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Highlights • Ichauway snakes' home ranges were at least 2.6 times larger than other sites. • Snakes at all sites selected open edge and pine habitat at the landscape scale. • Snakes at all sites were most likely found in large, mature oak trees. • Hardwood removal activities may have limited suitable trees that rat snakes use. Abstract An animal's spatial ecology may provide insight into how resources are distributed or potentially limiting across its home range. Some species with broad geographic distributions may exhibit intraspecific variation in space use among populations given the spectrum of available habitat across their range. Animals may need to move further in habitats with limited resources thereby lowering survival. Species, like the eastern rat snake (Pantherophis alleghaniensis), occur throughout the eastern USA and are thought to be strongly tied to hardwood forests. However, their occurrence in pine-dominated forests in the southeastern USA suggests they have broader habitat requirements than previously noted. Our objective was to investigate patterns of habitat use and spatial ecology for eastern rat snakes across multiple pine-dominated forests in Southern Georgia and Northern Florida to capture regional differences in eastern rat snake resource use. We examined home range and habitat use at multiple spatial scales for 30 radio-telemetered snakes from three sites; one in Georgia (Pebble Hill) and Florida (Tall Timbers) during 2004–2005 and one more northern site in Georgia (Ichauway) during 2010–2012. Snakes tracked on Ichauway had a mean home range size that was 3.9 times larger (95% Mean Convex Polygon [MCP], 13.6 ± 8.2 ha) than the estimate for Tall Timbers (3.5 ± 3.2 ha) and 2.6 times larger than the estimate for Pebble Hill (5.3 ± 3.2 ha). Snakes at all three sites selected primarily open edge and pine habitat at the landscape scale and were most likely to be found in large, mature oak trees (Quercus spp.). At Ichauway, hardwood removal activities associated with longleaf pine (Pinus palustris) restoration reduced the number of hardwood trees per hectare by 33% in hardwood removal areas from 1998 to 2014. This management approach included limiting suitable large oak trees that rat snakes use and may help explain the variation in home range size and the number of snakes captured at Ichauway (n = 14) compared to the other two sites (Tall Timbers, n = 154, Pebble Hill, n = 127). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although there is increasing recognition of the importance of terrestrial habitat to aquatic fauna, little is known about the specific habitat requirements of these species at a fine scale within the terrestrial landscape. Our knowledge of subadult life stages of many species, specifically aquatic turtles, is particularly depauperate. We used radio-telemetry to determine the timing and extent of terrestrial movements of 11 subadult Eastern Mud Turtles, Kinosternon subrubrum, during the winter. We also quantified microhabitat variables (ground cover composition, shrub cover, and canopy cover) of temporary refugia and overwintering sites (hibernacula) of radio-tagged turtles. On average, hibernacula sites were 72 m from the wetland (defined as the water's edge). Turtles remained at hibernacula a mean of 107 days before emerging in the spring. Radio-tagged turtles selected winter hibernacula with a large component of leaf and pine litter and less tree cover than temporary refugia. The leaf litter may provide stable temperature and soil moisture at hibernacula for overwintering turtles, whereas the open canopy may expose turtles to relatively higher temperatures in the spring prior to emergence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]