TY - JOUR
T1 - Scaling the heights
T2 - Thermally driven arboreality in garter snakes
AU - Shine, Richard
AU - Wall, Michael
AU - Langkilde, Tracy
AU - Mason, Robert T.
N1 - Funding Information:
We thank Al and Gerry Johnson for help and encouragement, and the Manitoba Department of Natural Resources (especially Dave Roberts) for permits. Financial support was provided by the Australian Research Council and the Australian Academy of Science (to RS), and by the National Science Foundation (IBN-9357245) and the Whitehall Foundation (W95-04) to RTM. Research was conducted under the authority of Oregon State University Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee Protocol No. LAR-1848B. All research was conducted in accord with the US Public Health Service ‘Policy on Humane Care and Use of Laboratory Animals’ and the National Institutes of Health ‘Guide to the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals’.
PY - 2005/4
Y1 - 2005/4
N2 - Occasional use of arboreal habitats is common in many otherwise-terrestrial species, but the functions of facultative arboreality remain unclear. Red-sided garter snakes (Thamnophis sirtalis parietalis) are small nonvenomous terrestrial snakes, recorded to climb only rarely. During springtime fieldwork near a large communal overwintering den in Manitoba, we observed occasional episodes when hundreds of snakes climbed into low trees and remained in the branches for periods ranging from minutes to hours. Our data suggest a thermoregulatory basis for this behaviour. During daylight hours when the snakes were active, ambient temperatures generally were higher on the ground than in trees; but this thermal cline reversed occasionally, especially after the ground was cooled by light rain. Arboreality was most common during those thermal reversals. Experimentally simulating rain in the field (sprinkling with water) induced climbing behaviour; and in laboratory enclosures, snakes climbed to avoid a cold substrate. Thus, red-sided garter snakes ascend trees to access higher temperatures than are available on the ground.
AB - Occasional use of arboreal habitats is common in many otherwise-terrestrial species, but the functions of facultative arboreality remain unclear. Red-sided garter snakes (Thamnophis sirtalis parietalis) are small nonvenomous terrestrial snakes, recorded to climb only rarely. During springtime fieldwork near a large communal overwintering den in Manitoba, we observed occasional episodes when hundreds of snakes climbed into low trees and remained in the branches for periods ranging from minutes to hours. Our data suggest a thermoregulatory basis for this behaviour. During daylight hours when the snakes were active, ambient temperatures generally were higher on the ground than in trees; but this thermal cline reversed occasionally, especially after the ground was cooled by light rain. Arboreality was most common during those thermal reversals. Experimentally simulating rain in the field (sprinkling with water) induced climbing behaviour; and in laboratory enclosures, snakes climbed to avoid a cold substrate. Thus, red-sided garter snakes ascend trees to access higher temperatures than are available on the ground.
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U2 - 10.1016/j.jtherbio.2004.11.001
DO - 10.1016/j.jtherbio.2004.11.001
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:14844333089
SN - 0306-4565
VL - 30
SP - 179
EP - 185
JO - Journal of Thermal Biology
JF - Journal of Thermal Biology
IS - 3
ER -