When are caecilians active (near surface)?
Posted: February 15th, 2015, 8:04 am
Obviously, rain and high humidity, especially at night, are the main factors that bring caecilians out onto the surface.
But I was curious - are there any additional conditions, especially regarding times or temperatures, that bring caecilians close to the surface?
I'm planning on doing some caecilian survey plots - simple meter-square shallow digs - during the course of the monsoon season in Bangladesh. Is is possible that certain times of day - such as early morning, midday, late in the day, or at night - would be most likely to catch the caecilians within 15cm of the surface even if they're not actually on it? Would warm temps, or cool temps, or some sweet spot between be likely to pull them up high? Or is near-surface activity, just like surface activity, most dictated by the rain and humidity?
Answering the time of day question is the most important thing for me. I would love it if I could do all my sampling at the most efficient time of day (say, early morning, or perhaps midnight), rather than having to randomly spread my samples across the day and waste a lot of time.
I'd be great if there's anyone who could give any feedback on this little question. All my experience with caecilians has been with a single common species, and 90% of that experience was surface activity.
But I was curious - are there any additional conditions, especially regarding times or temperatures, that bring caecilians close to the surface?
I'm planning on doing some caecilian survey plots - simple meter-square shallow digs - during the course of the monsoon season in Bangladesh. Is is possible that certain times of day - such as early morning, midday, late in the day, or at night - would be most likely to catch the caecilians within 15cm of the surface even if they're not actually on it? Would warm temps, or cool temps, or some sweet spot between be likely to pull them up high? Or is near-surface activity, just like surface activity, most dictated by the rain and humidity?
Answering the time of day question is the most important thing for me. I would love it if I could do all my sampling at the most efficient time of day (say, early morning, or perhaps midnight), rather than having to randomly spread my samples across the day and waste a lot of time.
I'd be great if there's anyone who could give any feedback on this little question. All my experience with caecilians has been with a single common species, and 90% of that experience was surface activity.