Richness, abundance, and mass in snake assemblages from two Atlantic Rainforest sites (Ilha do Cardoso, São Paulo) with differences in environmental productivity

Abstract

. 2008. Richness, abundance, and mass in snake assemblages from two Atlantic Rainforest sites (Ilha do Cardoso, São Paulo) with differences in environmental productivity. Biota Neotrop. 8(3): http://www.biotaneotropica. org.br/v8n3/en/abstract?article+bn01408032008. Abstract:We analyzed richness, composition and mass of snakes in two sites in the Atlantic forest of Ilha do Cardoso (25° 03' S and 47° 53' W), an island (22,500 ha), Cananéia municipality, São Paulo State, Brazil. A monthly index of arthropod availability (in mm 3 ) was estimated in each site through capture rates in pit-fall traps. Fallen fruits were collected along trails in the study sites (mass of fruit gave an index of fruit availability) and small mammals were sampled in grids with 120 traps which covered the lowland (5.2 ha) and in the slope forests (3.6 ha). The abundance and mass of small mammals were standardized for the size of each sampled area (in g.ha -1 ). To sample snakes we established 20 pit-fall traps in each area and performed monthly transects in four consecutive days (totaling 1000 m long) along trails in the study sites. Snakes found were measured, weighted marked and released. Abundance and total mass of snakes were standardized by the size of each area. The areas differed consistently in in the productivity of arthropods, fruits and small mammals, and also in richness, composition and total mass of snakes. We found 36 individuals (total mass = 9884 g) of 12 snake species belonging to three Families (Colubridae, Elapidae and Viperidae) in the lowland forest, whereas in the slope forest we sampled only 9 individuals of 2 species (total mass = 1820 g). Our results suggest that the area of lowland forest, showing higher productivity of arthropods, fruits and small mammals, maintains a snake community with a higher richness, diversity and biomass than its slope forest counterpart. Keywords: Atlantic Rainforest snake assemblage, environmental productivity, snake diversity, and richness, snake seasonal activity, snake biomass. Resumo: Nós analisamos a riqueza, a composição e a massa de serpentes em dois ambientes na Mata Atlântica da Ilha do Cardoso (25° 03' S e 47° 53' W), uma ilha (22.500 ha), localizada no município de Cananéia, Estado de São Paulo, Brasil. Estimamos um índice de disponibilidade de artrópodos (em mm 3 ) em cada ambiente através da taxa de captura em armadilhas de queda estabelecidas no chão da floresta. Coletamos frutos caídos ao longo de trilhas nos ambientes estudados (a massa de frutos forneceu um índice da disponibilidade de frutos) e pequenos mamíferos foram amostrados em grades com 120 armadilhas as quais cobriram um ambiente na mata de planície (5,2 ha) e um na floresta de encosta (3,6 ha). A abundância e massa de pequenos mamíferos foi padronizada para o tamanho de cada área amostrada (em g.ha -1 ). Para amostrar as serpentes estabelecemos 20 armadilhas de queda em cada ambiente e mensalmente realizamos transectos durante quatro dias consecutivos (totalizando 1000 m de extensão em cada área) ao longo de ...

Snakes of Pontal Do Triangulo Mineiro Region, Cerrado Domain, Southeast Brazil

“…For the species discussed here, many have ecological and medical importance (ROCHA et al 2008), which evidences the necessity to know the local fauna. The present study contributes to the knowledge about the snake assemblage in the west of Minas Gerais (Ituiutaba region), and sheds light on the need of future studies on diversity and distribution of this vertebrate group in the Cerrado under an unfavorable scenario with respect to conservation of natural areas.…”

“…This group has great ecological significance and the consequences of diversity loss can be severe, because as predators, they contribute to prey population control (ROCHA et al 2008).…”

Composition and natural history of the snakes from the Parque Estadual da Serra do Papagaio, southern Minas Gerais, Serra da Mantiqueira, Brazil

“…Areas used for the analysis of similarity between snake assemblages.The following snake assemblages were included in the analyzes: São Paulo State: 1 Parque Estadual Turístico do Alto Ribeira (Araújo et al 2010) 2 Ilha da Cananéia (Cicchi et al 2007) 3 Parque Estadual Ilha do Cardoso (Rocha et al 2008) 4 Fazenda Etá (Fiorillo 2016) 5 Ilha Comprida (Cicchi et al 2007) 6 Estação Ecológica Juréia-Itatins (Marques and Sazima 2004) 7 Parque Estadual Carlos Botelho (Forlani et al 2010) 8 Municipalities of Tapiraí and Piedade (Condez et al 2009) 9 São Sebastião (Centeno et al 2008) 10 Ilhabela (Centeno et al 2008) 11 Parque Municipal de Paranapiacaba (Trevine et al 2014) 12 São Paulo (Barbo et al 2011) 13 Parque Estadual da Serra do Japi (Sazima and Haddad 1992) 14 São Vicente Island (Cicchi et al 2007) 15 Santo Amaro Island (Cicchi et al 2007) 16 Parque Estadual da Serra do Mar (Núcleo Santa Virgínia) (Hartmann et al 2009a) 17 Parque Estadual da Serra do Mar (Núcleo Picinguaba) (Hartmann et al 2009b) 18 São José do Barreiro (Ortiz et al 2017); Rio de Janeiro State 19 Ilha Grande (Rocha and Van-Sluys 2006) 20 Parque Natural Municipal da Serra do Mendanha (Pontes et al 2009) 21 Duque de Caxias (Salles and Silva-Soares 2010) 22 Niterói (Citeli et al 2016) 23 Estação Ecológica do Paraíso (Vrcibradic et al 2011) 24 Núcleo Experimental de Iguaba Grande (Martins et al 2012) Minas Gerais State 25 Munhoz (Cardoso 2011) 26 Parque Estadual da Serra do Papagaio (This study) 27 Parque Estadual da Serra do Brigadeiro (Moura et al 2012) 28 Viçosa (Costa et al 2010) 29 Ouro Branco (São-Pedro and Pires 2009) 30 Ouro Preto and surroundings (Silveira et al 2010) 31 Estação Ambiental de Peti (Bertoluci et al 2009). …”

Serpentes de uma paisagem urbana-rural nos Andes centrais da Colômbia: composição de espécies, distribuição e história natural

“…Such richness is much less than that found in different regions of the Amazonia (e.g., Dixon and Soini 1977 [88 Martins and Oliveira 1998 [66 species]), in the Brazilian Cerrado (Sawaya et al 2008 [36 species], Araujo et al 2010 [21 species]), and is less than that reported in the Colombian Pacific lowlands (Moreno et al 2003 [25 species]), and in one locality at the Cordillera Occidental (Castro-Herrera et al 2007 [22 species]). However, different environmental factors such as climate, topography, landscape configuration and environmental productivity, besides the factors associated with the type of sampling and data collection, can directly influence the diversity patterns observed in Manizales (see Rocha et al 2008, Sawaya et al 2008, UrbinaCardona et al 2008. Therefore, making comparisons of species diversity is extremely complicated when related to dissimilar environmental areas, and when different sampling methods have been used (Feisinger 2001).…”