Spatial Ecology of the Eastern Massasauga (Sistrurus c. catenatus) in a New York Peatland

Johnson, Glenn

doi:10.2307/1565414

Cited by 45 publications

(37 citation statements)

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“…Thus, the different responses may simply reflect differences in perceived risk. This interpretation is supported by the finding that non-gravid female and male eastern massasauga rattlesnakes in Pennsylvania moved an average of 9.1±1.6 m/day (Reinert and Kodrich 1982), and males in New York moved an average of 20.5±2.3 m/day (Johnson 1995). In contrast, non-gravid females and males that were subject to experimental human approaches several times weekly in Ontario (Prior and Weatherhead 1994) moved an average of 56.2±12.4 m/day (Weatherhead and Prior 1992).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 82%

Behavioral and life history responses of eastern massasauga rattlesnakes (Sistrurus catenatus catenatus) to human disturbance

Parent

Weatherhead

2000

Oecologia

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Parks and nature reserves protect important natural habitats but also provide public opportunities for outdoor recreational activities that may have unintended negative effects on wildlife. We examined the response of eastern massasauga rattlesnakes (Sistrurus catenatus catenatus) to inadvertent disturbance by humans in Killbear Provincial Park, Ontario, Canada. Radio telemetry of 25 adult snakes over two active seasons revealed that, as disturbance increased, gravid females were less visible to observers, but the visibility of non-gravid females and males did not change. Mean distance moved per day decreased and mean time between moves greater than 10 m increased in gravid females, non-gravid females and males with increasing exposure to human disturbance. However, mark-recapture data revealed no differences in the condition or growth rates of snakes, or in the litter size of gravid females, between individuals captured in disturbed and undisturbed study areas. While it is possible that the behavioral responses we observed are not sufficient to have life history consequences, more detailed information on the exposure of individual snakes to human activity is necessary before the conclusion that disturbance is not detrimental to snakes can be accepted. Similarly, other potential negative effects of human disturbance not investigated here remain to be explored.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 82%

Behavioral and life history responses of eastern massasauga rattlesnakes (Sistrurus catenatus catenatus) to human disturbance

Parent

Weatherhead

2000

Oecologia

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“…These results strongly imply that the high levels of structure currently observed are not a consequence of living in a highly fragmented habitat, but rather that extremely limited dispersal is a long‐standing biological feature of this taxon. Studies of the spatial ecology of massasaugas confirm that limited dispersal and localized daily movements are a general phenomenon in this species (Reinert & Kodrich 1982; Johnson 2000). This may be driven by significant advantages to philopatry for as yet unknown biological reasons (Gibbs et al.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 84%

“…A second use for population‐specific values of θ Ne is to gain a rough idea of the magnitude of the census sizes for each population. Reliable and comparable census sizes are not available for this taxon because of the difficulties of comparing the results of different survey methods used to estimate snake abundance in different locations (Johnson 2000). Nonetheless, size estimates are crucial for important conservation analyses such as Population Viability Analyses (PVA) which have been conducted for this species (Seigel & Sheil 1999; Middleton & Chu 2004; Miller 2005).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Similarity of contemporary and historical gene flow among highly fragmented populations of an endangered rattlesnake

2010

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Populations of endangered taxa in recently fragmented habitats often show high levels of genetic structure, but the role that contemporary versus historical processes play in generating this pattern is unclear. The eastern massasauga rattlesnake (Sistrurus c. catenatus) is an endangered snake that presently occurs throughout central and eastern North America in a series of populations that are isolated because of habitat fragmentation and destruction. Here, we use data from 19 species-specific microsatellite DNA loci to assess the levels of genetic differentiation, genetic effective population size, and contemporary and historical levels of gene flow for 19 populations sampled across the range of this snake. Eastern massasaugas display high levels of genetic differentiation (overall θ(Fst) = 0.21) and a Bayesian clustering method indicates that each population represents a unique genetic cluster even at regional spatial scales. There is a twofold variation in genetically effective population sizes but little genetic evidence that populations have undergone recent or historical declines in size. Finally, both contemporary and historical migration rates among populations were low and similar in magnitude even for populations located <7 km apart. A test of alternate models of population history strongly favours a model of long-term drift-migration equilibrium over a recent isolation drift-only model. These results suggest that recent habitat fragmentation has had little effect on the genetic characteristics of these snakes, but rather that this species has historically existed in small isolated populations that may be resistant to the long-term negative effects of inbreeding.

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“…The activity patterns and movement of a mobile animal reflect aspects of its behavior and ecology (Duellman and Trueb, 1986;Gregory et al, 1987). Such information is needed to formulate sound conservation and management plans for rare species (Johnson, 2000). Ecological information for such species, however, may not be readily available or may be difficult to obtain because of a species' cryptic coloration or stealthy nature.…”

Section: Fig 5 Sprint Speeds (A) and Stride Frequencies (B) From Inmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effects of Temperature and Slope on the Sprint Speed and Stamina of the Eastern Fence Lizard, Sceloporus undulatus

Pinch¹,

Claussen²

2003

Journal of Herpetology

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Spatial Ecology of the Eastern Massasauga (Sistrurus c. catenatus) in a New York Peatland

Cited by 45 publications

References 0 publications

Behavioral and life history responses of eastern massasauga rattlesnakes (Sistrurus catenatus catenatus) to human disturbance

Behavioral and life history responses of eastern massasauga rattlesnakes (Sistrurus catenatus catenatus) to human disturbance

Similarity of contemporary and historical gene flow among highly fragmented populations of an endangered rattlesnake

Effects of Temperature and Slope on the Sprint Speed and Stamina of the Eastern Fence Lizard, Sceloporus undulatus

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