Size and Growth in Two Populations of Black Kingsnakes, Lampropeltis nigra, in East Tennessee

作者：Faust Ted M^*; Blomquist Sean M

来源：Southeastern Naturalist, 2011, 10(3): 409-422.

DOI：10.1656/058.010.0303

This paper reports information on size and growth of snakes in two populations of Lampropeltis nigra (Black Kingsnake) over 20 years of study and provides a comparative analysis that builds on the work of Jenkins et al. (2001). During a 7-year study (1990-1996) at the Anderson County Wildlife Sanctuary (ACWS) and a 13-year study (1997-2009) at the University of Tennessee Forestry Resources Research and Education Center (FES) in Oak Ridge, TN, we captured 265 individual Black Kingsnakes a total of 556 times. The size of Black Kingsnakes in these two populations are the smallest reported for this species, with mean (+/- SD) snout-to-vent length (SVL) of 66.9 +/- 24.5 cm (maximum = 112 cm) at ACWS and 55.8 +/- 16.8 cm (maximum = 87 cm) at FES. At FES, the mass-SVL relationship is represented by an exponential equation (mass [g] = 0.0004 SVL [cm](2.98)) similar to ACWS (mass [g] = 0.0005 SVL [cm](2.95)). Across both sites, juvenile kingsnakes grew 1.1 cm/mo faster than adult individuals. There was a significant decline in body condition index (BCI) in the combined population during 1990-2009, with BCI declining by 0.960 units annually at ACWS and by 0.981 units annually at FES over the respective study periods. Declines in BCI may be a precursor to a decline in abundance.

• 出版日期2011-9