ABSTRACT
Ecological research on Australian snakes has become more sophisticated over the last few decades, reflecting advances in approach and methodology. Long-term mark-recapture studies on Keelbacks and Slatey-Grey Snakes at Fogg Dam, near Darwin in Australia’s Northern Territory, have enabled researchers to develop and test new ideas about ecological functioning of tropical ecosystems. For example, we can now use genetic methods to identify paternity of free-ranging snakes, and thus measure the relationship between a male’s body size and the number of offspring that he has fathered.
