Projecting invasion risk of non-native watersnakes (Nerodia fasciata and Nerodia sipedon) in the western United States.

ABSTRACT: Species distribution models (SDMs) are increasingly used to project the potential distribution of introduced species outside their native range. Such studies rarely explicitly evaluate potential conflicts with native species should the range of introduced species expand. Two snake species native to eastern North America, Nerodia fasciata and Nerodia sipedon, have been introduced to California where they represent a new stressor to declining native amphibians, fish, and reptiles. To project the potential distributions of these non-native watersnakes in western North America, we built ensemble SDMs using MaxEnt, Boosted Regression Trees, and Random Forests and habitat and climatic variables. We then compared the overlap between the projected distribution of invasive watersnakes and the distr

SUBMITTER: Rose JP 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4070932 | biostudies-literature | 2014

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature