BEIJING, May 13 (Xinhuanet) --¡¡Biologists at Mingo have decided to study the snakes' movement and mortality at the southeast Missouri refuge, saying they are critical to the park's ecosystem,media reported Tuesday.
"Snakes serve a very important role in the ecosystem," said Jason Lewis, a wildlife biologist at Mingo National Wildlife Refuge near Puxico.
"Snakes are designed to control pest populations and they eat a lot of frogs, turtles (and) fish,"Lewis added. Reptiles and amphibiansare are "very sensitive to disturbance, and can be used as indicators of environmental change."
The biologists are concerned about the number of snakes being run over by vehicles, intentionally and by accident, during their spring and fall migration. They wouldtake measuresto reduce the mortality, which includesclosing some roadsduring their migration.
"The whole idea behind the study is to minimize mortality," Lewis said. "We want to know, 'Are pregnant females being impacted more than males?'"
The biologists also chose some western cottonmouth as test object to find out what exactly triggers snake migrations.
They captured 10 snakes, five males and five females, and implanted a flexible radio transmitter inside their bodies, near their tails, to study how the snakes disperse from their winter hibernation places and how far the snakes travel into the refuge's swamps and waterways.
The transmitters will allow the use of radio telemetry to track the snakes' movements over the course of the next year.
The study will look at weather conditions, habitat, and how young snakes move about and find hibernation.
"With all the data, it should give us a better understanding of what they need," Lewis said. "We should be able to later determine the best conditions for migrations and close some roads ahead of time."
Depending on funding, the study could continue for
three years.
(Agencies)
