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Abstract:Restinga is a coastal ecosystem covering almost the entire Brazilian coast line and it is associated with the Atlantic Forest biome and therefore is a complementary component of the landscape. Its vegetation is highly variable and specialized, being influenced by salt, and with low fertility and moist soil. This environmental landscape promotes the colonization of species from contiguous biomes and ecosystems, thereby promoting high diversity, especially on the northern coast of Bahia. The study was conducted at the Reserva Imbassaí, in the municipality of Mata de São João, northern coast of Bahia, Brazil. We conducted six surveys distributed over one year, with samples every two months; we used the sampling techniques of active visual search, random encounters and pitfall traps along a linear transect. Fourty-nine snakes from 15 species distributed among five families were recorded: Boidae (2), Colubridae (3), Dipsadidae (6), Elapidae (1) and Viperidae (3). Ten of the species of snakes found at Reserva Imbassaí complement the literature overall snakes' list from the north coast of Bahia's restinga. The results show that Reserva Imbassaí is uniquely rich in snakes and therefore represents an important contribution to the knowledge of this taxon within the Atlantic forest hotspot.Keywords: Atlantic forest, boids, colubrids, dipsadids, elapids, northeastern Brazil, squamata, viperids. 2184Portuguese Abstract: A restinga é um ecossistema costeiro, cobrindo grande parte da costa brasileira e é associado ao bioma da Mata Atlântica, agindo como componente complementar da paisagem. Sua vegetação é bastante variada e especializada, influenciada pela salinidade marinha e pela baixa fertilidade e umidade do solo. Estes componentes da paisagem contribuem para a colonização de espécies de outros biomas e ecossistemas próximos, tornando-o assim bastante diverso, principalmente no litoral norte da Bahia. Este estudo foi realizado na Reserva Imbassaí, localizado no município de Mata de São João, litoral norte da Bahia, Brasil. Realizamos seis coletas durante um ano a cada dois meses; utilizamos a procura visual ativa, armadilhas de interceptação e queda e encontros ocasionais em um transecto linear. Foram registradas 49 serpentes de 15 espécies das cinco famílias: Boidae (2), Colubridae (3), Dipsadidae (6), Elapidae (1) e Viperidae (3). Dez destas espécies de serpentes encontradas na Reserva Imbassaí complementam a lista de espécies deste grupo para a restinga do litoral norte da Bahia. Os resultados evidenciam que a Reserva Imbassaí possui uma riqueza única de serpentes e representa uma importante contribuição para o conhecimento deste táxon no hotspot da Mata Atlântica.

Socioeconomic and climatic factors are modifying fire regimes with an increase of fire frequency and extension. Unfortunately, the effects of recurrent fires on biological processes that ultimately affect the genetic diversity of animal populations are mostly unknown. We examined genetic patterns of diversity in the wall lizard Podarcis guadarramae in northern Portugal, one of the European regions with the highest percentage of burnt land. This species is a small saxicolous lizard as it inhabits natural outcrops and artificial stone walls, likely in recurrent-fire landscapes. We genotyped nine microsatellites from ten populations selected according to a gradient in fire recurrence, and compared genetic diversity indexes and demographic patterns among them. At the population level, we hypothesize that a high level of mortality and population bottlenecks are expected to reduce genetic heterozygosity in sampled localities affected by recurrent fires. Alternatively, genetic signatures are expected to be absent whether fire did not cause high mortality. Regardless of levels of mortality, we expect a gain in genetic diversity whether recurrent fires facilitate lizard dispersal and migration due to the increased quality of the habitat for wall lizards. At the regional level, we examine whether a recurrent fire regime may disrupt the spatial structure of populations. Our results showed an increase in genetic diversity in recurrently burnt populations, and a decline in longer-unburnt populations. We did not detect bottleneck effects in repeatedly-burnt populations. High genetic diversity in recurrent fire populations suggests a high dispersion rate between adjacent metapopulations and perhaps immigration from outside the fire boundary. At the regional level, lizard populations show low differentiation and weak genetic structure, suggesting no effects of fire. This study confirms field-based censuses showing that recurrent-fire regimes give ecological opportunities to wall lizards that benefit from habitat openness.

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