07. E-KE2014-01 오홍식.Hwp
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
한국환경생태학회지 29(2) : 193~200, 2015 pISSN 1229-3857 eISSN 2288-131X Korean J. Environ. Ecol. 29(2): 192-199, April 2015 http://dx.doi.org/10.13047/KJEE.2015.29.2.192 Movement and Home Range of the Red-Tongued Viper Snake (Gloydius ussuriensis) Inhabiting Gapado1a Byoung-Soo Kim2, Hong-Shik Oh3* ABSTRACT This study was conducted to investigate the movement and home range of the red-tongued viper snake (Gloydius ussuriensis) from June 2006 to June 2009. This snake species inhabits an islet on Jeju Island, Gapado. A total of 132 individual snakes were marked during the study. Among the marked individuals, the number of snakes recaptured more than once was 22 (16.8 %) and the number of individuals recaptured more than twice was eight (6.1 %), indicating a relatively low recapture rate. The durations from capture to recapture varied from 1 to 710 days. However, the capture points were not much different, indicating that the moved distance of snakes and the interval between capture-recapture were not correlated. The home ranges of the Red-tongued viper snakes calculated from data of the snakes which were captured more than three times using the MCP(minimum convex polygon) method were 8∼167 ㎡(64.0±57.0 ㎡), suggesting that this snake is relatively sedentary. Home range size differences between female (Mean=62.0 ㎡) and male (Mean=66.0 ㎡) snakes were not significant. In the red-tongued viper population of Gapado, there was no statistically significant relationship between body size and home range size although it was positively correlated (r=0.675). Our results provide valuable data to understand life patterns of the red-tongued viper snakes and will be useful when conducting further ecological studies on other snake species. KEY WORDS: BEHAVIORAL ECOLOGY, POPULATION, VIPERIDAE, REPTILIA, JEJU ISLAND INTRODUCTION either (1) difficult to be predicted because of random movement, or (2) sedentary whether they are concentrated In regards to the life history of animals, moving from or not concentrated in one area (Seigel et al., 2001). one habitat to another habitat is related to the securing Recently, it was revealed that snakes' moving distance and of resources including food and water, mating, sunbathing, home range differ by species, time slot, gender and hibernation, nest, hideout, survival and reproduction. Most seasonal factors (Shine and Lambeck, 1985; Shine, 1987; animals move only when it is necessary, because their Fitzgerald et al., 2002; Brito, 2003; Shine et al., 2003; movement is associated with energy loss, unfavorable Whitaker and Shine, 2003). In particular, the red-tongued environmental conditions and exposure to predators. Also, viper snakes, which belong to the Gloydius, are very how often and how far animals move differ greatly from sedentary like Gloydius shedaoensis that inhabit an islet one species to another (Pough et al., 2004). in the northeast of China (Shine et al., 2003). On the other In case of the movement patterns of snakes, they are hand, some snakes like Crotalus adamanteus, a type of 1 Received 06 August 2014; Revised (1st: 27 January 2015, 2nd: 07 March 2015); Accepted 08 March 2015 2 Shinseong Girl’s Middle School, Jeju 690-140, Korea ([email protected]) 3 Dept. of Science Education, College of Education, Jeju National Univ., Jeju (690-756), Korea a This paper is to complement the lead author of doctor’s thesis was written. This work supported by the Jeju Green Environment center under the Research development program(2013). * Corresponding author: Tel: +82-64-754-3283, Fax: +82-64-725-4902, E-mail: [email protected] Movement and Home Range of the Red-Tongued Viper Snake (Gloydius ussuriensis) Inhabiting Gapado 193 rattlesnake that inhabits the United States, move relatively movement and home range. long distances (Waldron et al., 2006). Red-tongued viper Accordingly, this study was carried out to identify the snakes belong to Reptilia, Squamata, Serpentes, Crotalinae moving distance and home range of the red-tongued viper and Gloydius (O’Shea, 2005); they are distributed in snakes that inhabit Gapado, an islet of Jeju Island, by using Korea, northeast of China and far east of Russia (Zhao the mark-recapture method, and to provide data necessary and Adler, 1993). Until now, in regards to the ecology for ecological studies on other types of snakes that inhabit of red-tongued viper snakes, studies have been conducted Korea. to identify their reproductive cycle and litter size (Kim and Oh, 2014a), sexual size dimorphism (Kim and Oh, MATERIALS AND METHODS 2014a) and prey use (Kim and Oh, 2014c). Also, a study on capture-recapture was conducted for reptile resource This study was carried out in Gapado, the annexed management in national parks by using a PIT tag (Lee island located in the southwest of Jeju Island. The island's et al, 2009). However, there is no information on snakes' area is about 0.87 ㎢ or 1/2100 of Jeju Island. It belongs Figure 1. A map and picture of the survey area at Gapado 194 Byoung-Soo Kim, Hong-Shik Oh Korean J. Environ. Ecol. 29(2) 2015 to Gapa-ri, Daejeong-eup, Seogwipo-si, Jeju Special of the individual no. G001 when it was recaptured. Figure Self-Governing Province in terms of administrative district. 2c shows how to insert the PIT tag under the skin. It is situated at latitude 33° 09′ 35″~ 33° 10′ 30″ and The capturing location was identified using a GPS longitude 126° 15′ 56″~126° 16′ 57″. Gapado is 20 m (eTrex Vista® C, Garmin), and the moving distance and above sea level and its ground is flat. Most of the island home range were calculated using MapSource program is farmland except some areas where there are villages. (ver. 6.8, Garmin). The MCP (Minimum Convex Polygon) Grasslands or simple habitats are developed at some places method was used to determine the size of home range of at the edge of the island, and this study was carried out the individuals that were captured more than three times. in the grasslands, which is located in the southwest of SPSS (ver. 12.0) statistical program was used for a statistical Gapado, where goats are grazed (Figure 1). analysis. -test was used to analyze sex ratio of the This study used the mark-recapture method to find out captured individuals, and t-test was used to analyze the the movement and home range of red-tongued viper snakes difference in home range between male and female red- from June 2006 to June 2009. Because the number of tongued viper snakes. Also, a correlation between the surveys is determined by whether it is possible to enter moving distance and the interval between capture- recapture the island depending on weather conditions, a survey was and a correlation between the body length and the home carried out 1~4 times a month. In regards to the marking range size were analyzed through Pearson's correlation. of individuals, two methods were used: the method of ventral clipping abdominal scales and the method of RESULTS AND DISCUSSION inserting a PIT tag (Passive Integrated Transponder tag; ID 162A, TROVAN) under the skin (Figure 2). Figure In terms of the number of marked individuals by year, 2a shows the location where ventral clipping is conducted 13 individuals were marked in 2006, 42 individuals in to the individual no. 155, and Figure 2b shows the image 2007, 61 individuals in 2008 and 15 individuals in 2009. Among the 131 marked individuals, except two individuals of which gender marking was omitted, 56 were females and 73 were males. The ratio of males is higher (Males : Females = 1.30 : 1, n = 129), but there was no statistically significant difference (χ2-test, χ2 = 2.240, P> 0.1). (a) However, the ratio of males was higher than the sex ratio of the offspring of the individuals that inhabit Jeju Island (Males : Females = 1.15 : 1). There is no difference in the sex ratio of the offspring of most snakes (Wang et al., 2003; Taylor and Denardo, 2005), but because females face many difficulties due to reproduction (Shine, 1980), their mortality is higher. A good example is Trimeresurus (b) stejegeri stejegeri that inhabits Taiwan: the observed frequency of males was significantly higher than that of females when they become adults (Wang et al., 2003). Among the marked individuals, 22 (16.8 %) were recaptured, and 8 individuals (6.1 %) were recaptured more than twice (Table 1). The recapture rates after inserting the PIT tag were 16.67 % and 8.33 % regarding (c) the surveys that were carried out in Mt. Odae National Park and Mt. Wolak National Park (Lee et al., 2009), Figure 2. Individual marking methods of G. ussuriensis. Ventral clipping method (a) and its actual Accordingly, the recapture rate of this study (16.8 %) was example (b) and PIT tag inserting method (c) similar to the result of the survey conducted in Mt. Odae Movement and Home Range of the Red-Tongued Viper Snake (Gloydius ussuriensis) Inhabiting Gapado 195 Table 1. The moved distance and home range size of G. ussuriensis on Gapado Individual classification Capture SVL Movement Home rang size No. Indi. Terms Tag cord Sex Times Date (㎜) distance(m) (㎡) No. (day) 1st 3 June 2006 363 1 G001 00066C6753 F 2nd 17 June 2007 379 364 13 60 3rd 17 June 2008 366 367 9 1st 17 June 2006 330 2 G009 00066C24AE M 2nd 17 June 2007 365 331 3 1st 13 May 2007 361 000669831E 3 G015 M 2nd 17 June 2007 35 365 44 112 (00066AC874) 3rd 26 October 2007 131 376 12 1st 13 May 2007 276 4 G018 00066C16C1 M 2nd 8 April 2008 331 284 3 12 3rd 12 April 2008 4 284 12 1st 23 May 2007 361 5 G023 00066C3095 F 2nd 2 May 2009 710 374 22 1st 23 June 2007 377 6 G032 00066C7D59 M 2nd