In collaboration with Jonno Webb and Rick Shine (University of Sydney), I have been working on the conservation biology of Australia’s most endangered snake, Hoplocephalus bungaroides. Our results show that H. bungaroides, which spends much of the year sheltering under thin sandstone rocks (pictured), is limited at least in part by the availability of thermally suitable rocks.

Hopolocephalus bungaroides competes for these rocks with its intraguild predator, Cryptophis nigrescens, which carries a risk of mortality, especially for juveniles. Furthermore, analysis of historical aerial photographs suggests that vegetation density has been increasing over the past half-century, leading to more shade and fewer suitable microhabitats for H. bungaroides. Ongoing work by David Pike and the Shine lab is evaluating, among other things, potential management actions to save this species.

Representative Publications

Pringle, RM, JK Webb, & R Shine. 2003. Canopy structure, microclimate, and habitat selection by the nocturnal snake Hoplocephalus bungaroides. Ecology 84:2668-2679.

Webb, JK, RM Pringle, & R Shine. 2009. Intraguild predation, thermoregulation, and microhabitat selection by snakes. Behavioral Ecology 20: 271-277.

Pringle, RM, M Syfert, JK Webb, & R Shine. 2009. Quantifying historical changes in habitat availability for endangered species: use of pixel- and object-based remote sensing. Journal of Applied Ecology 46:544-553.