United States Department of Transportation
i
Eastern Massasauga Rattlesnake: Ohio Population Survey and Survey Technique Development
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2023-02-01
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[PDF-4.64 MB]
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Edition:Final Report
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Abstract:The Eastern Massasauga Rattlesnake (Sistrurus catenatus; EMR) has declined through most of its range and is endangered in Ohio and federally threatened. Areas that EMR may inhabit must be surveyed prior to approving development projects. Therefore, comprehensive, fast, and affordable survey techniques for the EMR are of interest to government and non-government groups. This is particularly evident in Ohio where all known EMR populations are near maintained or expanding road networks. Traditional EMR surveying in Ohio uses visual encounter surveys and artificial cover object arrays. The purpose of this research is to test and refine a new survey technique, the Adapted-Hunt Drift Fence Technique (AHDriFT) and compare it to current EMR survey methods using a cost-benefit analysis. We deployed AHDriFT arrays at 66 fields across seven Ohio Counties over the course of four years, yielding 351 EMR detections at 57 fields. AHDriFT was the most effective and consistent method for detecting massasaugas in Ohio across a broad range of environmental and temporal variables. In this report, we generated relatively precise estimates for deploying these arrays to achieve high confidence in survey results.
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