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Physiological and hormonal control of thermal depression in the tiger snake, Notechis scutatus

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Abstract

Plasma sodium concentrations in field-caught Western tiger snakes, Notechis scutatus, from semi-arid Carnac Island (CI) varied seasonally, with snakes exhibiting significant hypernatraemia during summer and normal concentrations following autumn rain. In contrast, field-caught tiger snakes from a perennial fresh-water swamp (Herdsman Lake, HL) exhibited no significant increase in plasma sodium concentrations during summer. Laboratory-induced hypernatraemia caused thermal depression in both populations; there was a weak negative relationship between plasma sodium concentration and temperature selection that was significant for CI snakes. Hypernatraemia significantly elevated circulating concentrations of the neuropeptide arginine vasotocin (AVT) in both CI and HL snakes. CI snakes injected with a physiological dosage of AVT also evidenced thermal depression. Despite the positive correlation between AVT and both plasma sodium concentration and osmolality for laboratory snakes, field samples from CI snakes indicate that circulating levels of AVT may be influenced more by plasma osmolality than sodium levels. The data suggest that, in CI snakes, chronic dehydration in the field leads to hypernatraemia which may lead to elevated levels of AVT if plasma osmolality also increases. This will in turn invoke a depression in thermal behaviour that may improve the water economy and survival of snakes on semi-arid CI. Although HL snakes do not experience seasonal dehydration, physiological changes away from the stable homeostatic state appear to prompt the same behavioural shifts, illustrating the intrinsic nature of the thermal behaviour in different populations of the same species of snake.

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Abbreviations

AVT:

Arginine vasotocin

CI:

Carnac Island

HLH:

Herdsman Lake

[Na+]:

Plasma sodium concentration

BM:

Body mass

SVL:

Snout-vent length

BCI:

Body condition index

SL:

Salt loading régime

WL:

Water loading régime

PBT:

Preferred body temperature

AMT:

Average maximum temperature

MTS:

Median temperature selected

AVP:

Arginine vasopressin

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Acknowledgements

The School of Animal Biology and Centre for Native Animal Research, The University of Western Australia, provided funding for the research and UWA Ethics Committee approved all experimental procedures (AEC# 01/100/165). The Department of Conservation and Land Management (DCLM) issued licenses for the collection of animals (SF003795 & NE002981). Thanks to Jamie O’Shea and Stewart Ford for valuable comments on the MS and to Fabien Aubret for accompaniment in the field and to Xavier Bonnet for access to field data.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Animal Biology and Centre for Native Animal Research, The University of Western Australia, 6009, Perth, WA , Australia

    Mitchell Ladyman, Don Bradshaw & Felicity Bradshaw

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  1. Mitchell Ladyman
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  2. Don Bradshaw
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  3. Felicity Bradshaw
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Correspondence to Don Bradshaw.

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Communicated by I.D. Hume

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Ladyman, M., Bradshaw, D. & Bradshaw, F. Physiological and hormonal control of thermal depression in the tiger snake, Notechis scutatus . J Comp Physiol B 176, 547–557 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00360-006-0077-8

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