Furthermore, we ve been able to discriminate between populations of massasaugas that are a mere 2 to 5 km apart. Compared with rat snakes, massasaugas occupy extremely narrow genetic neighbourhoods inbred cloisters if you will. While this remains a work in progress, our results have implications for how we undertake the recovery and management of snakes. At the one extreme, if relatively fluid gene exchange is characteristic of black rat snake populations, it suggests that independent natural resource agencies should work toward cooperative management of large regional populations. For instance, rat snakes found within parks and conservation areas should not be regarded as genetically insulated from those outside.
Research indicates that rat snakes have rather large genetic neighbourhoods.
At the other extreme we have massasaugas, a species that exhibits relatively sluggish gene flow. For now, their pattern of genetic structure suggests that local populations are largely independent, each having unique genetic characteristics and high conservation value. If limited dispersal patterns help maintain local differentiation, then natural recolonization of populations that become extirpated is likely to be an extremely slow process. In this case, active translocations may be required to repatriate populations and donor populations will have to be selected carefully if maintaining current genetic composition is a recovery goal. If so, then it is possible that the genetic integrity of massasaugas may be retained even in tiny remnant populations that occupy human dominated landscapes.