Biological Sciences Department, California Polytechnic State University, 1 Grand Ave., San Luis Obispo, CA, USA.
Statistics Department, California Polytechnic State University, 1 Grand Ave., San Luis Obispo, CA, USA.
Behav Processes. 2021 Sep;190:104459. doi: 10.1016/j.beproc.2021.104459. Epub 2021 Jul 8.
Conspecific animals living in multiple habitats may utilize different behaviours to survive and thrive in their environments. The Pacific rattlesnake (Crotalus oreganus), a generalist pit viper species, lives in a myriad of habitat types. We hypothesized that populations inhabiting hot, inland habitats and those in cool, coastal habitats would exhibit different behavioural strategies, especially those related to thermoregulation. Additionally, we determined whether environmental factors could be used as predictors of certain behaviours. We recorded environmental and behavioural data while radio-tracking adult, male rattlesnakes from two inland sites and two coastal sites throughout their active season. We found significant differences in thermoregulatory behaviour, with coastal snakes found more frequently above ground and in an active state than inland snakes. Additionally, wind, cloud cover, and air temperature were significant predictors of several snake behaviours. These results suggest that rattlesnakes exhibit plasticity in thermoregulatory behaviour.
生活在多种栖息地的同种动物可能会利用不同的行为来在其环境中生存和繁衍生息。太平洋响尾蛇（Crotalus oreganus）是一种普通的坑蝮蛇种，生活在多种栖息地类型中。我们假设栖息在炎热内陆栖息地的种群和栖息在凉爽沿海栖息地的种群将表现出不同的行为策略，特别是与体温调节有关的行为策略。此外，我们还确定了环境因素是否可以作为某些行为的预测因子。在响尾蛇活跃季节，我们从两个内陆地点和两个沿海地点对成年雄性响尾蛇进行了无线电跟踪，并记录了环境和行为数据。我们发现，它们的体温调节行为存在显著差异，沿海蛇类比内陆蛇类更频繁地出现在地面上并处于活跃状态。此外，风速、云量和空气温度是几种蛇类行为的重要预测因子。这些结果表明，响尾蛇在体温调节行为方面表现出了可塑性。
