Tracking Lake Erie Water Snake in Fight Against Invasive Fish
Jeremy Caseltine
Lake Erie Water Snake
Lauren Flick, who is a senior at the University of Cincinnati, along with a few other colleagues have been using a new type of research method called Lotek Archival Tags (LAT). They have been using this method on the Lake Erie water snake whose habitat has been taken over by invasive fish. Before the use of LAT the primary method of tracking snakes was with a radio transmitter, where the researcher would attach a small transmitter to the snake and hope that they could stay within range so that they could receive the signal. The great thing about the LATs is that they record and store data about the snakes over time so tracking them isn't that necessary anymore. I believe that this will lead to a better understanding of hero behavior and can become a great research method to use.
What Lauren and her fellow researchers did, was they caught two Lake Erie water snakes and had the LATs implanted into them. The rest of the work was up to the snake, because the use of the LATs allowed the snake to move about in its natural environment without having to be disturbed. Lauren had commented in the article saying, "For a study like ours, it's harder and less effective to rely solely on using the traditional radio transmitter on a water snake moving in the depths of the Great Lakes. And even when using the average transmitter with a ground snake, you have to stay within about 50 meters for the tracking technology to work. That kind of close tracking could also serve to disturb the very habits a researcher is hoping to observe".
The Lake Erie water snake is only found in the western half of Lake Erie on both the Ohio and Canadian side and was just recently removed from the federally endangered list. They were endangered because humans would kill them but also because of loss and degradation of the shorelines and islands in which they lived. "It's important to understand how the species is faring in terms of foraging, maintaining body temperature and finding appropriate mating, resting and hibernating environments because the LEWS are a major player in combating the invasive round gobi fish" Lauren said. The round gobi fish, a bottom dwelling fish, is detrimental to the native ecosystem because they will eat just about any fish in the lake. However the results of the LATs have showed that the Lake Erie water snakes, which were thought to forage only about 7 percent of them time have now been recorded at about 20-25 percent of the time. Since the main diet of the Lake Erie water snake is the round gobi fish this fairs very well for the ecosystem of Lake Erie. It has led to proposals of conserving the species to save the habitat. With the better understand of the behavior of the Lake Erie water snake more should be done to help save this specie. The consequences of losing it are much worse than sacrificing to keep it because once its gone, Lake Erie's ecosystem could potentially be lost. The work that they have accomplished so far can be used as an example of hopefully what is to come, and that would be better understanding of all aspects of herps.
The Round Gobi Fish
What Lauren and her fellow researchers did, was they caught two Lake Erie water snakes and had the LATs implanted into them. The rest of the work was up to the snake, because the use of the LATs allowed the snake to move about in its natural environment without having to be disturbed. Lauren had commented in the article saying, "For a study like ours, it's harder and less effective to rely solely on using the traditional radio transmitter on a water snake moving in the depths of the Great Lakes. And even when using the average transmitter with a ground snake, you have to stay within about 50 meters for the tracking technology to work. That kind of close tracking could also serve to disturb the very habits a researcher is hoping to observe".
Lake Erie Water Snake eating a fish.
The Lake Erie water snake is only found in the western half of Lake Erie on both the Ohio and Canadian side and was just recently removed from the federally endangered list. They were endangered because humans would kill them but also because of loss and degradation of the shorelines and islands in which they lived. "It's important to understand how the species is faring in terms of foraging, maintaining body temperature and finding appropriate mating, resting and hibernating environments because the LEWS are a major player in combating the invasive round gobi fish" Lauren said. The round gobi fish, a bottom dwelling fish, is detrimental to the native ecosystem because they will eat just about any fish in the lake. However the results of the LATs have showed that the Lake Erie water snakes, which were thought to forage only about 7 percent of them time have now been recorded at about 20-25 percent of the time. Since the main diet of the Lake Erie water snake is the round gobi fish this fairs very well for the ecosystem of Lake Erie. It has led to proposals of conserving the species to save the habitat. With the better understand of the behavior of the Lake Erie water snake more should be done to help save this specie. The consequences of losing it are much worse than sacrificing to keep it because once its gone, Lake Erie's ecosystem could potentially be lost. The work that they have accomplished so far can be used as an example of hopefully what is to come, and that would be better understanding of all aspects of herps.
Source: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/03/120319111825.htm
1 comment:
Interesting post--I hadn't heard of these devices. They must use satellites for tracking??
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