrate was investigated in Y-maze experiments, as a function of incubation temperature and experience. Incubation temperature affected behavior in the maze, and the maze choices of naive snakes, but not of snakes that had already eaten a mouse. The data indicate that snakes that have eaten, preferentially enter the arm bearing chemical stimuli from mice, whereas those that have not eaten show no preference.

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Nest Site Selection by Pine Snakes, Pituophis melanoleucus, in the New Jersey Pine Barrens

Cited by 62 publications

References 17 publications

Effects of incubation temperature on behavior of hatchling pine snakes: implications for reptilian distribution

Effects of incubation temperature on behavior of hatchling pine snakes: implications for reptilian distribution

Bullsnake, <em>Pituophis catenifer sayi</em>, Nesting Biology in Alberta

Response to prey chemical cues by hatchling pine snakes (Pituophis melanoleucus): Effects of incubation temperature and experience

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