Age-Dependent Utilization of Shelters and Habitat in Two Reptile Species with Contrasting Intraspecific Interactions

Reptiles undergo worldwide decline driven mostly by habitat change. Detailed recognition of factors underlying spatial structure and habitat utilization is therefore a prerequisite of effective conservation of this group. While the body of data on spatial ecology of reptiles is rapidly growing, stud...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Animals (Basel) 2019-11, Vol.9 (11), p.995
Main Authors: Kolanek, Aleksandra, Bury, Stanisław, Turniak, Edyta, Szymanowski, Mariusz
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adults
Age
age-dependence
Anguidae
Anguis fragilis
Animal behavior
Avoidance
Behavior
Birds
Buffer zones
Cannibalism
Climate change
Comparative literature
Comparative studies
Conservation
Coronella austriaca
Environmental aspects
Future predictions
Habitat changes
Habitat conservation
Habitat preferences
habitat use
Habitat utilization
Habitats
intraspecific predation
Juveniles
Microhabitats
Occupancy
Population studies
Predation
Predation (Biology)
Reptiles
Shelters
Smooth snake
Snakes
Social factors
spatial ecology
Vegetation
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Reptiles undergo worldwide decline driven mostly by habitat change. Detailed recognition of factors underlying spatial structure and habitat utilization is therefore a prerequisite of effective conservation of this group. While the body of data on spatial ecology of reptiles is rapidly growing, studies on social factors remain still underrepresented. We studied age-specific patterns of shelter use, range size, and habitat preferences in the context of intraspecific interactions in the smooth snake -known to exhibit intraspecific predation-and the limbless lizard slow worm -with no such behavior observed. Despite smaller availability of preferred microhabitats, juveniles of smooth snakes occupied habitat and shelters located at the edge of the population range that did not overlap with adults. No such pattern was observed in the slow worm. Our study indicates that intraspecific interactions affect the spatial ecology of squamates. Passive and active protection of habitat must include wide buffers to preserve the poorly detectable young fraction of the population.
ISSN:2076-2615
2076-2615
DOI:10.3390/ani9110995