Distribution Patterns and Ecological Niches of the Red-tongued Pit Viper (Gloydius ussuriensis) and the Central Asian Pit Viper (Gloydius intermedius) in Cheonmasan Mountain, South Korea

Min Seock Do, Ki-Baek Nam

Abstract


Studies on the distribution of species are important to understanding the interspecific ecological niche and habitat selection through geographic environmental information. Particularly, vipers in the same genus have been an important topic because they show differences in the preferred geographical environment, depending on the distance of the phylogenetic relationship. This study investigated the geographical environment of red-tongued pit vipers (Gloydius ussuriensis) and Central Asian pit vipers (Gloydius intermedius) in the mountainous area, Cheonmasan Mountain County Park, South Korea, from April 2012 to October 2014, to understand the relationships among their habitat characteristics and ecological niche. Red-tongued pit vipers mainly lived in low altitude, wet valley areas with a low solar reflectance, while Central Asian pit vipers inhabited high altitude, dry land with large amounts of sunshine. As a result, our study supports that the ecological niche of red-tongued pit vipers and Central Asian pit vipers, inhibiting in Cheonmasan Mountain was overlapped low according to the majority of geographical environmental variables. The differentiated diet preference might be took into consideration as one of the potential key factors to the ecological niche differentiation among two species.

Keywords


ecology; distribution; reptiles; Viperidae; Korea

Full Text:

PDF

References


Bea A. (1985), «La repartición de las víboras Vipera aspis (Linnaeus, 1758) y Vipera seoanei (Lataste, 1879), en el Pais Vasco», Cienc. Nat., 2, 7 – 20.

Blanchard F. N. and Finster E. B. (1933), «A method of marking living snakes for future recognition, with a discussion of some problems and results», Ecology, 14(4), 334 – 347.

Brito J. C., Santos X., Pleguezuelos J. M., and Sillero N. (2008), «Evolutionary scenarios with geostatistics and geographical information systems (GIS) for the viperid snakes Vipera latastei and V. monticola», Biol. J. Linn. Soc., 95(4), 790 – 806.

Brito J. C., Fahd S., Geniez P., Martínez-Freiría F., Pleguezuelos J. M., and Trape J. F. (2011), «Biogeography and conservation of viperids from North-West Africa: An application of ecological niche-based models and GIS», J. Arid. Environ., 75(11), 1029 – 1037.

Costa G. C., Wolfe C., Shepard D. B., Caldwell J. P., and Vitt L. J. (2008), «Detecting the influence of climatic variables on species distributions: a test using GIS niche-based models along a steep longitudinal environmental gradient», J. Biogeogr., 35(4), 637 – 646.

Demers G. B. and Weatherhead P. J. (2001), «Habitat us by black rat snake (Elaphe obsoleta obsoleta) in fragment forests», Ecology, 82(10), 2882 – 2986.

Do M. S. and Yoo J. C. (2014), «Distribution pattern according to altitude and habitat type of Red-tongue viper snake (Gloydius ussuriensis) in Cheon-ma mountain», J. Wet. Res., 16(2), 193 – 204.

Do M. S., Lee J. W., Jang H. J., Kim D. I., and Yoo J. C. (2016), «Interspecific competition and spatial ecology of three species of vipers in Korea: An application of ecological niche-based models and GIS», Korean J. Environ. Ecol., 30(2), 173 – 184.

Do M. S., Nam K. B., and Yoo J. C. (2017a), «A First observation of courtship behavior of short-tailed viper snake, Gloydius saxatilis (Squamata: Viperidae) in Korea», J. Asian Pacific Biodivers., 10(4), 583 – 586.

Do M. S., Nam K. B., and Yoo J. C. (2017b), «Distribution and movement tendencies of short-tailed viper snakes (Gloydius saxatilis) by altitude», Asian Herpetol. Res., 8(1), 39 – 47.

Do M. S., Koo K. S., and Song J. Y. (2019), «First Report on the Hybridization between Gloydius brevicaudus and G. intermedius», Herpetol. Notes, 12, 519 – 521.

Duguy R., Martínez-Rica J. P., and Saint-Girons H. (1979), «La répartition des vipères dans les Pyrénées et les régions voisines du nord de l’Espagne», Bul. Soc. Hist. Nat. Toulouse, 115, 359 – 377.

Entsminger G. L. (2012), EcoSim Professional: Null Modelling Software for Ecologists, Acquired Intelligence Inc., Kesey-Bear. & Pinyon Publishing., Montrose, CO, USA. http://www.garyentsminger.com/ecosim/index.htm.

Felix Z. I., Wang Y., and Schweitzer C. J. (2010), «Abundance and population structure of eastern worm snakes in forest stands with varous levels of overstory tree retention», in: A. John (eds.), Proc. of the 14th Biennial Southern Silvicultural Research Conference, Gen Tech Rep, SRS-121, pp. 481 – 485.

Garrigues T., Dauga C., Ferquel E., Choumet V., and Failloux A. (2005), «Molecular phylogeny of Vipera Laurenti, 1768 and the related genera Macrovipera (Reuss, 1927) and Daboia (Gray, 1842), with comments about neurotoxic Vipera aspis aspis populations», Mol. Phylogen. Evol., 35(1), 35 – 47.

Harlan J. R. (1976), «Plant and animal distribution in relation to domestication», Phil. Trans. R. Soc. Lond. B. Biol. Sci., 273(936), 13 – 25.

Kim B. S. (2010), A Study on the Ecology of the Ussuri Mamushi Gloydius ussuriensis from Jeju Island, Korea. PhD Thesis, Jeju Univ., Korea.

Kim J. Y. (2007), Development of the Community Planting Models for the Urban Green Space in the Metropolitan Area, the Middle Tempera Zones, Korea. PhD Thesis, Univ. Seoul, Korea.

Lee J. H., Jang H. J., and Suh J. H. (2011), Ecological Guide Book of Herpetofauna in Korea, National Institute of Environmental Research press, Incheon, South Korea.

Lee J. W., Noh H. J., Lee Y. K., Kwon Y. S., Kim C. H., and Yoo J. C. (2014), «Spatial patterns, ecological niches, and interspecic competition of avian brood parasites: inferring from a case study of Korea», Ecol. Evol., 4(18), 3689 – 3702.

Luiselli L. (2006), «Resource partitioning and interspecific competition in snakes: the search for general geographical and guild patterns», Oikos, 114(2), 193 – 211.

Luiselli L., Filppi E., and Lena E. D. (2007), «Ecological relationship between sympatric Vipera aspis and Vipera ursinii in high-altitude habitats of central Italy», J. Herpetol., 41(3), 378 – 384.

Martínez-Freiría F., Sillero N., Lizana M., and Brito J. C. (2008), «GIS-based niche models identify environmental correlates sustaining a contact zone between three species of European vipers», Divers. Distr., 14(3), 452 – 461.

Martínez-Freiría F., Lizana M., Amaral J. P., and Brito J. C. (2010), «Spatial and temporal segregation allows coexistence in a hybrid zone among two Mediterranean vipers (Vipera aspis and V. latastei)», Amphibia–Reptilia, 31(2), 195 – 212.

Metzger C., Ursenbacher S., and Christe P. (2009), «Testing the competitive exclusion principle using various niche parameters in a native (Natrix maura) and an introduced (N. tessellata) colubrid», Amphibia–Reptilia, 30(4), 523 – 531.

Mori A., Daming J., Moriguchi H., and Hasegawa M. (1989), «Food habits of snakes in East Asia: a biogeographical approach to resource partitioning», in: M. Matsui, T. Hikida, and R. C. Goris (eds.), Current Herpetology in East Asia, Herpetological Society of Japan press, Kyoto, pp. 433 – 436.

Monney J. C. (1996), Biologie comparre de Vipera aspis L. et de Vipera berus L. (Reptilia, Ophidia, Viperidae) dans une station des Prtation Bernoises. PhD Thesis, Univ. Neuchatel, Switzerland.

Orians G. H. and Wittenberger J. F. (1991), «Spatial and temporal scales in habitat selection», Am. Naturalist, 137, 29 – 49.

Orlov N. L. and Barabanov A. V. (1999), «Analysis of nomenclature, classification, and distribution of the Agkistrodon halys – Agkistrodon intermedius complexes: a critical review», Russ. J. Herpetol., 6(3), 167 – 192.

R Core Team (2013), R: a Language and Environment for Statistical Computing, R Foundation for Statistical Computing, Vienna, Austria. http://www.R-project.org (accessed September 25, 2013).

Saint-Girons H. (1975), «Coexistence de Vipera aspis et de Vipera berus en Loire-Atlantique: un probleme de competition interspecifique», Rev. d’Ecol., 29, 590 – 613.

Saint-Girons H. (1980), «Biogéographie et évolution des vipéres européennes», Compte. Rendu. Sci. Soc. Biogéogr., 496, 146 – 172.

Santos X., Brito J. C., Sillero N., Pleguezuelos J. M., Llorente G. A., Fahd S., and Parellada X. (2006), «Inferring habitat — suitability areas with ecological modelling techniques and GIS: a contribution to assess the conservation status of Vipera latastei», Biol. Conserv., 130(3), 416 – 425.

Song J. Y. (2007), «Current status and distribution of reptiles in the Republic of Korea», Korean J. Environ. Biol., 25(2), 124 – 138.

Stefano S., Marco M., Roberto S., and Augusto G. (2011), «A tribute to Hubert Saint Girons: niche separation between Vipera aspis and V. berus on the basis of distribution models», Amphibia–Reptilia, 32(2), 223 – 233.

Wiens J. J. and Graham C. H. (2005), «Niche conservatism: integrating evolution, ecology, and conservation biology», Ann. Rev. Ecol. Syst., 36, 519 – 539.

Xu Y., Liu Q., Myers E. A., Wang L., Huang S., He Y., Peng P., and Guo P. (2012), «Molecular Phylogeny of the Genus Gloydius (Serpentes: Crotalinae)», Asian Herpetol. Res., 3(2), 127 – 132.




DOI: https://doi.org/10.30906/1026-2296-2021-28-6-348-354

Refbacks

  • There are currently no refbacks.


You can subscribe to the print or electronic version of the journal on the site of EastView Company. If you have any questions, please write to the email sales@ivis.ru