Crepuscular and nocturnal activity of the Nose-horned viper, Vipera ammodytes (Linnaeus, 1758) is more common than previously reported

Dyugmedzhiev, Angel; Andonov, Kostadin; Popgeorgiev, Georgi; Naumov, Borislav; Kornilev, Yurii V.

doi:10.3897/herpetozoa.33.e56520

Cited by 7 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 8 publications

(10 reference statements)

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“…Several species of primarily diurnal European snakes have been shown to exhibit some form of crepuscular and/or nocturnal activity ( Wareham, 1998 ; Brito, 2003 ; Michel-Jean, 2013 ; Zadravec & Koren, 2017 ; Mattea & Allain, 2020 ; Dyugmedzhiev et al, 2020 ; Dyugmedzhiev, 2021 ; Sahlean et al, 2021 ) and especially in natricine snakes such as the viperine water snake ( Hailey & Davies, 1987 ; Jaén-Peña & Pérez-Mellado, 1989 ; Scali, 2011 ) and the dice snake ( Moller, 1990 ; Scali, Dimitolo & Montonati, 2001 ; Kreiner, 2007 ; Mebert et al, 2011 ; Tuniyev et al, 2011 ; Scali, 2011 ). We provide convincing evidence of extensive nocturnal activity in another member of the Natricinae subfamily, the common grass snake ( Natrix natrix ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…We used the rinat package ( Barve & Hart, 2023 ) available for R v4.2.2 ( R Core Team, 2022 ) to download all georeferenced records present by February 22nd, 2023. In order to distinguish observations of nighttime activity, we followed the protocol developed by Dyugmedzhiev et al (2020) and identified crepuscular activity as occurring 15 min before sunset to 30 min after, and nocturnal activity as occurring more than 30 min after sunset. We used the suncalc package ( Thieurmel & Elmarhraoui, 2022 ) to compute sunrise, sunset, moonrise, and moonset times for every observation.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Natrix natrix after dark: citizen science sheds light on the common grass snake’s nightlife

Spaseni,

Sahlean,

Gherghel

et al. 2024

PeerJ

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Activity patterns in animals are often species-specific, and can be generally categorized as diurnal, crepuscular, or nocturnal. Understanding these patterns provides insight into ecological adaptations and behaviors. The common grass snake (Natrix natrix), one of the most common and widespread European snake species, is traditionally considered diurnal, with scarce evidence of its crepuscular and nocturnal activity. We aimed to document the distribution, environmental conditions, and potential phenotype associations of nighttime activity in N. natrix. We used citizen science data from iNaturalist (1992–2022), Observation.org (2012–2022), together with personal field observations (2010–2023) to collect 127 crepuscular and nocturnal activity records. Most observations occurred between May and August, coinciding with the peak activity period of grass snakes across their distribution range. Statistical analyses revealed no significant difference in mean daily temperatures between crepuscular and nocturnal observations. However, striped individuals displayed nocturnal activity at higher temperatures, consistent with their distribution in warmer regions, but failed to register any difference when tested on a geographic subsample, that accounted for sympatry of the phenotypes. Surprisingly, we found no significant impact of moon presence or moonlight on nighttime activity or age class, contrary to expectations based on other snake species’ responses. While our study reveals that nocturnal activity in the common grass snake is geographically widespread, further research is warranted to understand its drivers and ecological implications. This study highlights the value of citizen science platforms for biological and ecological research, offering unparalleled spatial and temporal coverage by their users. In conclusion, our work extends the knowledge of nocturnal behavior in N. natrix and underlines the critical role of citizen science in discovering behavioral aspects of common and widespread species.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Natrix natrix after dark: citizen science sheds light on the common grass snake’s nightlife

Spaseni,

Sahlean,

Gherghel

et al. 2024

PeerJ

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“…Temperature is widely recognised as being an important factor influencing snake activity patterns (Webb and Shine 1998), with many studies reporting increased snake activity with ambient temperature, weather conditions and season (Nelson and Gregory 2000; Dyugmedzhiev et al . 2020; Shelton et al .…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Finding Ngabi (Hemiaspis damelii): factors affecting the use of modified floodplain wetlands by an endangered snake

Michael

Nimmo²,

Stevens³

et al. 2023

Wildlife Res.

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Context. River regulation, coupled with climate change, has caused significant declines in global freshwater biodiversity. In Australia, water extraction within the Murray-Darling Basin (MDB) has reduced the frequency, extent and duration with which floodplains are inundated, resulting in widespread declines in wetland-dependent biodiversity, including reptiles. The endangered Ngabi (Hemiaspis damelii) is associated with floodplain systems in the MDB, yet its distribution and ecological requirements are poorly understood, hampering conservation actions. Aims. We sought to validate an assumption that Ngabi is associated with wetland vegetation communities before investigating factors affecting its probability of detection in the lower Murrumbidgee catchment in southern New South Wales. We predicted Ngabi occurrence patterns would relate to frog abundance, wetland hydrology, microhabitat attributes and meteorological variables. Methods. We compared Ngabi observations from 16 paired wetland and dryland vegetation transects to evaluate associations with vegetation type. We then used generalised linear mixed models to relate snake presence and absence to prey (frog abundance), microhabitat (logs and ground cover), wetland hydrology (water depth and inundation frequency) and meteorological conditions, using 12 repeat surveys between September 2018 and March 2021. Key results. Fiftyeight snakes were observed at five of eight wetlands during the study. Ngabi was exclusively recorded in river red gum/spike rush or lignum vegetation communities, and was absent from sandhill woodland or chenopod communities. The probability of detecting Ngabi increased with ambient temperature and weakly with wetland inundation frequency, but not frog abundance, microhabitat attributes or year. Conclusions. Ngabi is strongly associated with floodplain vegetation communities and, to some extent, frequently inundated wetlands in southern NSW, suggesting water management agencies should incorporate threatened floodplain snake species into future wetland management plans. The use of environmental water to restore aspects of flow regimes, improve wetland health and aquatic diversity is likely to benefit other wetlanddependent snake populations across the MDB. Implications. The positive relationship between Ngabi detections and ambient temperature will be important for designing an effective monitoring program for the species across the MDB. Furthermore, our findings provide insight into the benefits of using environmental water to create wetland refuges to maintain floodplain snake populations during droughts.

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“…No pregnant females were observed to be active at night, in contrast to the other sex/age groups. Snakes being nocturnally active move at suboptimal temperatures for the potential benefit to increase their feeding opportunities (viTT & cAlDwell 2014;DyugmeDzhiev et al 2020a). It appears that pregnant V. ammodytes choose the safety of their shelters over the risk of suboptimal temperatures.…”

Section: Adults' Seasonal and Circadian Activity Patternsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In Bulgaria, V. ammodytes is widely distributed, with the exception of the high mountains, urbanized areas and intensively cultivated agricultural land (sTojANov et al 2011). In that country, the species' activity period ranges from the end of February or the beginning of March to November and the species exhibits predominantly diurnal activity (Beshkov 1993;sTojANov et al 2011); however, crepuscular (activity during twilight) and nocturnal activity is also common in warm nights (DyugmeDzhiev et al 2020a).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sex- and age-related variations in seasonal and circadian activity of the Nose-horned Viper Vipera ammodytes (Linnaeus, 1758)

2022

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The seasonal and circadian activity patterns of Vipera ammodytes were studied in five sites in western Bulgaria between 2014 and 2017. Vipera ammodytes was active from the end of February to the first half of November. In spring, adult males emerged a few weeks earlier than females and immature vipers. In autumn, the different sex/age groups started their hibernation approximately at the same time. We registered differences in the seasonal and circadian activities between the different sex/age groups. Adult males and subadults were mostly encountered during spring and autumn, and juveniles mainly in autumn, while the encounter rate of adult females was steady throughout the activity period. Females’ circadian activity varied according to their reproductive status. The observed patterns might be a result of the complex effects of many factors, such as climatic conditions, differences in the reproductive behaviour and the cost of reproduction between sexes, as well as the trade-off between precise thermoregulation, predation risk and foraging needs.

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Crepuscular and nocturnal activity of the Nose-horned viper, Vipera ammodytes (Linnaeus, 1758) is more common than previously reported

Cited by 7 publications

References 8 publications

Natrix natrix after dark: citizen science sheds light on the common grass snake’s nightlife

Natrix natrix after dark: citizen science sheds light on the common grass snake’s nightlife

Finding Ngabi (Hemiaspis damelii): factors affecting the use of modified floodplain wetlands by an endangered snake

Sex- and age-related variations in seasonal and circadian activity of the Nose-horned Viper Vipera ammodytes (Linnaeus, 1758)

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