Color-Pattern Variation in Thamnophis melanogaster

Gregory, Patrick T.; Gregory, Linda; Macartney, J. Malcolm

doi:10.2307/1444403

Cited by 11 publications

(4 citation statements)

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“…Morphs of prey species do not necessarily differ in colour alone: many polymorphic species have morphs differing in their colour patterns. These patterns are very often based on coloured stripes, and in many species there are striped and unstriped morphs (examples occur in Mollusca: Owen, 1963;Smith, 1975;Jones, Leith & Rawlings, 1977;Isopoda: Bocquet, 1953;West, 1964;Insecta: Owen, 1963;Fraser Rowell, 1971;Amphibia: Goin, 1954;Browder, Underhill & Merrell, 1966;Schiratz, 1967;Williams, Highton & Cooper, 1968;Fishbeck & Underhill, 1971;Stewart, 1974;Reptilia: Camin & Ehrlich, 1958;Gregory, Gregory & Macartney, 1983).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Wild birds prefer the familiar of striped and unstriped artificial prey

Raymond

1984

Biological Journal of the Linnean Society

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Previous work has shown that wild birds can become trained to search for a prey type on the basis of its colour. The experiments presented in this paper extended this work to two types of green artificial prey that were identical except for the presence or absence of a red stripe. Wild birds at six widely separated sites were trained on populations of one type and then were offered a choice between equal numbers of the familiar type and a second type. All the populations were presented on lawn backgrounds. The experiments were then repeated at each site with the birds being trained on the second prey type. The results showed that there was a consistent tendency for the familiar prey type to be overpredated and this was statistically significant. The behaviour described in this paper, if it occurs in nature, could lead to frequency-dependent (apostatic) selection and the maintenance of polymorphism in prey species in which the morphs are distinguished by colour patterns.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Wild birds prefer the familiar of striped and unstriped artificial prey

Raymond

1984

Biological Journal of the Linnean Society

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“…In Mexican Black-Bellied Gartersnakes (Thamnophis melanogaster), subadults are more variable in color and pattern than are adults (Gregory et al, 1983), but whether this results from ontogenetic change or selective mortality is unknown. Body patterns of T. ordinoides become somewhat brighter during growth in early life (Brodie, 1993); striped individuals become more markedly striped, whereas unstriped individuals do not change.…”

Section: Some Areas For Further Researchmentioning

confidence: 99%

Small-Scale Geographic Variation in Antipredator Tactics of Garter Snakes

Shine¹,

Phillips²,

Waye³

et al. 2003

Herpetologica

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“…To estimate minimal areas needed to support constrained populations, unconstrained populations, and metapopulations, I started by collecting all the published estimates of seasonal and annual numbers of pocket gophers (references in Smallwood & Morrison 1999, Swainson's Hawks (references in Smallwood 1995, and garter snakes (Seibert 1950; Carpenter 1952; Asplund 1963; Fitch 1965; Clark 1974; Freedman & Catling 1978; Blaesing 1979; Gregory et al 1983; Reichenbach 1983; Reichenbach & Dalrymple 1986; USFWS 1999). To be included in this exercise, these estimates had to have been made from study area sizes and research methods described in the report, and they could not consist of extrapolations from one site to another or from one site to a larger region.…”

Section: Case Study: Demographic Units Of Threatened Species In the Nmentioning

confidence: 99%

Linking Habitat Restoration to Meaningful Units of Animal Demography

Smallwood¹

2001

Restoration Ecology

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To restore habitat is to restore the functional aspects of a place where one or more species are intended to live. However, habitat restored with the right structural elements can still fail to support the species due to insufficient space and spatial contiguity (e.g., movement corridors) with nearby habitat. The spatial extent of habitat determines its capacity to support various demographic units, such as a breeding pair of individuals, a true population, or a metapopulation. In scatter‐plots of published density estimates and their corresponding study area sizes, I found consistent patterns that appeared to represent spatial scale domains, in which subpopulations, populations, and multiple populations exist for each species. These spatial scale domains can help guide habitat restoration by indicating the minimum area needed to support a population. The effectiveness of restored habitat, considered alone or in combination with existing habitat, should be judged by the habitat's capacity to sustain a functioning population, which includes the population's membership in a metapopulation. Additionally, the evidence increasingly demonstrates that habitat must include sufficient space for the population(s) to periodically relocate as resources are depleted locally. The spatial extent of proposed habitat restoration can now be linked to the likely demographic unit of the species that can be supported there. I provide two examples of proposed habitat conservation and their likely effectiveness based on their spatial areas.

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Color-Pattern Variation in Thamnophis melanogaster

Cited by 11 publications

References 0 publications

Wild birds prefer the familiar of striped and unstriped artificial prey

Wild birds prefer the familiar of striped and unstriped artificial prey

Small-Scale Geographic Variation in Antipredator Tactics of Garter Snakes

Linking Habitat Restoration to Meaningful Units of Animal Demography

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