Snake populations around the world have declined markedly in recent years, according to a study published in the journal Biology Letters. The researchers describe the findings as alarming.
Researchers examined records for 17 snake populations covering eight species in the UK, France, Italy, Nigeria and Australia over the last few decades, the BBC reports. For reasons that are not entirely clear, some populations shrank in number abruptly around 1998.
The widespread disappearance of snakes will be one impact of climate change that some people may find it hard to regret. But as vital predators in sensitive habitats such as rice fields, their decline will have wider ecological consequence , among reptiles , snakes are top predators and therefore a decline in their numbers may have serious consequences for the functioning of many ecosystems.
The year when many of the snake declines began, 1998, raises the question of whether climatic factors might be involved, as very strong El Nino conditions contributed to making it the hottest year recorded in modern times.
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