Populations of endangered taxa in recently fragmented habitats often show high levels of
genetic structure, but the role that contemporary versus historical processes play in …

The isolation and characterization of individual snake venom components is important for a
deeper understanding of the pathophysiology of envenomation and for improving the …

Vipers are among the most misunderstood and persecuted animals. They occupy most
terrestrial ecosystems around the world, often at high population densities. However, certain …

Agricultural landscapes cover a large portion of the planet and the intensification of farming
is a primary cause of biodiversity loss. Changes in agricultural practices have been …

The formation of stable genetic boundaries between emerging species is often diagnosed
by reduced hybrid fitness relative to parental taxa. This reduced fitness can arise from …

Climatic changes, habitat loss and invasive species are important threats for many animal
populations. Here, we report rapid declines and extinctions of adder populations monitored …

In the past decade, infectious disease threats to European herpetofauna have become
better understood. Since the 1990s, three major emerging infections in amphibians have …

We describe Vipera walser, a new viper species from the north‐western Italian Alps. Despite
an overall morphological resemblance with Vipera berus, the new species is remarkably …

Capture‐mark‐recapture procedures are a basic tool in population studies and require that
individual animals are correctly identified throughout their lifetime. A method that has …

Snakes introduced to islands can be devastating to naïve native fauna. However, introduced
populations must establish before range expansion (invasion) can occur. The factors that …