This is the second volume of the series Herpetological Conservation, published by the Society for the Study of Amphibians and Reptiles. Volume 2 is produced in association with the Canadian Amphibian and Reptile Conservation Network. Combined with Volume 1, Amphibians in Decline: Canadian Studies of a Global Problem, these two books present a current view of the status of the Canadian herpetofauna and the difficult issues faced in their conservation. Volume 2 includes 11 chapters, including overviews of the ecology and conservation of the major groups (turtles, marine turtles, lizards, and snakes) and discussions of issues and conservation tools. The book concludes with an appendíx describing the current status of all 46 species of Canadian reptiles, including photographs of most of them.
Contributors iv
Foreword vi
Preface vii
Chapter 1. Introduction: The Conservation of Reptiles in Canada – Stan A. Orchard 1
Chapter 2. Early Canadian Reptile Studies: Anecdote to Inventory – Francis R. Cook 5
Chapter 3. Life History Implications for Conservation and Monitoring of Lizards in Canada – G. Lawrence Powell and Anthony P. Russell 23
Chapter 4. Biology and Conservation of a Cold-Climate Snake Fauna – Patrick T. Gregory 41
Chapter 5. The Biology, Status and Conservation of Canadian Freshwater Turtles – Ronald J. Brooks 57
Chapter 6. Status and Conservation of Marine Turtles in Canadian Waters – Donald F. McAlpine, Michael C. James, Jon ien and Stan A. Orchard 85
Chapter 7. Application of Genetics to Conservation of Canadian Reptiles – Andrew A. Chek, Kent A. Prior, David A. Galbraith and Stephen C. Lougheed 113
Chapter 8. Health and Disease in Canadian Reptile Populations – Patrick Galois and Martin Ouellet 131
Chapter 9. Traffic Mortality of Reptiles – Jonathan D. Wright 169
Chapter 10. Do Reptiles in Canada Have a Future? An Overview of the Constraints on Conserving Canadian Snakes, Turtles and Lizards – Ronald J. Brooks 183
Chapter 11. A Canadian Reptile Conservation Strategy – Carolyn N. L. Seburn 191
Appendix. Checklist and Status of Canadian Reptiles – Carolyn N. L. Seburn and Ronald J. Brooks, compilers 215
Index 234
"Canada's reptiles face two primary threats to their continued well-being: humans and cold weather. As for the threat of cold weather, reptiles have evolved and adapted to persíst in the upper half of North American. For the past several thousand years they have successfully taken care of themselves in the face of Canada's climate. But the human threat is new and unrelenting – therein lies the problem faced by reptiles in Canada today."
– J. Whitfield Gibbons, Savannah River Ecology Laboratory (from the Foreword)