Monsoon does matter: annual activity patterns in a snake assemblage from Bangladesh
During the last decades annual activity patterns of temperate snake species have received considerably more attention than those of tropical snakes. In this study, we document the monthly activity patterns of a species-rich assemblage of snakes from a tropical forest-plantation mosaic
in Bangladesh based on specimens collected by a systematic road kill survey for 14 months, and relate them to the climatic characteristics of the study area with special reference to monsoon regimes. We recorded 503 Dead-On-Road (DOR) snakes, belonging to 30 different species, with a mean
DOR/km rate of 0.247. Overall, snake activity was uneven throughout the year, being particularly intense during July, August and October, and significantly reduced in December, January and February. Five out of nine species with considerably robust sample sizes showed consistently uneven monthly
activity patterns. Monsoon seasonality deeply influenced the phenology of several Asian-tropical snakes, with some species being active especially at the middle or end of the monsoon period while others are active throughout the monsoon period.
Keywords: ASIA; BANGLADESH; MONSOON; ROAD-KILLS; SEASONAL ACTIVITY; SERPENTES
Document Type: Research Article
Publication date: 01 October 2013
- The Herpetological Journal is an international scientific journal that publishes papers on the natural history of amphibians and reptiles. Experimental, observational and theoretical studies are published along with reviews and book reviews. Faunistic lists, letters and results of general surveys are not published unless they shed light on herpetological problems of wider significance.
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