PONE-D-24-37502A reliance on human habitats is key to the success of an introduced predatory reptilePLOS ONE

Dear Dr. Major,

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Academic Editor

PLOS ONE

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Additional Editor Comments:

Dear Tom Major et al.

The reviewers found the manuscript to be sound and only requires relatively small edits.

Please make those corrections as suggested by the reviewers and address the queries they made.

Sorry for the delay, but securing reviewers can be challenging these days.

Thanks for your patience.

Best wishes,

Sonny Bleicher

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Reviewers' comments:

Reviewer's Responses to Questions

Comments to the Author

1. Is the manuscript technically sound, and do the data support the conclusions?

The manuscript must describe a technically sound piece of scientific research with data that supports the conclusions. Experiments must have been conducted rigorously, with appropriate controls, replication, and sample sizes. The conclusions must be drawn appropriately based on the data presented.

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

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2. Has the statistical analysis been performed appropriately and rigorously?

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

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3. Have the authors made all data underlying the findings in their manuscript fully available?

The PLOS Data policy requires authors to make all data underlying the findings described in their manuscript fully available without restriction, with rare exception (please refer to the Data Availability Statement in the manuscript PDF file). The data should be provided as part of the manuscript or its supporting information, or deposited to a public repository. For example, in addition to summary statistics, the data points behind means, medians and variance measures should be available. If there are restrictions on publicly sharing data—e.g. participant privacy or use of data from a third party—those must be specified.

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

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4. Is the manuscript presented in an intelligible fashion and written in standard English?

PLOS ONE does not copyedit accepted manuscripts, so the language in submitted articles must be clear, correct, and unambiguous. Any typographical or grammatical errors should be corrected at revision, so please note any specific errors here.

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

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5. Review Comments to the Author

Please use the space provided to explain your answers to the questions above. You may also include additional comments for the author, including concerns about dual publication, research ethics, or publication ethics. (Please upload your review as an attachment if it exceeds 20,000 characters)

Reviewer #1: The research paper is well-written and technically sound. It provides detail and insightful statistical analysis on studying a cryptic ectotherm. Against the backdrop of climate change and global trade, including the exotic reptile trade, research such as presented in this paper is essential to understanding the ecological drivers behind establishment success, and greatly adds to our knowledge.

I have been made aware of several reptile and amphibian escape events in the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland, and this paper provides detailed methodology on studing alien species. It will provide a firm base on which future research in cool climates can be undertaken. It is hoped that in future radio-telemetry studies can be undertaken on smaller ectotherms as technology develops and perhaps within fully-automated real-time systems. This paper provides additional data on succesful radio-telemetry studies.

Reviewer #2: This is great succinct study showcasing movement and space-use of a relatively large, introduced snake to Wales, UK.

The authors have conducted impressive effort to hand radio-tracking a difficult to assess taxon and have good sample sizes considering the study system. They have employed the best tools for assessing movement and space use.

I only have minor comments:

Lines 125-126: Is there a reference for this or perhaps just specify where this data comes from?

Lines 127: Body diameter over what size approximately?

Discussion: I noticed there is no mention of Aesculapian snake prey species or what they are preying on in this introduced range? As this is a major component of driving species persistence, habitat use, and potential impacts to local fauna it is probably worth a mention somewhere in the discussion?

Further, given the general global focus of introduced predators/species is environmental impact it seems odd not to mention a perspective on this.

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Reviewer #1: No

Reviewer #2: Yes: Damian C Lettoof

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Attachments

Attachment

Submitted filename: PONE-D-24-37502_WRS_20240919.pdf

A reliance on human habitats is key to the success of an introduced predatory reptile

PONE-D-24-37502R1

Dear Dr. Major,

We’re pleased to inform you that your manuscript has been judged scientifically suitable for publication and will be formally accepted for publication once it meets all outstanding technical requirements.

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Kind regards,

Sonny Shlomo Bleicher, Ph.D.

Academic Editor

PLOS ONE

Additional Editor Comments (optional):

Reviewers' comments:

Reviewer's Responses to Questions

Comments to the Author

1. If the authors have adequately addressed your comments raised in a previous round of review and you feel that this manuscript is now acceptable for publication, you may indicate that here to bypass the “Comments to the Author” section, enter your conflict of interest statement in the “Confidential to Editor” section, and submit your "Accept" recommendation.

Reviewer #1: All comments have been addressed

Reviewer #2: All comments have been addressed

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2. Is the manuscript technically sound, and do the data support the conclusions?

The manuscript must describe a technically sound piece of scientific research with data that supports the conclusions. Experiments must have been conducted rigorously, with appropriate controls, replication, and sample sizes. The conclusions must be drawn appropriately based on the data presented.

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

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3. Has the statistical analysis been performed appropriately and rigorously?

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

**********

4. Have the authors made all data underlying the findings in their manuscript fully available?

The PLOS Data policy requires authors to make all data underlying the findings described in their manuscript fully available without restriction, with rare exception (please refer to the Data Availability Statement in the manuscript PDF file). The data should be provided as part of the manuscript or its supporting information, or deposited to a public repository. For example, in addition to summary statistics, the data points behind means, medians and variance measures should be available. If there are restrictions on publicly sharing data—e.g. participant privacy or use of data from a third party—those must be specified.

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

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5. Is the manuscript presented in an intelligible fashion and written in standard English?

PLOS ONE does not copyedit accepted manuscripts, so the language in submitted articles must be clear, correct, and unambiguous. Any typographical or grammatical errors should be corrected at revision, so please note any specific errors here.

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

**********

6. Review Comments to the Author

Please use the space provided to explain your answers to the questions above. You may also include additional comments for the author, including concerns about dual publication, research ethics, or publication ethics. (Please upload your review as an attachment if it exceeds 20,000 characters)

Reviewer #1: I have repeatedly read the manuscript and cross-referenced the text against the Figures and statistics provided, in addition to selected references, and can find no errors in the data interpretation.

Reviewer #2: (No Response)

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7. PLOS authors have the option to publish the peer review history of their article (what does this mean?). If published, this will include your full peer review and any attached files.

If you choose “no”, your identity will remain anonymous but your review may still be made public.

Do you want your identity to be public for this peer review? For information about this choice, including consent withdrawal, please see our Privacy Policy.

Reviewer #1: No

Reviewer #2: No

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