Patterns of variation in spring emergence by black rat snakes (Elaphe obsoleta obsoleta)
Bibliographic record
Abstract
Substantial individual variation in timing of emergence from hibernation has been reported among reptiles, although few studies have addressed the causes of that variation. Here we report patterns of spring emergence by black rat snakes (Elaphe obsoleta obsoleta) observed at 13 communal hibernacula in eastern Ontario from 1992-1997. Because our study area is at the northern extreme of the species' range, we expected synchronous emergence given the very short active season (about 5 months). Despite these apparent time constraints, however, the emergence period lasted an average of 40 days. Although we found significant variation in timing of emergence among years and among hibernacula, we found no evidence of a simple latitudinal gradient in mean emergence dates. Within hibernacula, significantly more snakes emerged on days with high maximum air temperatures, but maximum air temperature explained only a small amount of the variation among years in emergence dates. Larger individuals emerged earlier than smaller individuals, as predicted if early spring predation risk is higher for smaller snakes. Females tended to emerge slightly earlier than males. Condition was not a significant factor determining timing of emergence in our population. Individuals demonstrated significant repeatability between years in their time of emergence relative to other snakes in the same bibernaculum.
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How this classification was reachedexpand
Full frame machine prediction
Teacher imitationNot calibrated prevalence, not ground truth. Human validation pending. The Gemma side is a direct model label for every work in the frame, read from the title-only record. The Codex side is a classifier learned from the 10,348 direct Codex labels and calibrated to design-weighted sample rates; fields without enough sample support carry no Codex call. Candidate is the union of the two sides; consensus is their intersection. These outputs are machine_predicted_unvalidated and are not human labels.
Distilled classifier scores by category (both heads)
| Category | Codex | Gemma |
|---|---|---|
| Metaresearch | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Meta-epidemiology (narrow) | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Meta-epidemiology (broad) | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Bibliometrics | 0.001 | 0.000 |
| Science and technology studies | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Scholarly communication | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Open science | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Research integrity | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Insufficient payload (model declined to judge) | 0.001 | 0.000 |
Machine scores (provisional)
The two teacher heads of the student model, read on this work. A score orders the frame for review; it never asserts a category, and the validation status ships verbatim with every row.
Baseline scores from an immature model (maturity gate not passed, 7 training rounds). Scores rank; they never assert a category.
score_only:v0-immature-baseline · verbatim from the scoring run: score_only means the number may rank works, and no category label ships from itClassification
machine, unvalidatedMachine predicted; a candidate call from one source (direct Gemma or distilled Codex), not a consensus.
How this classification was reached, model by model and score by score, is at the end of the page under "How this classification was reached".