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Helminths of the Eastern Rat Snake, Pantherophis alleghaniensis Holbrook (Squamata: Colubridae), from North Carolina, U.S.A. COMP PARASITOL 2021. [DOI: 10.1654/copa-d-21-00006] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/11/2022]
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A New Two-Lined Salamander (Eurycea bislineata Complex) from the Sandhills of North Carolina. HERPETOLOGICA 2020. [DOI: 10.1655/0018-0831-76.4.423] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
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Helminths of the Northern Black Racer, Coluber constrictor constrictor Linnaeus (Squamata: Colubridae), from North Carolina, U.S.A. COMP PARASITOL 2019. [DOI: 10.1654/1525-2647-86.2.153] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/11/2022]
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A novel approach for estimating densities of secretive species from road-survey and spatial-movement data. WILDLIFE RESEARCH 2018. [DOI: 10.1071/wr16175] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/23/2022]
Abstract
Context
Accurate estimates of population density are a critical component of effective wildlife conservation and management. However, many snake species are so secretive that their density cannot be determined using traditional methods such as capture–mark–recapture. Thus, the status of most terrestrial snake populations remains completely unknown.
Aim
We developed a novel simulation-based technique for estimating density of secretive snakes that combined behavioural observations of snake road-crossing behaviour (crossing speed), effort-corrected road-survey data, and simulations of spatial movement patterns derived from radio-telemetry, without relying on mark–recapture.
Methods
We used radio-telemetry data to parameterise individual-based movement models that estimate the frequency with which individual snakes cross roads and used information on survey vehicle speed and snake crossing speed to determine the probability of detecting a snake, given that it crosses the road transect during a survey. Snake encounter frequencies during systematic road surveys were then interpreted in light of detection probabilities and simulation model results to estimate snake densities and to assess various factors likely to affect abundance estimates. We demonstrated the broad applicability of this approach through a case study of the imperiled southern hognose snake (Heterodon simus) in the North Carolina (USA) Sandhills.
Key results
We estimated that H. simus occurs at average densities of 0.17 ha–1 in the North Carolina Sandhills and explored the sensitivity of this estimate to assumptions and variation in model parameters.
Conclusions
Our novel method allowed us to generate the first abundance estimates for H. simus. We found that H. simus exists at low densities relative to congeners and other mid-sized snake species, raising concern that this species may not only have declined in geographic range, but may also occur at low densities or be declining in their strongholds, such as the North Carolina Sandhills.
Implications
We present a framework for estimating density of species that have traditionally been considered too secretive to study at the population level. This method will greatly enhance our ability to study and manage a wide variety of snake species and could be applied to other secretive wildlife species that are most frequently encountered during road surveys.
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