Elana Masboob
Pronouns: She/Her/Hers
UROP Fellowship: Community College Summer Fellowship Program
Macomb Community College
Research Mentor(s): Talia Moore, PhD
Robotics Institute
Presentation Date: Monday, July 27, 2020 | Session 3 | Presenter: 6
Authors: Elana Masboob, Talia Y. Moore
Abstract
How do animals gain anti-predatory traits based on their habitat to ensure survival? How has their ecology shaped their innate response to danger? We compare two species of snake that are relatively similar in size, are in the same family (Colubridae), are both non-venomous, and can be found in different microhabitats within the same Amazonian ecosystem: Ninia hudsoni and Imantodes cenchoa. Given that there are many similarities within both species, observing their behavior works in our favor to have a better understanding of anti-predatory nature.
The methodology used to examine the behavior of the snakes is placing them into a common environment (i.e. plastic container) and testing different stimuli to observe their change in behavior. Some of the stimuli being used is grabbing the snake by hand, irritating the snake with a piece of clothing, or using a snake hook to slightly push them. We watched these videos using Quicktime 7 and used a custom modular ethogram to quantitatively record their behaviors in response to each stimulus. We then wrote custom R code to compare their behaviors.These two species of snakes are in fact very different in the way they respond to stimuli. The Ninia hudsoni, a snake found on the ground, often shows little-to-no reaction to several different stimuli. On the other hand, the Imantodes cenchoa is a snake located in the vines of trees who shows a wide variety of responses when given stimuli. Ninia hudsoni’s lack of response may be beneficial in the context of its microhabitat; it has adjusted to predators by imitating inanimate objects. Imantodes cenchoa appears to have adapted by mimicking the movement of vines to sway away predators.Based on our findings, adaptation to a specific microhabitat can greatly alter the anti-predator behaviors of snakes, even if they are closely related. The divergent anti-predator behaviors that we observe may indicate that each microhabitat is susceptible to different types of predation.
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Research Disciplines
Engineering, Environmental Studies, Interdisciplinary, Natural Sciences, Life Sciences
