scholarly journals Baseline assessment of fish communities, benthic macroinvertebrate communities, and stream habitat and land use, Big Thicket National Preserve, Texas, 1999-2001

2003 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Fish Communities ◽  
Stream Habitat ◽  
Benthic Macroinvertebrate ◽  
Macroinvertebrate Communities ◽  
Baseline Assessment ◽  
Big Thicket ◽  
National Preserve ◽  
Big Thicket National Preserve

Macrobenthos of Pine Island Bayou in the Big Thicket National Preserve, Texas

Hydrobiologia ◽  
1980 ◽  
Vol 69 (3) ◽  
pp. 213-223 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roy G. Darville ◽  
Richard C. Harrel
Keyword(s):  
Big Thicket ◽  
National Preserve ◽  
Big Thicket National Preserve

scholarly journals NOCTURNAL ARBOREALITY IN SNAKES IN THE SWAMPLANDS OF THE ATCHAFALAYA BASIN OF SOUTH-CENTRAL LOUISIANA AND BIG THICKET NATIONAL PRESERVE OF SOUTHEAST TEXAS

2017 ◽  
pp. 11-18
Author(s):  
Brad M. Glorioso ◽  
J. Hardin Waddle
Keyword(s):  
Southeastern United States ◽  
Ground Level ◽  
Snake Species ◽  
South Central ◽  
Big Thicket ◽  
Southeast Texas ◽  
National Preserve ◽  
Big Thicket National Preserve ◽  
Natural Histories ◽  
Fossorial Species

The southeastern United States is home to a diverse assemblage of snakes, but only one species, the Rough Greensnake (Opheodrys aestivus), is considered specialized for a predominantly arboreal lifestyle. Other species, such as Ratsnakes (genus Pantherophis) and Ribbonsnakes/Gartersnakes (genus Thamnophis), are widely known to climb into vegetation and trees. Some explanations given for snake climbing behavior are foraging, thermoregulation, predator avoidance, and response to flood. Reports of arboreality in snake species typically not associated with life in the trees (such as terrestrial, aquatic, and even fossorial species) usually come from single observations, with no knowledge of prevalence of the behavior. Here, we report on arboreality of snake species detected during 8 years of night surveys in the Atchafalaya Basin of south-central Louisiana and 5+ years of night surveys in Big Thicket National Preserve in southeast Texas. We recorded a total of 1,088 detections of 19 snake species between the two study areas, with 348 detections above ground level (32%). The Rough Greensnake and Western Ribbonsnake (Thamnophis proximus) accounted for nearly 75% of total arboreal detections among the two study areas. However, with one exception, all snake species detected more than once between both study areas had at least one arboreal detection. These observations demonstrate that snakes with widely varying natural histories may be found in the trees at night, and for some species, this behavior may be more common than previously believed.

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