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Brown Treesnake morphological and behavioral differences following ingestion of large meals, 2015

Dates

Publication Date
Start Date
2015-01-19
End Date
2015-04-19

Citation

Siers, S.R., and Yackel Adams A.A., 2021, Brown Treesnake morphometric and behavioral data following ingestion of large meals on Guam, 2015: U.S. Geological Survey data release, https://doi.org/10.5066/P9AD7KKO.

Summary

Data set resulting from monitoring the behavior of snakes (n = 62) that had been feed a standardized large meal with transmitter, proportional to their body mass, to make direct comparisons to a control group of snakes that had not been fed a meal (only the transmitter). Transmitters were equipped with a two-position switch that changes pulse rate when the body position of the animal changes more than 10 degrees from the switch's preset orientation. Changes in pulse rate serve as a proxy measurement for snake activity, under the logic that a relatively stationary/sedentary snake would cause the transmitter to tip less frequently that an actively moving/foraging snake would. The experiment took place in the U.S. Geological Survey's [...]

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data_nights.csv 237.64 KB text/csv
data_trials.csv 7.38 KB text/csv

Purpose

Knowledge of invasive Brown Treesnake activity budgets is important for predicting the effectiveness of control programs on Guam. We predicted snakes fed a relatively large meal relative to their body mass would (1) exhibit reduced hourly activity patterns, (2) make shorter daily movements, (3) differ from unfed snakes in selection of daytime resting locations, and (4) be less detectable/targeted by management tools. Data are appropriate for movement and detection analysis.

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Communities

  • Fort Collins Science Center (FORT)
  • USGS Data Release Products

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DOI https://www.sciencebase.gov/vocab/category/item/identifier doi:10.5066/P9AD7KKO

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