Mining operations in Appalachia
permanently alter habitat availability for rattlesnakes
Date: January 3, 2019
Source: Ecological Society of America
On the Cumberland Plateau in
eastern Kentucky, surface coal mining is destroying ridgelines and
mountaintops, and along with them, the habitat of a surprisingly gentle reptile
species -- the timber rattlesnake.
"Timber rattlesnakes may be
the most docile, calm animals of their size in eastern US forests," Thomas
Maigret, a researcher from the University of Kentucky, said. "On several
occasions, I've witnessed spiders using a rattlesnake as an anchor for a web.
Females, especially, move very infrequently, and pose almost no threat to a
careful human."
Unfortunately for the timber
rattlesnake (Crotalus horridus) and
other species in this region -- both plant and animal -- surface coal mining
requires complete removal of mature forest cover and the upper soil layers.
This means that soil is scraped away, rocks disturbed and dug out, plants and
trees removed, or the ridgetop landscape flattened and made more uniform to
reach the coal buried in the earth. This alteration eliminates many diverse,
unique places for animals to live and hibernate. The central Appalachia region
spans eastern Kentucky, northeastern Tennessee, southwest Virginia, and
southern West Virginia and is one of the most diverse non-tropical ecosystems
in the world with thousands of plant and animal species, many that are only
found there.
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