Snakes on roads: An arid Australian perspective

Arid Australia exhibits a rich and ecologically diverse snake fauna that has largely been overlooked by researchers. Here, I report on the results of an intensive road-cruise study carried out in the MacDonnell Ranges bioregion. I examined the effectiveness of the technique for sampling snakes, the influence of weather variables on snake activity, and the magnitude of road-kill in the region. Over 12 months and 11 858 km of sampling I encountered 375 individual snakes, including all 15 species previously known from the study area, establishing the effectiveness of this technique in the region. Although snake activity was constrained by cooler weather over the winter months (particularly June–July), rainfall was a stronger determinant of activity over most of the year, with increased precipitation resulting in increased snake activity. Future inventory-type surveys should be carried out over the summer months (December–February) when most species are active and substantial rainfall events (>40 mm) are more likely to occur. Road-kill snakes comprised only 9% of all snakes encountered, suggesting that road-mortality is not currently inflicting substantial damage on the regional snake fauna.

► I used road-cruising to sample a diverse arid snake fauna.
► All 15 species previously known from the area were encountered.
► Snake activity was more strongly influenced by rainfall than by temperature.
► Road mortality accounted for only 9% of all snakes encountered.