Living with aliens: Suboptimal ecological condition in Semiaqauatic snakes inhabiting a hot spot of allodiversity

Result code in IS VaVaI

<a href="https://www.isvavai.cz/riv?ss=detail&h=RIV%2F60076658%3A12520%2F19%3A43899685" target="_blank" >RIV/60076658:12520/19:43899685 - isvavai.cz</a>

Result on the web

<a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1146609X19302802" target="_blank" >https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1146609X19302802</a>

DOI - Digital Object Identifier

<a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.actao.2019.103466" target="_blank" >10.1016/j.actao.2019.103466</a>

Result language

angličtina

Original language name

Living with aliens: Suboptimal ecological condition in Semiaqauatic snakes inhabiting a hot spot of allodiversity

Original language description

The presence of alien species can embody a form of disturbance for natural communities and the concomitant presence of alien species at different levels within the trophic chain may compromise ecosystem functionality. We studied the ecology of two species of snake (Natrix tessellate and N. natrix) in a system of five ponds with a high number of alien species at a Mediterranean area in central Italy. We evaluated the potential perturbations to ecological traits of snakes due to the presence of alien species, including their body size, population density, and food habits. We compared the studied populations&apos; body size to that estimated in conspecific populations studied elsewhere, including populations at close distance from the study site. Distance sampling and Capture-MarkRecapture techniques were used to calculate the population density. Diet was estimated using stomach contents and stable isotope ratios (delta N-15 and delta C-13), using Bayesian stable isotope mixing models to estimate the contribution of food sources and species&apos; isotopic niche spaces. Few prey items were found in the stomach contents of either species, with Ameiurus melas as the main prey. Based on isotope niche analyses, N. tessellate diet consisted of only alien species, and N. natrix diet mostly relied on alien species ( &gt; 80%). Stomach contents revealed high overlap between the two species, although isotopes showed a random resource use (i.e. low isotopic niche space overlap). Overall, we caught a low number of individuals, indicating small population sizes. Moreover, snakes at the study site were comparatively smaller in size than most other populations found in the literature and almost all the recorded individuals were in very poor condition or injured by ingested alien prey. We suggest that the presence of rich allodiversity has negatively affected the snakes&apos; fitness by decreasing their foraging performance, increasing their risk of being preyed upon, or through other mechanisms.

Czech name

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Czech description

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Type

J_imp - Article in a specialist periodical, which is included in the Web of Science database

CEP classification

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OECD FORD branch

10618 - Ecology

Project

—

Continuities

I - Institucionalni podpora na dlouhodoby koncepcni rozvoj vyzkumne organizace

Publication year

2019

Confidentiality

S - Úplné a pravdivé údaje o projektu nepodléhají ochraně podle zvláštních právních předpisů

Name of the periodical

Acta Oecologica

ISSN

1146-609X

e-ISSN

—

Volume of the periodical

100

Issue of the periodical within the volume

neuveden

Country of publishing house

FR - FRANCE

Number of pages

10

Pages from-to

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UT code for WoS article

000491685600007

EID of the result in the Scopus database

2-s2.0-85072255165