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Intl. J. of Mol. Evol. and Biodivers. 2011, Vol. 1, No.1, 1-5
http://ijmeb.sophiapublisher.com
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An Article Open Access
The Effects of Diverse Habitats in Urra on Lizard Abundance
Michele Lynne Colomba , Xingxing Liang
Biodiversity and Conservation, Faculty of Biological Sciences, University of Leeds, Leeds, UK, LS2 9JT
Corresponding author email:
cindyliang861126@gmail.com;
Authors
International Journal of Molecular Evolution and Biodiversity, 2011, Vol.1, No.1 doi: 10.5376/ijmeb.2011.01.0001
Received: 14 Nov., 2011
Accepted: 28 Nov., 2011
Published: 08 Dec., 2011
This is an open access article published under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any
medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Preferred citation for this article:
Colomba and Liang, 2011, The effects of diverse habitats in Urra on lizard abundance, International Journal of Molecular Evolution and Biodiversity, Vol.1,
No.1 (doi: 10.5376/ijmeb.2011.01.0001)
Abstract
Lizards prefer certain habitat in terms of their morphological traits. Lizard abundance is an important indicator of their
habitat suitability. Besides, foraging and basking are important behaviors for lizards, which largely depend on the habitat types.
Psammodromus (
Psammodromus algirus
) and Spanish Psammodromus (
Psammodromus hispanicus
) mainly inhabit in the Iberian
Peninsula. The gypsum deposits distribute throughout this region and small proportion of the area are sandy river valley. This
research is implemented on the gypsum deposits and sandy river valley with different vegetation distribution. We would like to figure
out the effect of diverse habitats on lizard abundance. This study may be influential in population ecology and biodiversity and
conservation of lizards and their habitat.
Keywords
Psammodromus hispanicus
;
Psammodromus algirus
; Lizards abundance; Habitat; Forage and bask;
Introduction
Lizards in particular have specific morphological
features, which are adaptive to their certain preferred
habitat (Martín and Salvador, 1992). Hence, species
abundance is an indicator of habitat suitability (Diaz
and Carrascal, 1991). If the variables are known that
determine distinct habitats, then testing which of these
factors are most important to lizard species abundance
and population densities would yield valuable results
for population ecology and biodiversity conservation
(Case, 1975).
The Spiny-footed lizard (
Acanthodactylus erythrurus
),
large Psammodromus (
Psammodromus algirus
) and
Spanish Psammodromus (
Psammodromus hispanicus
)
are all medium-sized ground dwelling lacertid lizards
(Arnold, 1987; Díaz and Carrascal, 1991). They are
found predominately in the Iberian Peninsula (Martín
and López, 2003) at elevations up to 1,000m, but are
usually more abundant lower (Arnold and Ovenden,
2002).
A. erythrurus
prefers a wide variety of habitats,
such as open, sandy areas with sparse vegetation
distribution (Arnold, 1987). They feed on ants
(Perez-Mellado, 1992; Pérez-Quintero, 1996) and
some active prey (Belliure et al., 1996).
P. algirus
can
be found in open or degraded woodland, and
eucalyptus forest (Arnold and Ovenden, 2002), while
P. hispanicus
is found in the sandy soils with low
dense, bushy plants (Arnold and Ovenden, 2002).
Small arthropods are Spanish Psammodromus main
food source (Arnold and Ovenden, 2002).
Foraging and basking are important behaviours for
lizards. The Psammodromus species capture food
items mainly in the leaf litter underneath shrubs layer;
sometimes a short foraging expedition happens due to
the active prey (Diaz and Carrascal, 1993). However,
A. erythrurus
is definitely a less energetic predator
(Belliure et al., 1996). It spends more time sitting and
waiting. Moreover, lizards may also prefer rocky
habitats, where they can avoid predators in crevices
and bask simultaneously using these rocks as perches.
Lizards bask to absorb the sun until they reach the
optimum temperature in order to carry out their daily
activities (Martín and Salvador, 1995). If lizards
occupy more open habitats, they will increase their
basking frequency (Schwartz and Thomas, 1975).
Also, rocky slopes maximize heating rate, which in
turn minimizes overall basking time. Therefore,
lizards have more time to do other activities such as