Feeding ecology of Vipera latastei in northern Portugal: Ontogenetic shifts, prey size and seasonal variations

Herpetological Journal

Volumn 14, Issue 1, 2004, Pages 13-19

  Brito, José C ^a,b  

^a UNIVERSITY OF LISBON   (Portugal)

^b CENTRO DE INVESTIGAÇÃO EM BIODIVERSIDADE E RECURSOS GENÉTICOS   (Portugal)

Author keywords

Dietary habits; Food selection; Prey availability; Snakes; Viperidae

Indexed keywords

AMPHIBIA; ARTHROPODA; MAMMALIA; RODENTIA; SERPENTES; SQUAMATA; VERTEBRATA; VIPERA; VIPERIDAE;

EID: 3843092616     PISSN: 02680130     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: None     Document Type: Article

References (41)

1. Agrimi, U. & Luiselli, L. M. (1992). Feeding strategies of the viper Vipera ursinii ursinii (Reptilia: Viperidae) in the Apennines. Herpetological Journal 2, 37-42.
2. Bea, A. & Braña, F. (1988). Nota sobre la alimentacion de Vipera latastei, Boscá, 1878 (Reptilia, Viperidae). Munibe 40, 121-124.
3. Bea, A., Braña, F., Baron, J. -P. and Saint-Girons, H. (1992). Régimes et cycles alimentaires des vipères européennes (Reptilia, Viperidae). Année Biologique 31, 25-44.
4. Bonnet, X. (1997). Influence of size on survival in newborn asp vipers (Vipera aspis): preliminary results. Amphibia-Reptilia 18, 107-112.
5. Braña, F., Bea, A. & Saint-Girons, H. (1988). Composicion de la dieta y ciclos de alimentacion en Vipera seoanei Lataste, 1879. Variaciones en relacion con la edad y el ciclo reproductor. Munibe 40, 19-27.
6. Brito, J. C. (2003). Seasonal and daily activity patterns of Vipera latastei in northern Portugal. Amphibia-Reptilia 24, 497-508.
7. Brito, J. C. & Crespo, E. G. (2002). Distributional analysis of two vipers (Vipera latastei and V. seoanei) in a potential area of sympatry in the Northwestern Iberian Peninsula. In Biology of the Vipers, 129-138. Schuett, G. W., Höggren, M., Douglas, M. E. and Greene, H. W. (Eds.). Eagle Mountain Publishing.
8. Brito, J. C. & Rebelo, R. (2003). Differential growth and mortality affect sexual size dimorphism in Vipera latastei. Copeia 2003, 865-871.
9. Brito, J. C., Rebelo, A. & Crespo, E. G. (2001). Viper killings for superstitious reasons in Portugal. Boletin de la Asociación Herpetológica Española 12, 101-104.
10. Goday, S. R. (1953). Apreciación sintética de los grados de vegetacion de la sierra de Gerês. In A Flora e a Vegetação da Serra do Gerês, 449-480. Lisboa: Institute de Alla Cultura.
11. Godinho, M. R., Teixeira, J., Rebelo, R., Segurado, P., Loureiro, A., Álvares, F., Gomes, N., Cardoso, P., Camilo-Alves, C. & Brito, J. C. (1999). Atlas of the continental Portuguese herpetofauna: an assemblage of published and new data. Revista Española de Herpetologia 13, 61-82.
12. Gregory, P. T. & Skebo, K. M. (1998). Tradeoffs between reproductive traits and the influence of food intake during pregnancy in the garter snake, Thamnophis elegans. American Naturalist 151, 477-486.
13. Houston, D. & Shine, R. (1993). Sexual dimorphism and niche divergence: feeding habits of the Arafura filesnake. Journal of Animal Ecology 62, 737-748.
14. N. A. G. (2002). Dados de Base - Sistema Nacional Informação de Recursos Hídricos. Instituto Nacional da Água. Available on-line: http://snirh.inag.pt/snirh/ dados_base/main_nav_fr.html
15. Krebs, C. J. (1989). Ecological Methodology. New York: Harper Collins.
16. López Jurado, L. F. & Caballero, M. R. (1981). Predación de Vipera latastei sobre Mustela nivalis. Doñana Acta Vertebrata 8, 298-299.
17. Luiselli, L. (1996). Food habits of an alpine population of the sand viper (Vipera ammodytes). Journal of Herpetology 30, 92-94.
18. Luiselli, L. M. & Agrimi, U. (1991). Composition and variation of the diet of Vipera aspis francisciredi in relation to age and reproductive stage. Amphibia-Reptilia 12, 137-144.
19. Madsen, T. & Shine, R. (1996). Seasonal migration of predators and prey - a study of pythons and rats in tropical Australia. Ecology 77, 149-156.
20. Madsen, T. & Shine, R. (2000). Silver spoons and snake body sizes: prey availability early in life influences long-term growth rates of free-ranging pythons. Journal of Animal Ecology 69, 952-958.
21. Mathias, M. L. (Coord.). (1999). Guia dos Mamíferos Terrestres de Portugal Continental, Açores e Madeira. Lisboa: Instituto da Conservação da Natureza and Centro de Biologia Ambiental da Faculdade de Ciências da Universidade de Lisboa.
22. Mushinsky, H. R. (1987). Foraging ecology. In Snakes - Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, 302-334. Seigel, R. A., Collins, J. T. and Novak, S. S. (Eds). New York: McGraw Hill.
23. Naulleau, G. (1982). Action de la temperature sur la digestion chez les vipères espagnoles du genre Vipera. Publicaciones del Centro Pirenaico de Biologia Experimental 13, 89-94.
24. Naulleau, G. & Bonnet, X. (1996). Body condition threshold for breeding in a viviparous snake. Oecologia 107, 301-306.
25. Pearson, D., Shine, R. & How, R. (2002). Sex-specific niche partitioning and sexual size dimorphism in Australian pythons (Morelia spilota imbricata). Biological Journal of the Linnean Society 77, 113-125.
26. Prestt, I. (1971). An ecological study of the viper Vipera berus in southern Britain. Journal of Zoology 164, 373-418.
27. Saint-Girons, H. (1980). Modifications sélectives du régime des vipères (Reptilia: Viperidae) lors de la croissance. Amphibia-Reptilia 1, 127-136.
28. Santos, X. & Llorente, G. A. (1998). Sexual and size-related differences in the diet of the snake Natrix maura from the Ebro delta, Spain. Herpetological Journal 8, 161-165.
29. Schoener, T. W. (1971). Theory of feeding strategies. Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics 11, 369-404.
30. Shewchuck, C. H. & Austin, J. D. (2001). Food habits of the racer (Coluber constrictor mormon) in the northern part of its range. Herpetological Journal 11, 151-155.
31. Shine, R. (1989). Ecological causes for the evolution of sexual dimorphism: a review of the evidence. The Quarterly Review of Biology 64, 419-461.
32. Shine, R. (1991a). Intersexual dietary divergence and the evolution of sexual dimorphism in snakes. American Naturalist 138, 103-122.
33. Shine, R. (1991b). Why do larger snakes eat larger prey items? Functional Ecology 5, 493-502.
34. Shine, R. & Madsen, T. (1997). Prey abundance and predator reproduction: rats and pythons on a tropical Australian floodplain. Ecology 78, 1078-1086.
35. Shine, R., Harlow, P. S., Keogh, J. S. & Boeadi. (1998). The influence of sex and body size on food habits of a giant tropical snake, Python reticulatus. Functional Ecology 12, 248-258.
36. Siegel, S. & Castellan Jr., N. J. (1988). Nonparametric Statistics for the Behavioral Sciences. New York: McGraw Hill.
37. S. N. P. R. C. N. (eds.). (1991). Livra Vermelho dos Vertebrados de Portugal. Vol. 1 - Mamíferos, Aves, Anfibios e Répteis. Lisboa: Serviçe Nacional de Parques, Reservas e Conservação da Natureza.
38. Teerink, B. J. (1991). Hair of West-European Mammals. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
39. Valverde, J. A. (1967). Estructura de una comunidad mediterránea de vertebrados terrestres. Monografias de Ciencia Moderna, 1. CSIC.
40. Vericad, J. R. & Escarre, A. (1976). Datos de alimentacion de ofidios en el Levante sur ibérico. Mediterranea 1, 5-32.
41. Webb, J. K. & Shine, R. (1998). Ecological characteristics of a threatened snake species, Hoplocephalus bungaroides (Serpentes, Elapidae). Animal Conservation 1, 185-193.