BULLETIN FLORIDA MUSEUM NATURAL HISTORY VOL. 38 PT. 1(2)


habitats during the abbreviated sampling period in 1990, and only 2.3% of the
traps caught three or more snakes (Fig. 7B). In mesic habitats, only 25.3% of traps
captured one or more snakes during the 2-year sampling period, and only 1.2% of
traps caught three or more snakes (Fig. 8).
 We further examined the effectiveness of certain traps to catch snakes by
calculating the mean number of days between captures, regardless of species
trapped, and plotting this mean against the number of capture intervals (Fig. 9). As
might be expected, increasing the number of intervals between captures resulted in
a decrease in the mean number of days between captures. However, little variation
exists in the mean of the mean number of days between captures when the capture
interval was below four (1 interval mean = 81.9 days; 2 intervals mean = 92.6
days; 3 intervals mean = 97.0 days; 4 intervals mean = 90.8 days).
 Habitat appeared to have little effect on the number of snakes caught per
funnel trap. In 1989, most traps in xeric habitats caught one to three snakes,
although the total number of snakes captured per funnel trap in open xeric habitat
was rather uniform (Fig. 10). The number of snakes captured per funnel trap in
1989 is not different from a Poisson distribution both in high pine (X2=3.11, df=4)
and closed xeric hammock (X2=2.87, df=3). Generally fewer snakes were captured
per funnel trap during the abbreviated sampling period in 1990 xeric habitats and
in the mesic habitats in both years. A high percentage of traps captured zero snakes
regardless of habitat type (Figs. 11 and 12).
 The average monthly temperatures were similar among years with the
exception of April and May 1990 which were cooler than 1989 (Fig. 13). North-
central Florida experienced a severe drought throughout the study (Dodd 1992
1993). Total rainfall amounts varied considerably among years; 1990 was dryer
than 1989 (Fig. 13). The total number of snakes trapped per month was not
correlated with rainfall (r. = 0.245, p > 0.05), average monthly temperature (r, =
0.248, p > 0.05), maximum monthly temperature (r, = 0.431, p > 0.05), or
minimum monthly temperature (r, = 0.219, p > 0.05).


 DISCUSSION


 Species Richness and General Habitat Use.- The xeric and mesic habitats
on the Ordway Preserve appear to have similar snake species richness, at least on a
macrohabitat level. Sampling was conducted on a relatively coarse scale, i.e. no
trapping was undertaken in specialized habitats such as fossorial or arboreal
locations within the xeric and mesic habitats. No new records were obtained for the
Preserve, and our subjective impressions of the relative abundance of some species
were substantiated. The Ordway Preserve has similar species richness with