Species-Specific Management (SSM)

Reptile Management: Introduction

The wild snakes, lizards, and turtles are "wildlife" and may be managed for food for other populations, as essential components of ecosystems, and as distinctive resources, much sought by people seeking to observe and learn of and experience all forms of the wild faunal resource. Some may become pests or be dangerous to people and livestock, thus objectives of biodiversity may come into conflict with other faunal resource objectives.

Rather than describing community or system level work with wild creatures, this unit presumes that the landowner or some person has a species of great interest and wants to keep it at present levels of abundance or to change that abundance. To manage "for" some animals will require managing "against" others. Modern management within public land-management groups, often said to have an objective of "maximum biodiversity", can only be achieved by trying to have no species lost, also to have a long species list (also said to be "richness"), and unspecified numbers or density of each species. The requirement of managing for reptile richness is very complex, difficult, costly, and often creates between-species conflicts that cannot be resolved. Currently, the only known strategy for achieving area-wide diversity (areas of several hundred acres) is to have equal acreage of each age-class within each forest type to fauna. (The assumption is that species are more tree- and stand-age related than tree type (dominant trees) related; that species are strongly related to ecological conditions deflected in "type" and that over time as the areas age, they will collectively come into (and eventually go out of) age classes suitable for all of the species. The large area required is too large and complex for intensive management of small sites and gains that might be made from their proper placement in relations to each other. Natural dispersion is assumed adequate. Species specific exceptions, where known, can be implemented. Often faunal resource system management is seen as a way to get more animals (as in game management) but it also includes stabilizing populations as well as decreasing them (such as when they become pests, disease carriers, or of danger to recreationists).

Throughout the region, illegally collecting and selling wild reptiles and amphibians is increasing. Such poaching can be dangerous to populations. Even though there is illegal trade in almost all forms of wildlife, the reptile and amphibian market has been, and, by some estimates, still is one of the fastest growing areas of poaching. Trade includes Americans as well as Europeans and Asians who are willing to pay high sums even for common species taken from the United States, such as common snakes, toads, salamanders, and frogs as well as endangered species. Collecting such animals may be a status symbol, a hobby, or only a business. The activity is illegal and stopping it is a top priority management need.

Fortunately there is only one species believed to be at risk in the general area. The population may not be viable. This is the Northern pine snake (Pituophis m. melanoleucus). A second link.

The Army Corps of Engineers, Waterways Experiment Station (WES) provides a set of habitat management guidelines for threatened and endangered species of reptiles.

A link to Biobots was created in April, 2000. It is the source of most national biological information.

A link to a database on reptiles and amphibians of the US and Canada is now available (4-23-00).

A link to Fishbase , a potential resource for information on fish foraged upon by reptiles was established on January 31, 2000.

A link to the U.S. Man and Biosphere (MAB) data base is available (March, 2000)

A link to general information about MAB is available and the email address is mabres@aol.com (for information about MABFauna,MABFlora or MABNet databases)

A link to the International Biodiversity Observation Year (IBOY)2000-2002 is available. IBOY uses MAB's BRIM (site listed above) which is said to be the world's largest publically accessible database of vascular flora and vertebrate fauna species inventories of protected areas (637 sites in 86 countries)

Army Corps of Engineers data on threatened and endangered species is available.

Another endangered species list is available.

A related site supplies information on T and E effort with the DoD, Dr. Fischer.

For amphibians but also see the local links at the bottom of the file on box turtles.

Other information can be gained on reptiles.

Submitted by Robert H. Giles, Jr.

A contribution from a project funded in part by US Forest Service, Dr. Mike Rauscher, the Southern Appalachian Forest Hypertext Enclclopedia project, 2002

This Web site is maintained by R. H. Giles, Jr.
Last revision July 10, 2002.