KELLOGG (AP) - A herpetologist for the Minnesota Biological Survey is leading an effort to catalog Minnesota's snake species and figure out how different snake populations are faring.

Jeff LeClere is tracking a half-dozen snake species in southeastern Minnesota.

As part of the effort, researchers have surgically implanted transmitters into snakes to track them.

LeClere says bullsnakes are on the decline but it's hard to know exactly how much.

He says a decreased snake population could be due to Minnesota's changing landscape, and the disappearance of snakes can have wider ecological consequences.

When the project ends this fall, LeClere hopes to provide information to wildlife managers and landowners, to help find ways to preserve snake populations in Minnesota.

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