Pet snakes illegally marketed in Brazil: climatic viability and establishment risk
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2017
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Invasive species are one among many threats to biodiversity. Brazil has been spared,
generically, of several destructive invasive species. Reports of invasive snakes' populations
are nonexistent, but the illegal pet trade might change this scenario. Despite the Brazilian
laws forbid to import most animals, illegal trade is frequently observed and propagules are
found in the wild. The high species richness within Brazilian biomes and accelerated fragmentation
of natural reserves are a critical factors facilitating successful invasion. An efficient
way to ease damages caused by invasive species is identifying potential invaders and
consequent prevention of introductions. For the identification of potential invaders many factors
need to be considered, including estimates of climate matching between areas (native
vs. invaded). Ecological niche modelling has been widely used to predict potential areas for
invasion and is an important tool for conservation biology. This study evaluates the potential
geographical distribution and establishment risk of Lampropeltis getula (Linnaeus, 1766),
Lampropeltis triangulum (LaceÂpède, 1789), Pantherophis guttatus (Linnaeus, 1766), Python
bivittatus Kuhl, 1820 and Python regius (Shaw, 1802) through the Maximum Entropy modelling
approach to estimate the potential distribution of the species within Brazil and qualitative
evaluation of specific biological attributes. Our results suggest that the North and Midwest
regions harbor major suitable areas. Furthermore, P. bivittatus and P. guttatus were suggested
to have the highest invasive potential among the analyzed species. Potentially suitable
areas for these species were predicted within areas which are highly relevant for
Brazilian biodiversity, including several conservation units. Therefore, these areas require
special attention and preventive measures should be adopted.
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FONSECA, Érica; SOLÉ, Mirco; RÖDDER, Dennis; MARCO, Paulo De. Pet snakes illegally marketed in Brazil: climatic viability and establishment risk. PLoS One, San Francisco v. 12, n. 8, e0183143, 2017. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0183143. Disponível em: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0183143. Acesso em: 6 fev. 2023.