Evidence that humidity influences snake activity patterns: a field study of the Malayan pit viper Calloselasma rhodostoma
Evidence that humidity influences snake activity patterns: a field study of the Malayan pit viper Calloselasma rhodostoma
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DOI：
10.1111/j.1600-0587.1998.tb00391.x
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发表时间：
1998-02-01
期刊：
影响因子：
5.9
通讯作者：
Wuster, W
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Daltry, JC;Ross, T;Wuster, W
采用多元统计方法，阐明了哪些环境因素影响自由生活的马来蝮蛇，Calloselasma rhodostoma的活动模式。14条成年蛇被植入微型无线电发射器，在5个月内共定位887次。这些蝮蛇一般会在地面上连续盘旋好几天，然后在晚上转移到新的地点。偏相关性检验表明，滞后蛇移动到新地点的频率和距离与环境相对湿度呈高度正相关，但与降雨量、环境温度或月球周期无关。这一发现得到了活性非标记C。在晚上遇到了红口线虫。在每个站点中，蛇的身体暴露在视图的比例与环境湿度呈正相关，当环境湿度较低时，蛇会退回到更深的灌木丛中。没有观察到明显的体温调节行为，植入的热敏发射器显示，蛇是被动thermoconformers.These研究结果似乎相矛盾，目前的文献表明，温度是影响爬行动物活动的主要非生物因素，但大多数爬虫学家认为只有温带形式。我们热带研究地点的环境温度全年温暖且相对稳定（平均日温差=24-33摄氏度），因此，蝮蛇可以被动地将体温保持在相当窄的范围内，白天平均为29.4摄氏度。另一方面，环境相对湿度变化很大，为了避免脱水，可能有必要将暴露和活动限制在高环境湿度的时期。
Multivariate statistical methods were used to elucidate which environmental factors influence the activity patterns of free-living Malayan pit vipers, Calloselasma rhodostoma. Fourteen adult snakes were implanted with miniature radiotransmitters and located a total of 887 times in 5 months. The pit vipers usually remained coiled on the ground for several consecutive days before moving at night to a new site. Partial correlation tests revealed that the frequency and distance of movements to new sites by lagged snakes were highly positively correlated with ambient relative humidity, but not with rainfall, ambient temperature or the lunar cycle. This finding was corroborated by the frequency with which active non-tagged C. rhodostoma were encountered at night. In each site, the proportion of the snakes' bodies exposed to view was positively correlated with ambient humidity, and the snakes retreated to areas with deeper undergrowth when ambient humidity was low. Overt thermoregulatory behaviour was not observed, and implanted thermosensitive transmitters revealed that the snakes were passive thermoconformers.These findings seem to contradict much of the current literature which shows temperature to be the dominant abiotic factor affecting reptilian activity, but most herpetologists have considered only temperate forms. Ambient temperature in our tropical study site was warm and relatively constant throughout the year (mean daily range=24-33 degrees C), so the pit vipers could passively maintain body temperature within a fairly narrow range, with a daytime mean of 29.4 degrees C. Ambient relative humidity, on the other hand, was very variable, and confining exposure and activity to periods of high ambient humidity may be necessary to avoid dehydration.