Natalie Hyslop
Natalie and Charles the snake

Home range, movements, and survival of the Eastern Indigo Snake (Drymarchon couperi) in Georgia.
 
Project Summary

indigoThe Eastern Indigo Snake (Drymarchon couperi) is threatened throughout its range on the southeastern Coastal Plain of Georgia and Florida, due to habitat loss, degradation, and fragmentation caused primarily by development, fire exclusion, certain forestry practices, and agriculture. I conducted a radiotelemetry study on D. couperi from 2002 to 2004 on Fort Stewart Military Reservation and adjacent private property, to determine and estimate movements, habitat use, survival, and shelter use of the species in Georgia. Annual home ranges were large ( male = 510 ha; female = 101 ha), and influenced most by increases in body size, being male, and negatively associated with use of habitats undergoing restoration compared to areas used primarily for commercial timber production. Habitat use analyses on Gap Analysis Program habitat categories, suggested positive selection for wetland, evergreen forest, pine-hardwood mixed forest, and field habitats, with an avoidance of roads, urban areas, and deciduous forests. Annual survival for 2003 was 0.890 (± 0.074 SE, n =25) and 0.723 (± 0.088 SE; n =27) in 2004. Survival analysis suggested body size, standardized by sex, as thenatalie_implant strongest predictor of adult eastern indigo snakes survival, with lower survival probability for larger individuals within each sex. Snakes maintained close association with underground shelters. I recorded most underground locations at Gopher Tortoise (Gopherus polyphemus) burrows; however, reliance on these burrows was less pronounced in the spring for males and summer for males and females, when snakes used a wider diversity of shelters. Snakes used a higher proportion of active and inactive G. polyphemus burrows in cooler months and abandoned burrows used more frequently by females year-round and by males in warmer months. In Georgia, I suggest that preservation of large tracts of relatively undisturbed land is potentially the most important factor for conservation of this species; however, the quality of the habitats, including a matrix of xeric uplands and adjacent wetlands in addition to availability of appropriate sheltered retreats are also necessary landscape components for D. couperi persistence.
 
Education

B.S., University of Georgia, Athens, GA - Ecology 
M.S., Purdue University Fort Wayne, IN - Biology        
Ph.D. Candidate, University of Georgia, Athens, GA  - Wildlife Ecology and Management   
        
 
Vitae

Natalie Hyslop
 
Contact Information

Postal address
   PhD Candidate, Wildlife Ecology and Management
   Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources
   University of Georgia
   Athens, Georgia 30602

Electronic mail
    hyslop@uga.edu