Crotalus Horridus) Metapopulation in Southwestern Massachusetts and New England
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University of Massachusetts Amherst ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst Doctoral Dissertations Dissertations and Theses March 2018 HABITAT SELECTION, CONNECTIVITY, AND POPULATION GENETICS OF A TIMBER RATTLESNAKE (CROTALUS HORRIDUS) METAPOPULATION IN SOUTHWESTERN MASSACHUSETTS AND NEW ENGLAND Anne Stengle Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.umass.edu/dissertations_2 Recommended Citation Stengle, Anne, "HABITAT SELECTION, CONNECTIVITY, AND POPULATION GENETICS OF A TIMBER RATTLESNAKE (CROTALUS HORRIDUS) METAPOPULATION IN SOUTHWESTERN MASSACHUSETTS AND NEW ENGLAND" (2018). Doctoral Dissertations. 1208. https://scholarworks.umass.edu/dissertations_2/1208 This Open Access Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Dissertations and Theses at ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst. It has been accepted for inclusion in Doctoral Dissertations by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst. For more information, please contact [email protected]. HABITAT SELECTION, CONNECTIVITY, AND POPULATION GENETICS OF A TIMBER RATTLESNAKE (CROTALUS HORRIDUS) METAPOPULATION IN SOUTHWESTERN MASSACHUSETTS AND NEW ENGLAND A Dissertation Presented by ANNE G. STENGLE Submitted to the Graduate School of the University of Massachusetts Amherst in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of: DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY FEBRUARY 2018 ORGANISMIC AND EVOLUTIONARY BIOLOGY © Anne G. Stengle 2018 All Rights Reserved HABITAT SELECTION, CONNECTIVITY, AND POPULATION GENETICS OF A TIMBER RATTLESNAKE (CROTALUS HORRIDUS) METAPOPULATION IN SOUTHWESTERN MASSACHUSETTS AND NEW ENGLAND A Dissertation Presented By ANNE G. STENGLE Approved as to style and content by: ________________________________ Paul R. Sievert, Chair ________________________________ Alan M. Richmond, Member ________________________________ Andrew Whiteley, Member ________________________________ William S. Brown, Member ________________________________ Stephen G. Tilley, Member ________________________________ Jeffrey Podos, Graduate Program Director Graduate Program in Organismic and Evolutionary Biology DEDICATION I dedicate this dissertation to my father, Dr. Thomas “Casey” Stengle (1929-1993). Although he never saw my career path, I know he would’ve been proud of me, and he has always been an inspiration to me. Gravid Female Timber Rattlesnake, Berkshire County, MA, Sept 2009 “Having gained this intelligence, and recollecting that countries are sometimes represented by animals peculiar to them, it occurred to me that the Rattlesnake is found in no other quarter of the world besides America, and may therefore have been chosen, on that account, to represent her.” Benjamin Franklin, Dec 27, 1775 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would like to thank my advisor, Dr. Paul R. Sievert, for his support and guidance for this project. I would also like to thank my other committee members, Dr. Alan Richmond, Dr. Andrew Whiteley, Dr. Stephen Tilley, and Dr. William Brown for their invaluable contributions. Dr. Alan Richmond provided great practical advice and funding by hiring me to be his teaching assistant for his Herpetology class. Dr. Andrew Whiteley patiently taught me everything I know about population and conservation genetics. Dr. Stephen Tilley always asked the big questions, and provided excellent feedback. Dr. William Brown provided extensive knowledge of the species, and continued to inspire and support me by inviting me to an annual informal timber rattlesnake conservation team meeting. Although not a committee member, Thomas Tyning provided extensive guidance in designing and carrying out this project, and this project would not have been possible without him. The Massachusetts Natural Heritage and Endangered Species Program (NHESP) of the Massachusetts Division of Fisheries and Wildlife (MDFW) provided most of the funding for this project, which was mitigated through the support of Lori Erb and Misty- Anne Marold. Additional funding was provided by the Society for the Study of Amphibians and Reptiles, National Geographic Society, the University of Massachusetts Amherst Natural History Collections, David J. Klingener Scholarship, and the University of Massachusetts Organismic and Evolutionary Biology Program (OEB). The Massachusetts Natural Heritage and Endangered Species Program, and Massachusetts Department of Fisheries and Wildlife, Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation, specifically Paul Antoniazzi, the New York State Office of vi Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation (NYSOPRHP), the Nature Conservancy, and the Berkshire School provided property access. I thank Raymond Doherty of the NYSOPRHP, Taconic Region, for providing housing, when needed, during the study, and for providing permits for this research. I thank W.H. Martin for his wealth of knowledge and always promptly answering my many questions, Randy Stechert for his extensive knowledge and entertaining field decorum, Dr. Dan Keyler for always being available for envenomation advice, and George Pisani for research advice, with comedic support. I thank all the “Bashers”, the informal Timber Rattlesnake conservation group, for being available to provide information and experiences, and for always willing to brainstorm ideas with me. I would also like to thank Jeff Corwin for featuring my research on his show, “Ocean Mysteries”, and Paul Williams for featuring my work on the BBC show “Earth’s Greatest Spectacles”. I thank Penny Jaques, the past manager of the Organismic and Evolutionary Biology Program, UMass, Amherst and Jill Prosciak, past Massachusetts Cooperative Research Unit Administrative Assistant, UMass, Amherst, for their administrative assistance and support. I thank William Hoffman and Chris Camacho for their dedicated field assistance and Brett Trowbridge, John Corey, Rene Wendell, and Mike Hitchcock, for also assisting in the field. David Whitbeck provided invaluable insight of areas and local properties used by the snakes, and captured many individual rattlesnakes that I marked and radio tracked. I thank Marty Martin, George Pisani, Tom Tyning, Kay Sadighi, Bill Hoffman, John Corey, Brett Trowbridge, Randy Stechert, Ed McGowen, Polly Smith-Blackwell, vii William Brown, Ted Levin, Matt Simon, Dennis Quinn, Bob Fritsch, Doug Blodgett, Kiley Briggs, Dr. Mike McBride, Lou Perrotti, Kim Andrews, Mike Marchand, and Matt Simon for providing DNA samples from their local populations, which allowed to me to investigate regional northeastern population genetics. I also thank the staff of Roger Williams Park Zoo, Lou Perrotti, Dr. McBride, Dr. Kim Wojick, Bonnie Soule CVT, and Abigail Nickolopoulos CVT for including my study animals in their study on Snake Fungal Disease. Thank you to Dr. Bill Benner for assisting with radio transmitter implants and veterinary advice and Patty Lepore for providing space and supplies for radio transmitter implants. I thank Dr. Charles Smith for teaching me the techniques of radio implantation. I wish to thank Dr. Mike Jones and Dr. Liz Willey for always providing advice on research and data analysis methodology and on all aspects of graduate school life; Maili Page for guidance in the genetics lab and emotional support, and a shared love of kitties; Jennifer Bonta, a University of Massachusetts undergraduate whom I mentored for her honors thesis on population genetics of timber rattlesnakes; and all of my students, current and past, for moral support, helping me become a better teacher, and always a good laugh. I express my gratitude to all of the residents of the town of Mt. Washington, Massachusetts, for their generous support of the snakes and the project, especially Sandy Winters, Bruce Detwiler, Bobbie Hallig, Elizabeth McGraw, and Kathleen Handel. I thank Robert Matthews, at Depot Deli for always having that last minute forgotten item, great snacks, and fun chats. viii I would like to thank both owners of the Florence Animal Clinic, Dr. Mark Berens and Dr. Danielle Lorenzo, for accommodating my employment schedule around my class schedule and fieldwork, and always being supportive of my research. Russ and Sheri Wall inspired this career path for me, and always gave me their loving support. John Edwards from Holohil Systems Limited provided high-quality radio transmitters, excellent customer service, and great friendship. I wish to express my love and sincere gratitude to my mother, Dr. Diane Stengle, for always supporting and encouraging me and for being my number one fan, and of course to my cat, Fluffy, for always providing stress relief throughout this research process. Last but not least, I appreciate all the rattlesnakes in this population for inspiring me with their majestic beauty, and I hope that this research provides information that may allow this iconic species to continue to exist in the forests of New England. ix ABSTRACT HABITAT SELECTION, CONNECTIVITY, AND POPULATION GENETICS OF A TIMBER RATTLESNAKE (CROTALUS HORRIDUS) METAPOPULATION IN SOUTHWESTERN MASSACHUSETTS AND NEW ENGLAND FEBRUARY 2018 ANNE G. STENGLE, A.S., HOLYOKE COMMUNITY COLLEGE B.S., UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS, AMHERST PH.D., UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS, AMHERST Directed By: DR. PAUL R. SIEVERT Timber Rattlesnake suffered significant range reduction in the past few centuries. Here, I studied the demographics, movement patterns and habitat use of a metapopulation in Berkshire County, Massachusetts and population genetics of northeastern populations. The metapopulation was split into four subpopulations, based on geographic distance and genetic distance.