Artificial shelters provide suitable thermal habitat for a cold-blooded animal

Yu, Xin; Wu, Nicholas C.; Ge, Luyuan; Li, Lianshan; Zhang, Zhengwang; Lei, Juan

doi:10.1038/s41598-022-09950-y

Cited by 3 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 55 publications

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“…2D; Table 5). Supporting our finding, previous studies also showed that artificial structures, such as metal and riprap-covered structures, are widely utilized by lizard and snake species in urban habitats for basking and hiding (Herbert et al 2023;Watchorn et al 2023;Yu et al 2022). For example, the density of lagartixas (Tropidurus hispidus) is elevated in urbanized areas and the primary predictor of abundance was man-made structures which provide shelter (de Andrade 2020).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 86%

Urban oasis? Abundant dice snake (Natrix tessellata) populations along artificial lakeside habitats in urban landscapes

Mészáros,

Bürgés,

Tamás

et al. 2024

Landsc Ecol

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Context Human-induced landscape modification, such as urbanization, creates new environments that can have adverse effects on flora and fauna, posing threats to biodiversity. Understanding how reptiles respond to urbanization is crucial, especially in light of their ongoing population declines. Objectives We examined the influence of landscape-scale and local-scale urbanization features on the abundance of an aquatic snake species. Our investigation focused on dice snakes (Natrix tessellata) inhabiting a lake with a heavily urbanized shoreline. Methods We conducted visual encounter surveys at 25 study sites during the activity period of dice snakes around Lake Balaton in Hungary. We measured both landscape-scale and local-scale variables, including urban land use cover, vegetation cover, road cover, distance of main roads and city size, emergent vegetation cover and the area of artificial rock and concrete shoreline protection structures. We analysed snake survey data using N-mixture models to estimate abundance and examine relationships with landscape-scale and local-scale variables. Results Urban land use cover, road cover, the proximity of main roads and the extent of artificial rock and concrete shoreline protection structures positively affected the abundance of snakes. These findings imply that urban habitats may offer new ecological opportunities for dice snakes. Conclusions The findings of this study indicate that both landscape-scale and local-scale human-induced landscape modifications may have a positive impact on the abundance of urban snakes. Taken together, our findings suggest that urbanization is a complex phenomenon, affecting species at different levels and with subtle effects.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 86%

Urban oasis? Abundant dice snake (Natrix tessellata) populations along artificial lakeside habitats in urban landscapes

Mészáros,

Bürgés,

Tamás

et al. 2024

Landsc Ecol

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“…Some species may respond to fluctuations in resource abundance by, if possible, switching to other food sources (Le Bot et al 2019; Steinmetz et al 2021), reducing energetic costs by lowering body heat (Schmidt et al 2020), or entering hibernation or torpor (Boyles et al 2020; Mohr et al 2020; Fjelldal et al 2021). However, movement represents one of the most readily available behaviors that species can adjust, whether this be by modifying their home range (Lucherini and Lovari 1996; Relyea et al 2000; Arechavala-Lopez et al 2019; Hirt et al 2021; Bista et al 2022; Bradsworth et al 2022; Yu et al 2022), migrating (Middleton et al 2018; Geremia et al 2019), moving nomadically (Nandintsetseg et al 2019; Teitelbaum and Mueller 2019), or dispersing (framework: Southwood 1977; amphibians: Cayuela et al 2020; Wheat et al 2017; birds: Pretorius et al 2020; mammals: Singh et al 2012).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

How resource abundance and stochasticity affect organisms’ range sizes

Mezzini,

Fleming,

Medici

et al. 2023

Preprint

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The amount of space organisms use is thought to be tightly linked to the availability of resources within their habitats, such that organisms living in productive habitats generally require less space than those in resource-poor habitats. This hypothesis has widespread empirical support, but existing studies have focused primarily on responses to themeanamount of resources, while responses to the variance around the mean are still largely unknown. This is not a trivial oversight. Organisms adjust to variable environmental conditions, so failing to consider the effects of resource (un)predictability can result in a limited understanding of organisms’ space-use requirements, challenging ecological theory and applied conservation alike. In this study, we first review the literature of studies that estimate organisms’ spaceuse requirements as a function of resource abundance. We then leverage this information to provide a unifying framework and hypotheses for the effect of meanandvariance in resources on organisms’ space use. Next, we use simulated movement data to demonstrate how the combined effects of mean and variance in resource abundance interact to shape predictable patterns in space use. Finally, we use real-world tracking data on a lowland tapir (Tapirus terrestris) from the Brazilian Cerrado to show how this framework can be applied to better understand the movement ecology of free-ranging animals. Results from the simulations and empirical examples are presented using a fully transparent approach that allows researchers to apply the framework to their own data and inform area-based conservation efforts.

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A new species ofChrysemys(Emydidae: Deirochelyinae) from the latest Miocene-Early Pliocene of Tennessee, USA and its implications for the evolution of painted turtles

Jasinski

2022

Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society

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Chrysemys, commonly known as painted turtles, have the largest native biogeographic range of all North American turtles. The presence of a new species, Chrysemys corniculata sp. nov., in the Late Hemphillian-Early Blancan North American Land Mammal Age (latest Miocene-Early Pliocene) of Tennessee provides further data on the evolution of Chrysemys, deirochelyines and emydids. The new fossil species lies basally in Deirochelyinae and suggests that either Chrysemys represents a basal deirochelyine morphology and is one of the oldest genera in the family, or that similar basal morphologies have evolved multiple times throughout deirochelyine evolution. Its occurrence at the same time as Chrysemys picta, during the Hemphillian-Early Blancan, a time of high biodiversity in emydid turtles, suggests either multiple species of Chrysemys during the Late Hemphillian-Early Blancan (at least one in the mid-west and one farther east), or multiple lineages with basal morphologies during this time. Early fossil deirochelyines occur after the greenhouse conditions of the Eocene and the Mid-Miocene Climatic Optimum. Vicariance led to deirochelyines becoming more speciose, including the occurrence of C. corniculata, after the Mid-Miocene Climatic Optimum, potentially suggesting cooler temperatures aided in the evolution of the subfamily and their speciation during the Hemphillian and into the Early Blancan.

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Artificial shelters provide suitable thermal habitat for a cold-blooded animal

Cited by 3 publications

References 55 publications

Urban oasis? Abundant dice snake (Natrix tessellata) populations along artificial lakeside habitats in urban landscapes

Urban oasis? Abundant dice snake (Natrix tessellata) populations along artificial lakeside habitats in urban landscapes

How resource abundance and stochasticity affect organisms’ range sizes

A new species ofChrysemys(Emydidae: Deirochelyinae) from the latest Miocene-Early Pliocene of Tennessee, USA and its implications for the evolution of painted turtles

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