Medical Sciences Commons^™

Movement And Macrohabitat Selection Of The Eastern Massasauga In A Fen Habitat, John Marshall, Jr., Jennifer Manning, Bruce Kingsbury

Bruce A Kingsbury Ph.D.

The eastern massasauga, Sistrurus c. catenatus, is a small rattlesnake threatened with extirpation throughout its range. Massasaugas occur in a variety of habitats and adequate knowledge of their natural history at local scales is essential for effective management. We used radiotelemetry to document patterns of movement and macrohabitat selection of massasaugas in a fen environment, an important, but understudied, habitat. Based on both 100% minimum convex polygons and 95% kernel density, seasonal home ranges of males were larger than those of nongravid females which, in turn, were larger than those of gravid females. Activity center estimations followed the same …