Climate warming and activity period extension in the Mediterranean snake Malpolon monspessulanus

Plants and animals are responding to climate warming with predictable changes in distribution and physiology. Ectothermic animals are dependent upon environmental temperature, and their seasonal activity patterns are constrained by temperature. Ectotherms (such as snakes) may alter their activity patterns in concordance with climatic change, and we tested this hypothesis in a Mediterranean region (SE Spain) with the Montpellier snake (Malpolon monspessulanus). Temperature showed an increasing trend of 0.07°C per year in the study area between 1983 and 2004, and activity period in this species increased in concert with annual mean temperature. These snakes had a wider dispersion in activity dates and the annual last record was delayed as years progressed, suggesting that the activity period for this snake has increased over time in response to climatic change. These results were not influenced by the elevation at which samples were taken, and annual variation in the number of snakes recorded, sex-ratio, or precipitation. Therefore, this study reports a definite phenological shift for a reptile in response to climatic change.