Prey-mediated effects of drought on condition and survival of a terrestrial snake

Ecology

Volumn 89, Issue 10, 2008, Pages 2770-2776

  Sperry, Jinelle H ^a   Weatherhead, Patrick J ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS AT URBANA CHAMPAIGN   (United States)

Author keywords

Drought effects on species and their interactions; Elaphe obsolcta; Multitrophic interactions; Predator prey system; Small mammal abundance; Snake; Survival

Indexed keywords

ABUNDANCE; BODY CONDITION; DROUGHT; MORTALITY; PREDATOR-PREY INTERACTION; SMALL MAMMAL; SNAKE; SURVIVAL; TROPHIC INTERACTION;

NORTH AMERICA; TEXAS; UNITED STATES;

ELAPHE; MAMMALIA; SERPENTES;

ADAPTATION; ANIMAL; ARTICLE; CATERING SERVICE; DROUGHT; ECOSYSTEM; FEMALE; FOOD CHAIN; GROWTH, DEVELOPMENT AND AGING; MALE; PHYSIOLOGY; POPULATION DENSITY; POPULATION DYNAMICS; PREDATION; SNAKE; SURVIVAL RATE; UNITED STATES;

ADAPTATION, PHYSIOLOGICAL; ANIMALS; DROUGHTS; ECOSYSTEM; ELAPIDAE; FEMALE; FOOD CHAIN; FOOD SUPPLY; MALE; POPULATION DENSITY; POPULATION DYNAMICS; PREDATORY BEHAVIOR; SURVIVAL RATE; TEXAS;

EID: 58149332324     PISSN: 00129658     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1890/07-2017.1     Document Type: Article

References (45)

1. Bell, H. L. 1985. Seasonal variation and the effects of drought on the abundance of arthropods in savanna woodland on the Northern Tablelands of New South Wales. Austral Ecology 10:207-221.
2. Blouin-Demers, G., and P. J. Weatherhead. 2001, Habitat use by black rat snakes (Elaphe obsoleta obsoleta) in fragmented forests. Ecology 82:2882-2896.
3. Brown, G. P., and R. Shine. 2007. Rain, prey and predators: climatically driven shifts in frog abundance modify reproductive allomctry in a tropical snake. Oecologia 154:361-368.
4. Carfagno, G. L. F., and P. J. Weatherhead. 2006. Intraspecific and interspecific variation in use of forest-edge habitat by snakes. Canadian Journal of Zoology 84:1440-1452.
5. Clotfelter, E. D., A. B. Pedersen, J. A. Cranford, N. Ram. E. A. Snajdr. V. Nolan Jr., and E. D. Ketterson. 2007. Acorn mast drives long-term dynamics of rodent and songbird populations. Oecologia 154:493-503.
6. Dai, A., K. E. Trenberth. and T. R. Karl. 1998. Global variations in droughts and wet spells: 1900-1995. Geophysical Research Letters 25:3367-3370.
7. Duda. J. J., A. J. Krzysik, and J. E. Freilich. 1999. Effects of drought on desert tortoise movement and activity. Journal of Wildlife Management 63:1181-1192.
8. Fitch, H. S. 1963. Natural history of the black rat snake (Elaphe o. obsoleta) in Kansas. Copeia 1963:649-658.
9. Frampton, G. K., P. J. Van Den Brink, and P. J. L. Gould. 2000. Effects of spring drought and irrigation on farmland arthropods in southern Britain 37:865-883.
10. George, T. L., A. C. Fowler, R. L. Knight, and L. C. McEwen. 1992. Impacts of a severe drought on grassland birds in western North Dakota. Ecological Applications 2:275-284.
11. Germano, D. J., D. F. Williams, and W. Tordoff III. 1994. Effect of drought on blunt-nosed leapord lizards (Gambelia sila). Northwestern Naturalist 75:11-19.
12. Gettinger, R. D. 1990. Effects of chemical insect repellents on small mammal trapping yield. American Midland Naturalist 124:181-184.
13. Gibbons, J. W., J. L. Greene, and J. D. Congdon. 1983. Drought-related responses of aquatic turtle populations. Journal of Herpetology 17:242-246.
14. Gibbons. J. W., D. E. Scott. T. J. Ryan, K. A. Buhlmann, T. D. Tuberville, B. S. Metts, J. L. Greene, T. Mills. Y. Leiden, S. Poppy, and C. T. Winne. 2000. The global decline of reptiles, déjà vu amphibians. BioScience 50:653-666.
15. 2 climate experiment. Journal of Climate 10: 662-686.
16. Hanson, P. J., and J. F. Weltzin. 2000. Drought disturbance from climate change: réponse of United States forests. Science of the Total Environment 262:205-220.
17. Hintze, J 2006. NCSS, PASS and GESS. NCSS [Number Cruncher Statistical Systems]. Kaysville, Utah, USA.
18. Hunter, M. D., and P. W. Price. 1992. Playing chutes and ladders: heterogeneity and the relative roles of bottom-up and top-down forces in natural communities. Ecology 73: 724-732.
19. Madsen, T., and R. Shine. 2000. Rain, fish and snakes: climatically driven population dynamics of Arafura filesnakes in tropical Australia. Oecologia 124:208-215.
20. Madsen, T., B. Ujvari, R. Shine, and M. Olsson. 2006. Rain, rats and pythons: climate-driven population dynamics of predators and prey in tropical Australia. Austral Ecology 31: 30-37.
21. Masser, M. P., and W. E. Grant. 1986. Fire ant-induced trap mortality of small mammals in east-central Texas. Southwestern Naturalist 31:540-542.
22. Morton, M. L., M. L. Morrison, L. S. Hall, and M. E. Pereyra. 1995. Life history parameters in mice exposed to a prolonged drought. Southwestern Naturalist 40:18-28.
23. Overpeck, J. T. 1996. Warm climate surprises. Science 271: 1820-1821.
24. Plummer, M. V., and J. D. Congdon. 1994. Radiotelemetric study of activity and movements of racers (Coluber constrictor) associated with a Carolina bay in South Carolina. Copeia 1994:20-26.
25. Pollock, K. H., S. R. Winterstein, C. M. Bunck, and P. D. Curtis. 1989. Survival analysis in telemetry studies: the staggered entry design. Journal of Wildlife Management 53: 7-15.
26. Reading, C. J. 2004. The influence of body condition and prey availability on female breeding success in the smooth snake (Coronella austriaca Laurenti). Journal of Zoology 264:61-67.
27. Reinert, H, K., and D. Cundall. 1982. An improved surgical implantation method for radio-tracking snakes. Copeia 1982: 702-705.
28. Sala, O. E., W, J. Parton, L. A. Joyce, and W. K. Lauenroth. 1988. Primary production of the central grassland region of the United States. Ecology 69:40-45.
29. Schmidly, D. J. 2004. The mammals of Texas. University of Texas Press, Austin, Texas, USA.
30. Schmidt, K. A., and R. A. Ostfeld. 2003. Songbird populations in fluctuating environments: predator responses to pulsed resources. Ecology 84:406-415.
31. Seigel, R. A., J. W. Gibbons, and T. K. Lynch. 1995. Temporal changes in reptile populations: effects of a severe drought on aquatic snakes. Herpetologica 51:424-434.
32. Shine, R. 1991. Australian snakes: a natural history. Cornell University Press, Ithaca, New York, USA.
33. Shine, R., and T. Madsen. 1997. Prey abundance and predator reproduction: rats and pythons on a tropical Australian floodplain. Ecology 78:1078-1086.
34. Smith, R. I. 1970. Response of pintail breeding populations to drought. Journal of Wildlife Management 34:943-946.
35. Sperry, J. H., and P. J. Weatherhead. 2009. Does prey availability determine seasonal patterns of habitat selection in Texas rattlesnakes? Journal of Herpetology, in press.
36. Spevak, T. A. 1983. Population changes in a Mediterranean scrub rodent assembly during drought. Southwestern Naturalist 28:47-52.
37. Stahle, D. W., and M. K. Cleaveland. 1988. Texas drought history reconstructed and analyzed from 1698 to 1980. Journal of Climate 1:59-74.
38. Stancampiano, A. J., and W. Claire. 1995. Food habits of Peromyscus and Reithrodontomys in the Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge, Oklahoma. Proceedings of the Oklahoma Academy of Science 75:45-19.
39. SYSTAT. 2004. SYST AT, version 11. SYSTAT Software, San Jose, California, USA.
40. Weatherhead, P. J., and G. Blouin-Demers. 2004. Understanding avian nest predation: why ornithologists should study snakes. Journal of Avian Biology 35:185-190.
41. Weatherhead, P. J., G. Blouin-Demers, and K. M. Cavey. 2003. Seasonal and prey-size dietary patterns of black ratsnakes (Elaphe obsoleta obsoleta). American Midland Naturalist 150: 275-281.
42. Weatherhead, P. J., and G. P. Brown. 1996. Measurement versus estimation of condition responses of kit foxes to a short-term decline in mammalian prey. Journal of Mammalogy 77:370-376.
43. White, P. J., C. A. Vanderbilt White, and K. Ralls. 1996. Functional and numerical in snakes. Canadian Journal of Zoology 74:1617-1621.
44. Winne, C. T., J. D. Willson, and J. W. Gibbons. 2006. Income breeding allows an aquatic snake Seminatrix pygaea to reproduce normally following prolonged drought-induced aestivation. Journal of Animal Ecology 75:1352-1360.
45. Yahner, R. H. 1992. Dynamics of a small mammal community in a fragmented forest. American Midland Naturalist 127: 381-391.