Henderson, Bob

English

Biodiversity Informatics

Status and Conservation ofTreeboas on the Grenada BankThe Grenada Bank Treeboa (Corallus grenadensis) exhibits one of the most variable color patterns in any species of snake,and that variation has been shown to be correlated with elevation and associated meteorological conditions (temper-ature, rainfall, amount of possible sunshine). The species is known to occur on ten islands on the Grenada Bank. The largestisland on the bank is Grenada, with an area of 311 km2. The other nine islands are part of the Grenadines (with politicalaffiliations to St. Vincent or Grenada), have areas ranging from 0.7 km2 (Petit Martinique) to 32 km2 (Carriacou), an aver-age size of 8.5 km2, and a total area of 77 km2. The total potential range of Corallus grenadensis is under 400 km2. Over thepast 200–300 years, however, deforestation has reduced that area by at least 50%.Over the past 500+ years, treeboas on Grenada have had to adapt to new prey species (introduced rodents), large-scaleelimination of native trees and the introduction of orchard trees (nutmeg, mango, breadfruit, citrus, cacao), and the intro-duction of alien predators (opossums, mongooses, monkeys).Since 1989, projects focused on treeboa biology (primarily on Grenada) have monitored numbers of snakes at severallocalities in disparate habitats and weather regimes across the island. In the late 1990s, researchers from the Milwaukee PublicMuseum (MPM) began to witness declines in treeboa encounter rates. Those declines have continued to the present — andare of grave concern.Of equal concern is a lack of information about what may be happening on those Grenadines that harbor treeboas.These small, picturesque islands are rapidly being developed for a burgeoning tourist industry, and several have been sold toprivate entities. MPM would like to initiate population assessments of treeboas on several of the smaller Grenadines, andanyone interested in contributing to the treeboa assessment program is encouraged to send tax-deductible contributions to:Milwaukee Public MuseumAttn: Bob Henderson800 W. Wells StreetMilwaukee, WI 53233-1478F O C U S  O N  C O N S E R V A T I O NGrenada Bank TreeboaCorallus grenadensisROBERT POWELLIguana 13.1 b&w text.QX6  3/3/06  7:17 AM  Page 84

Grenada Bank Treeboa Corallus grenadensis

The University of Kansas: Journals@KU

https://journals.ku.edu/iguana/article/download/17585/15853

Grenada Bank Treeboa Corallus grenadensis

Abstract

Similar works

Full text

Available Versions

Biodiversity Informatics

The University of Kansas: Journals@KU