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Relationships between body size, population abundance and niche characteristics in the communities of snakes from three habitats in southern Nigeria

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 January 2005

Luca Luiselli ,
Godfrey C. Akani ,
Lorenzo Rugiero  and
Edoardo Politano
Luca Luiselli
Affiliation:
F.I.Z.V. (Ecology), via Olona 7, I-00198 Rome, Italy
Godfrey C. Akani
Affiliation:
Department of Applied and Environmental Biology, Rivers State University of Science and Technology, P.M.B. 5080, Port Harcourt, Rivers State, Nigeria
Lorenzo Rugiero
Affiliation:
F.I.Z.V. (Ecology), via Olona 7, I-00198 Rome, Italy
Edoardo Politano
Affiliation:
Centre of Environmental Studies ‘Demetra’, via Tomassoni 17, I-61032 Fano (PU), Italy
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Abstract

The relationships between population abundance, body size, food habits and ecological guild (aquatic, terrestrial, arboreal, and fossorial) of snake communities are studied in three different habitats (swamp-rainforest, mangrove forest and derived savanna) of southern Nigeria, West Africa. There were slightly positive relationships between body size and population abundance of snakes in the three study habitats of tropical Nigeria, but statistical significance was reached only in the swamp-rainforest habitat. The population abundance of the various species was not related to either their food habits or their ecological guild in any of the three study areas. The possible reasons explaining these patterns are discussed. In general, there is little congruence between our data and the popular ‘energetic equivalence rule’ hypothesis.

Keywords

snakespopulation abundancebody sizefood habitsecological guildmacro-ecologyNigeriaWest Africa
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Zoology , Volume 265 , Issue 2 , February 2005 , pp. 207 - 213
Copyright
2005 The Zoological Society of London

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