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Detection And Occurrence Of Nerodia Harteri (Serpentes: Colubridae) In An Upper Portion Of The Brazos River Watershed, Jessica Yates
Detection And Occurrence Of Nerodia Harteri (Serpentes: Colubridae) In An Upper Portion Of The Brazos River Watershed, Jessica Yates
Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Semiaquatic snakes are disproportionately impacted by habitat alteration adjacent to wetlands because of their reliance on both terrestrial and aquatic habitats. Brazos River Watersnakes, Nerodia harteri, are endemic natricines with one of the most restricted geographic ranges in North America. I quantified detection and site occupancy probabilities of N. harteri and its sympatric congeners (N. erythrogaster and N. rhombifer), as well as microhabitat selection within the Nerodia community. Within occupied transects, search effort was positively correlated with detecting N. harteri, whereas environmental and/or habitat variables were better predictors for detecting the sympatric congeners. Microhabitat selection between …