Bull Neck Swamp Herpetafauna Research
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Until his graduation in 2008, Stan Hutchens (Advisor Dr. Christopher S. DePerno) conducted research at Bull Neck Swamp to determine reptile and amphibian species diversity.North Carolina 
has a bountiful and varied diversity of reptiles and amphibians with the wetlands of Bull Neck Swamp being no exception.
Eleven capture techniques were employed to sample the species diversity and statistical analyses were used to determine differences in diversity between the four Natural Heritage preserves and the manageable, or usable, habitats. After two years of research, 32 species of reptile and amphibian were captured. Preliminary results reveal that most species of reptiles and amphibians are ubiquitous throughout the swamp, suggesting forest applications in manageable areas would have no great impact on species diversity. Also, Bull Neck Swamp is home to several unique species including rainbow snakes (Farancia erytrogramma), an elusive snake that feeds exclusively on American eels (Anguilla rostrata) in a delicate ecological interaction. The decline in eel populations and their possible addition to the endangered species list encourages conservation action within Bull Neck Swamp to protect eels and their rare predator. Visit the Species List section of the Bull Neck Swamp website to see a list and images of reptiles and amphibians Stan and others have discovered at Bull Neck Swamp!
See Stan's Poster, Efficacy of sampling techniques for surveying the community of reptiles and amphibians in a pocosin wetland
Read Visible Implant Fluorescent Elastomer: A Reliable Marking Alternative for Snakes, in Herpetological Review, 2008, 39(3), 301–303.
Read Serpentine Rainbows, in NC HERPS, The North Carolina Herpetological Society Newsletter 31:17-19. View the full Jan 2008 edition of NC HERPS.
Read Measuring species diversity to determine land-use effects on reptile and amphibian assemblages, in Amphibia-Reptilia, 2009, 30:81-88. NEW!
Read Efficacy of sampling techniques for determining species richness estimates of reptiles and amphibians, in Wildlife Biology 113-122.
