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ABSTRACT Gopher tortoises ( Gopherus polyphemus) are among the most frequently translocated herpetofauna; yet, determining translocation success is difficult because tortoises are slow-growing, long-lived organisms with low reproductive potential. Comparing behavioral traits of translocated individuals with those of sympatric or nearby resident individuals can provide an ecologically relevant baseline to determine if translocated individuals show behavioral traits consistent with those of long-term residents. We used radio telemetry to concurrently monitor 21 translocated and 15 resident gopher tortoises across 2 sites in southern Georgia and compared movement patterns, body weights, and multi-scale habitat selection between treatments. Translocated tortoises moved farther and had larger home ranges than resident tortoises but showed similar patterns of site fidelity. We observed no differences in body weight change between treatments. Patterns of habitat selection were similar between treatments in that tortoises selected structurally open habitats at all scales. Our study suggests that more extensive post-release movements compared to resident individuals may not necessarily lead to lower site fidelity in translocated individuals. We suspect that the presence of structurally suitable habitat within the release area and retaining translocated individuals within a pre-release enclosure for 10 months contributed to high site fidelity. Although comparing translocated and resident individuals can help inform translocation efforts, we caution that using resident individuals from ecological sinks may lead to misleading results. © 2014 The Wildlife Society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Snakes often occur in species-rich assemblages, and sympatry is thought to be facilitated primarily by low diet overlap, not interspecific interactions., We selected, a priori, three species pairs consisting of species that are morphologically and taxonomically similar and may therefore be likely to engage in interspecific, consumptive competition. We then examined a large-scale database of snake detection/nondetection data and used occupancy modelling to determine whether these species occur together more or less frequently than expected by chance while accounting for variation in detection probability among species and incorporating important habitat categories in the models., For some snakes, we obtained evidence that the probabilities that habitat patches are used are influenced by the presence of potentially competing congeneric species. Specifically, timber rattlesnakes ( Crotalus horridus) were less likely than expected by chance to use areas that also contained eastern diamond-backed rattlesnakes ( Crotalus adamanteus) when the proportion of evergreen forest was relatively high. Otherwise, they occurred together more often than expected by chance. Complex relationships were revealed between habitat use, detection probabilities and occupancy probabilities of North American racers ( Coluber constrictor) and coachwhips ( Coluber flagellum) that indicated the probability of competitive exclusion increased with increasing area of grassland habitat, although there was some model uncertainty. Cornsnakes ( Pantherophis guttatus or Pantherophis slowinskii) and ratsnakes ( Pantherophis alleghaniensis, Pantherophis spiloides, or Pantherophis obsoletus) exhibited differences in habitat selection, but we obtained no evidence that patterns of use for this species pair were influenced by current interspecific interactions., Overall, our results are consistent with the hypothesis that competitive interactions influence snake assemblage composition; the strength of these effects was affected by landscape-scale habitat features. Furthermore, we suggest that current interspecific interactions may influence snake occupancy, challenging the paradigm that contemporary patterns of snake co-occurrence are largely a function of diet partitioning that arose over evolutionary time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT The federally threatened eastern indigo snake ( Drymarchon couperi), native to the southeastern Coastal Plain of the United States, has experienced population declines caused primarily by habitat loss, degradation, and fragmentation. To examine spatial and habitat use requirements of the species, we radiotracked 32 eastern indigo snakes from 2002 to 2004 on Fort Stewart Military Installation and adjacent private lands in Georgia. We estimated annual and seasonal home ranges and evaluated a priori hypotheses examining morphometric and ecological factors (sex, body size, location) associated with intraspecific differences in home range size. We analyzed habitat use hierarchically by examining use across the study area and within home ranges. Annual home range size varied from 33 ha to 1,528 ha (average minimum convex polygon: [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the influence of landscape-level on terrestial snake occupancy within the southeastern U.S. The study uses occupancy modeling to identify habitat variables that affect in determining the presence of a particular species. Results show that some species were positively associated with scrub or shrub and grassland like Slowinski's cornsnake (Elaphe slowinskii), while copperhead snake and eastern diamond-backed rattlesnake were positively associated with forested habitats.