Species Richness and Abundance of Snakes in Right-of-Way Sections of State Game Lands in Central Pennsylvania, USA

Time constrained area searches were used to survey snake populations along nine sections of right-of-way (ROW) within state game lands (SGL) in Centre County, Pennsylvania: seven sections of ROW within SGL 33 and two sections within SGL 103. Each section was searched by two people for 30 minutes between 7 A.M. and 11 A.M. in June of 2020. Sections of ROW differed in their history of vegetation management and amount of available woody debris and rock cover. Five species (45 individuals) of snakes were observed in the wire-zone of the ROWs during June. Species richness was greatest in the site treated with low volume foliar and with a large quantity of rock cover. This survey suggests that ROWs utilizing Integrated Vegetation Management and selective herbicides can support a multitude of reptile species.

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Work Title Species Richness and Abundance of Snakes in Right-of-Way Sections of State Game Lands in Central Pennsylvania, USA
Access
Open Access
Creators
  1. Ian Fisher
  2. Carolyn Grace Mahan
Keyword
  1. Herpetofauna
  2. Penn State Altoona
  3. Snakes
  4. Species Richness
  5. Sustainability
  6. Environmental studies
  7. Species abundance
  8. Time constrained area search
  9. Central Pennsylvania
  10. Eastern milksnake
  11. Eastern garter snake
  12. Northern ringneck snake
  13. Northern red-bellied snake
  14. Smooth green snake
  15. Integrated Vegetation Management
License CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 (Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives)
Work Type Poster
Acknowledgments
  1. Special thanks goes to Brad Ross for his assistance on the project.
Publication Date 2021
Deposited April 07, 2021

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Version 1
published

  • Created
  • Added Creator Ian Fisher
  • Added Creator Carolyn Grace Mahan
  • Updated Description Show Changes
    Description
    • Time constrained area searches were used to survey snake populations along nine sections of right-of-way (ROW) within state game lands (SGL) in Centre County, Pennsylvania over a two-month period: seven sections of ROW within SGL 33 and two sections within SGL 103. Each section was searched by two people for one hour between 7 A.M. and 11 A.M. in June and July of 2020. Sections of ROW differed in their history of vegetation management and amount of available woody debris and rock cover. Five species (45 individuals) of snakes were observed in the wire-zone of the ROWs during June. Twenty-eight individuals were observed in July but excluded to prevent counting recaptures. Species richness was greatest in the site treated with high volume foliar and with a large quantity of rock cover. This survey suggests that ROWs utilizing Integrated Vegetation Management can support a number of reptile and amphibian species.
    • Time constrained area searches were used to survey snake populations along nine sections of right-of-way (ROW) within state game lands (SGL) in Centre County, Pennsylvania: seven sections of ROW within SGL 33 and two sections within SGL 103. Each section was searched by two people for one hour between 7 A.M. and 11 A.M. in June and July of 2020. Sections of ROW differed in their history of vegetation management and amount of available woody debris and rock cover. Five species (45 individuals) of snakes were observed in the wire-zone of the ROWs during June. Twenty-eight individuals were observed in July but excluded from the dataset to prevent counting recaptures. Species richness was greatest in the site treated with high volume foliar and with a large quantity of rock cover. This survey suggests that ROWs utilizing Integrated Vegetation Management can support a number of reptile and amphibian species.
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  • Updated Description, Publication Date, License Show Changes
    Description
    • Time constrained area searches were used to survey snake populations along nine sections of right-of-way (ROW) within state game lands (SGL) in Centre County, Pennsylvania: seven sections of ROW within SGL 33 and two sections within SGL 103. Each section was searched by two people for one hour between 7 A.M. and 11 A.M. in June and July of 2020. Sections of ROW differed in their history of vegetation management and amount of available woody debris and rock cover. Five species (45 individuals) of snakes were observed in the wire-zone of the ROWs during June. Twenty-eight individuals were observed in July but excluded from the dataset to prevent counting recaptures. Species richness was greatest in the site treated with high volume foliar and with a large quantity of rock cover. This survey suggests that ROWs utilizing Integrated Vegetation Management can support a number of reptile and amphibian species.
    • Time constrained area searches were used to survey snake populations along nine sections of right-of-way (ROW) within state game lands (SGL) in Centre County, Pennsylvania: seven sections of ROW within SGL 33 and two sections within SGL 103. Each section was searched by two people for one hour between 7 A.M. and 11 A.M. in June of 2020. Sections of ROW differed in their history of vegetation management and amount of available woody debris and rock cover. Five species (45 individuals) of snakes were observed in the wire-zone of the ROWs during June. Species richness was greatest in the site treated with low volume foliar and with a large quantity of rock cover. This survey suggests that ROWs utilizing Integrated Vegetation Management and selective herbicides can support a multitude of reptile and amphibian species.
    Publication Date
    • April 2021
    • 2021
    License
    • https://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html
  • Published
  • Updated
  • Updated

Version 2
published

  • Created
  • Updated Description Show Changes
    Description
    • Time constrained area searches were used to survey snake populations along nine sections of right-of-way (ROW) within state game lands (SGL) in Centre County, Pennsylvania: seven sections of ROW within SGL 33 and two sections within SGL 103. Each section was searched by two people for one hour between 7 A.M. and 11 A.M. in June of 2020. Sections of ROW differed in their history of vegetation management and amount of available woody debris and rock cover. Five species (45 individuals) of snakes were observed in the wire-zone of the ROWs during June. Species richness was greatest in the site treated with low volume foliar and with a large quantity of rock cover. This survey suggests that ROWs utilizing Integrated Vegetation Management and selective herbicides can support a multitude of reptile and amphibian species.
    • Time constrained area searches were used to survey snake populations along nine sections of right-of-way (ROW) within state game lands (SGL) in Centre County, Pennsylvania: seven sections of ROW within SGL 33 and two sections within SGL 103. Each section was searched by two people for 30 minutes between 7 A.M. and 11 A.M. in June of 2020. Sections of ROW differed in their history of vegetation management and amount of available woody debris and rock cover. Five species (45 individuals) of snakes were observed in the wire-zone of the ROWs during June. Species richness was greatest in the site treated with low volume foliar and with a large quantity of rock cover. This survey suggests that ROWs utilizing Integrated Vegetation Management and selective herbicides can support a multitude of reptile species.
  • Updated Acknowledgments Show Changes
    Acknowledgments
    • Special thanks goes to Brad Ross for his assistance on the project.
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  • Deleted Screen Shot 2021-04-07 at 9.59.55 AM.png
  • Updated License Show Changes
    License
    • https://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html
    • https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
  • Published
  • Updated
  • Updated

Version 3
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Version 4
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