DODD & FRANZ: UPLAND SNAKES


 160- 148 28,290 Trap Nights

 140-

 120-
 100
 S 100-

 80-
 z
 60-

 40 36
 40 -
 27
 20 14
 10 1 2 2
 Cad Cco Ccp Egu Hpl Mfl Mfu Pmm Smi Tsi Traps
 Species

 SSandhill ] Open XH Closed XH


Figure 2. Snakes caught in traps by habitat type in xeric habitats. Cad = Crotalus adamanteus; Cco=
Cemophora coccinea; Ccp = Coluber constrictor, Egu = Elaphe guttata; Hpl = Heterodon platyrhinos;
Mfl = Masticophis flagellum; Mfu = Micrurus fulvius; Pmm = Pituophis melanoleucus; Smi = Sistrrurs
miliarius; Tsi = Thamnophis sirtalis. "Traps" refers to the percentage of trap effort in each habitat type.



 The high pine snake community was more diverse (H' = 2.31) and evenly
distributed (J' = .729) than the closed xeric hammock community (H' = 1.49; J' =
.531). Mesic hammocks were intermediate in diversity and evenness (H'= 2.02 and
J' = .639). Within the xeric habitats, most species were found in more than one
habitat type, and those species found in only one habitat type were rarely trapped.
In contrast, the mesic hammock accounted for the vast majority of captures in
mesic habitats although trap sampling bias probably accounts for the lack of
representation of more species in other mesic habitats. Habitat niche overlap values
for the five most common species trapped in xeric habitats are in Table 1 and niche
breadth values are in Table 2.
 Snakes trapped in both xeric and mesic communities included juveniles and
large adults (Table 3). However, black racers appeared to be larger in more
structured habitats than in open habitats. Mean SVLs in high pine were smaller