Robert T. Zappalorti

• Managing Director at Herpetological Associates, Inc. Wildlife Consultants, 405 Magnolia Road, Pemberton, NJ 08068

Ophidiomyces ophidiicola, the fungus causing Snake Fungal Disease (SFD) or ophidiomycosis, is prevalent in North American snakes and can have deleterious population effects. Northern pine snakes (Pituophis melanoleucus melanoleucus) in New Jersey often test positive for ophidiomycosis. In this paper, we use qPCR to examine changes in prevalence fro...

Ophidiomyces ophidiicola, the fungus causing snake fungal disease (SFD), has been identified in northern pine snakes (Pituophis melanoleucus) in New Jersey. In this paper, we (1) review the positivity rate of SFD on different locations on snakes’ bodies, (2) determine the relationship between the sores and quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qP...

Bog Turtle Research

Results of Bog Turtle Research

Results of a Bog Turtle Radio-tracking study

Bog Turtle Surveys in Monroe Co. PA

Trapping Bog Turtle in Cumberland Co., PA

Results of Bog Turtle Surveys in PA

Results of Bog Turtle Trapping Efforts

Results of Bog Turtle Research in PA

Bog Turtle Progress Report

Bog Turtle Surveys in PA

Bog Turtle Radio-tracking Results

Snake fungal disease, caused by Ophidiomyces ophidiicola, is recognized as a potential concern for North American snakes. We tested skin swabs from Northern Pine Snakes (Pituophis melanoleucus melanoleucus) in the New Jersey pinelands for the presence of O. ophidiicola before emergence from hibernation. We used qPCR to test the collected swabs for...

Reptiles are increasingly of conservation concern due to their susceptibility to habitat loss, emerging disease, and harvest in the wildlife trade. However, reptile populations are often difficult to monitor given the frequency of crypsis in their life history. This difficulty has left uncertain the conservation status of many species and the effic...

Human development and disturbances can be determinants of population viability of some vertebrates in human-impacted ecosystems. The effects on the behavior and population dynamics of reptiles are not well-studied in urban environments. This paper examines the importance of pine forest clearings, openings, and paleodunes for nesting pine snakes (Pi...

Wildlife diseases pose an ever-growing threat to global biodiversity. Understanding how wildlife pathogens are distributed in the environment and the ability of pathogens to form environmental reservoirs is critical to understanding and predicting disease dynamics within host populations. Snake fungal disease (SFD) is an emerging conservation threa...

New methods of examining the risk to endangered, threatened and rare species are required to identify vulnerability. A paradigm for examining risk is presented that describes anthropogenic threats, species activities, and vulnerabilities, and uses Northern pine snakes (Pituophis melanoleucus) in the New Jersey Pine Barrens as a case study. The para...

In December 1981, an experimental tiger salamander breeding pond was excavated at Higbee Beach Wildlife Management Area following the design of Anderson (1976), and Herpetological Associates. The pond measured 100-feet across by 300-feet long and had a gradual sloping bottom from its shallow edges of 6-inches to the center at 3-feet. The center of...

To conserve threatened/endangered species, we need to understand the factors contributing to reproductive success and recruitment to reproductive stage. Obtaining this information is difficult for snakes because they are secretive, are not easy to locate at the same stage each year, and are sometimes sparsely distributed. We determined nest fate, h...

Growth of males and females (for Table 3). (XLSX)

Nest-site selection by most turtles affects the survival of females and their offspring. Although bog turtles (Glyptemys muhlenbergii) do not typically leave their wetlands for nesting, nest-site selection can impact hatching success and hatchling survival. Between 1974 and 2012, we monitored the fates of 258 bog turtle eggs incubated in the field...

Top trophic level predators are at risk from bioaccumulation of heavy metals from their prey. Using nondestructively collected tissues as a method of assessing metal concentrations in snakes is useful for populations that are threatened or declining. This paper reports concentrations of arsenic (As), cadmium (Cd), chromium (Cr), lead (Pb), mercury...

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, proposes to list the Louisiana Pinesnake (Pituophis ruthveni), as a federally threatened species under the Endangered Species Act. I was asked to review the proposed rule document in the Federal Register (Department of the Interior, Fish and Wildlife Service 2016). As outlined in the proposed rule, there are seve...

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, proposes to list the Louisiana Pinesnake (Pituophis ruthveni), as a federally threatened species under the Endangered Species Act. I was asked to review the proposed rule document in the Federal Register (Department of the Interior, Fish and Wildlife Service 2016). As outlined in the proposed rule, there are seve...

Managers, regulators, and the public are interested in the conservation of threatened, endangered, or iconic species. While snakes are not usually thought of as iconic, Pine Snakes (Pituophis melanoleucus) are an indicator species of the New Jersey Pine Barrens. In this paper we examine the threats Pine Snakes face, and measures undertaken to reduc...

Over a 20-year period, various types of drift fence material were used to determine the best results for intercepting snakes as they moved through their habitat. Special funnel box traps were designed that allowed snakes to enter, but prevented them from escaping. Examples of various trapping efforts at study sites in the New Jersey Pine Barrens ar...

Nest-site selection can affect both the survival and fitness of female turtles and their offspring. In many turtle species, the nest environment determines the thermal regime during incubation, length of incubation period, sex ratio of the hatchlings, and exposure to predators and other forms of mortality for both mothers and their offspring. Betwe...

Northern Pine Snakes (Pituophis melanoleucus) are one of the few snakes that spend the winter in underground hibernacula that they excavate. We report the use of hibernacula by Pine Snakes from 1986 to 2012 in the New Jersey Pine Barrens. We determined whether philopatry to a specific hibernaculum varied as a function of age, sex, and location of t...

We studied home range size and maximum dispersal distance from hibernacula in Northern Pinesnakes (Pituophis m. melanoleucus) at a 1418-ha preserve in Cumberland County, New Jersey, USA, between 1993 and 2003. We discovered 22 different winter hibernacula that were used by 39 Northern Pinesnakes. Of the 10 snakes monitored in hibernacula for 3-5 yr...

Environmental managers require information on whether human-made hibernacula are used by rare snakes before constructing large numbers of them as mitigation measures. Fidelity of northern pine snakes (Pituophis m. melanoleucus) was examined in a 6-year study in the New Jersey Pine Barrens to determine whether they used natural and artificial hibern...

Background: We report the first formal records and population recovery of wild Burmese pythons (Python molurus bivittatus) in the Kinmen islands, which are located 2.1 km from the Chinese coastline and are under military control of the Taiwanese government. During the Cold War period, bombardments by China destroyed most of the buildings and veget...

This report presents the results of herpetological surveys in Atlantic, Burlington, Cumberland and Ocean Counties, which are all within the New Jersey Pine Barrens. Brief summaries are provided about the ecology and habitats of the reptiles and amphibians that were studied.

Vertebrates have particular habitat needs as a function of life cycle and reproductive stage. This paper uses four species as examples to illustrate a paradigm of environmental assessment that includes physical, biological, toxicological and human dimensions. Species used include Chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha), northern leopard frog (Ran...

Understanding the specific habitat requirements of reptiles during different life stages or seasons is critical to conserving viable populations. Northern Pinesnakes (Pituophis melanoleucus) are one of the few species that spend the winter in underground hibernacula, which they excavate themselves. We report on 26 years (1986—2011) of monitoring Pi...

The geographic range of the Timber Rattlesnake (Crotalus horridus) encompasses most of the eastern half of the United States. Although the overall diet composition of C. horridus has been well documented and has been reported to be very broad, local population variation has not been studied. We examined the diet and foraging behavior of C. horridus...

At the northern limit of their range, the Pine Snake (Pituophis melanoleucus) is listed as a threatened species by the state of New Jersey. They occur in the southern portion of the state in an area known as the Pine Barrens, where they are isolated from other conspecifics much farther south in Tennessee, Virginia, Kentucky and the Carolinas. The m...

We examined sexual size dimorphism (SSD) and growth rates in samples of bog turtles (Clemmys muhlenbergii) from North Carolina, Pennsylvania and New Jersey. Mean carapace length (CL) of males was significantly greater than mean CL of females in all three states. However, the degree of SSD varied significantly among states. Specimens from North Caro...

The Indigo Snake has drastically declined throughout its historic range in the southern United States. Reasons for its decline are provided along with the snake's natural history and ecology.

The habitat use and activity range of Lampropeltis getula getula (Eastern Kingsnake) in the New Jersey Pine Barrens were studied from 1996–1998. Five male and four non-gravid female Eastern Kingsnakes were routinely radiotracked during daylight hours during one or two active seasons. Habitat and climatic conditions at snake locations were character...

Considerable attention has been devoted to the effects of people and their vehicles on birds and mammals, but possible effects on reptiles in populated areas have received less attention. Moreover, the effects of human activities on reptile reproductive success itself has been harder to demonstrate. This paper examines the effect of management of o...

The loggerhead musk turtle, Sternotherus minor, is a small, highly aquatic species that occupies a variety of habitats throughout its range in the southeastern United States. It is a conspicuous and common freshwater turtle in the spring runs, streams, and rivers of northern and western Florida. As a result, it has been subject to some pressure fro...

We examined subterranean predation rates in the hibernacula (1986-1991) and nesting burrows (1976-1991) of pine snakes (Pituophus melanoleucus) in the New Jersey Pine Barrens. We examined 40 hibernacula with 412 snakes. Snakes were killed by red fox (Vulpes fulva, n = 1), striped skunk (Mephitis mephitis, n = 2) and short-tailed shrew (Blarina brev...

We studied nesting behavior of pine snakes Pituophis melanoleucus from 1977 to 1989. Female pine snakes in the New Jersey Pine Barrens excavate tunnels and a nest chamber for egg deposition. Over 70% of all nests had old, hatched shells remaining in the nests from previous years. The presence of hatched shells and the incidence of recaptured female...

We studied the excavation and nesting behavior of pine snakes (Pituophis m. melanoleucus) in the New Jersey Pine Barrens from 1977-1989. Females excavate a tunnel and nest chamber for egg laying. Females initially make slight depressions in the sand (pre-test holes, 22%), then construct small test holes (16%), and finally excavate long tunnels lead...

We studied sexual and individual variation in habitat use by pine snakes, Pituophis melanoleucus (5 males, 5 females), in the New Jersey Pine Barrens. Both sexes were found in pine-oak forests. Habitat selection varied by sex and individual, with males using logs and bark extensively while females often were found under oak leaves. For over 50% of...

Radiotelemetry was used to monitor the movements and habitat use of timber rattlesnakes (Crotalus horridus) in the Pine Barrens of southern New Jersey. Reproductive condition strongly influenced both aspects of behavior. Males generally exhibited the largest activity ranges, and the sizes of their ranges were positively correlated with the number o...

We examined eight summer dens (used only in summer) and seven hibernacula (occupied both in winter and summer) of the snake Pituophis melanoleucus in the New Jersey Pine Barrens, comparing above ground characteristics of hibernacula and summer dens with characteristics at nearby random points. Temperatures at the soil surface and at 10 cm depth wer...

Sex ratios from 134 adult Pituophis melanoleucus observed over an 11 yr period in nature indicate a 0.39 sex ratio for all snakes and 0.66 for all non-gravid snakes. By size class (generally indicative of age), ratios varied (from smallest to largest snakes) from 0.78, 0.23, 0.54 to 0.40. For 37 clutches incubated at room temperature (cycling tempe...

A total of 16 adult Elaphe guttata (4 males and 12 females), were kept in the laboratory as part of a captive breeding program initiated in 1982. Snakes were artificially hibernated in cold rooms (8 at Trenton State College and 8 at Herpetological Associates’ laboratory), at temperatures ranging from 10 to 15 degrees C. between November and March 1...

1.1. In this study pine snake eggs were incubated at different temperatures (21–32°C) to examine effects on physiological and morphological development.2.2. Snakes from eggs incubated at low temperatures (21–23°C) had significantly more morphological abnormalities, were shorter in body length, and had proportionally larger heads than those from egg...

We examined nest site selection by 31 female pine snakes that excavated and laid eggs at 22 nest sites in the Pine Barrens of southern New Jersey. All nests occurred in large clearings with less than 10% tree cover in pitch pine-scrub oak uplands. Nest sites differed from randomly selected points adjacent to nests with respect to vegetation cover a...

Herpetological inventory for rare species