Effects of Habitat Disturbance on Texas Horned Lizards: An Urban Case Study

Wolf, Alexander J.; Hellgren, Eric C.; Bogosian, Victor; Moody, Raymond W.

doi:10.1655/herpetologica-d-12-00062.1

Cited by 24 publications

(35 citation statements)

References 41 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…There was support for an effect of study phase on WR3 (Wolf et al 2013), but no support for a year effect at CWMA. We constrained models to obtain overall mean and variance estimates for annual survival (accounting for season effects) at both sites to use for the LSA.…”

Section: Survivalmentioning

confidence: 83%

“…Work on WR3 occurred from 2003 to 2011 (Endriss et al 2007;Wolf et al 2013), whereas study on CWMA occurred from 1998 to 2005 (Hellgren et al 2010). We captured lizards during April-August through intensive visual searching, road cruising, and fortuitous encounters, and recorded basic morphometric information for each lizard, including snout-vent length (SVL), total length (TL), mass, and sex.…”

Section: Field Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Management activities designed to restore prairie habitat have included tree removal, disking, mowing, spraying with herbicides, and seeding with native grasses and forbs. Although these activities do not seem to affect P. cornutum space use, there is evidence that they have negatively affected adult survival (Wolf et al 2013).…”

Section: Study Areasmentioning

confidence: 97%

“…We used the Known-Fates model in Program MARK (White and Burnham 1999) to evaluate a priori hypotheses that sex, season (active or inactive), and study phase (for WR3) or year (for CWMA) affect survival, using the same time intervals and seasons as Wolf et al (2013). Individuals tracked over multiple years were separated for the purposes of survival analyses, so experimental units for these analyses were individual-years.…”

Section: Survivalmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Individuals tracked over multiple years were separated for the purposes of survival analyses, so experimental units for these analyses were individual-years. We used study phase, rather than year, for lizards on WR3 because of varying levels and types of disturbance to the site; these disturbances were described by Wolf et al (2013).…”

Section: Survivalmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 4 more Smart Citations

Variation in vital‐rate sensitivity between populations of Texas horned lizards

Wolf

Hellgren

Schauber³

et al. 2014

Population Ecology

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Demographic studies of imperiled populations can aid managers in planning conservation actions. However, applicability of findings for a single population across a species' range is sometimes questionable. We conducted long-term studies (8 and 9 years, respectively) of 2 populations of the lizard Phrynosoma cornutum separated by 1000 km within the historical distribution of the species. The sites were a 15-ha urban wildlife reserve on Tinker Air Force Base (TAFB) in central Oklahoma and a 6000-ha wildland site in southern Texas, the Chaparral Wildlife Management Area (CWMA). We predicted a trade-off between the effect of adult survival and fecundity on population growth rate (k), leading to population-specific contributions of individual vital rates to k and individualized strategies for conservation and management of this taxon. The CWMA population had lower adult survival and higher fecundity than TAFB. As predicted, there was a trade-off in the effects of adult survival and fecundity on k between the two sites; fecundity affected k more at CWMA than at TAFB. However, adult survival had the smallest effect on k in both populations. We found that recruitment in P. cornutum most affected k at both sites, with hatchling survival having the strongest influence on k. Management strategies focusing on hatchling survival would strongly benefit both populations. As a consequence, within the constraint of the need to more accurately estimate hatchling survival, managers across the range of species such as P. cornutum could adopt similar management priorities with respect to stage classes, despite intra-population differences in population vital rates.

show abstract

Section: Survivalmentioning

confidence: 83%

Section: Field Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Study Areasmentioning

confidence: 97%

Section: Survivalmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Survivalmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 3 more Smart Citations

Variation in vital‐rate sensitivity between populations of Texas horned lizards

Wolf

Hellgren

Schauber³

et al. 2014

Population Ecology

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

Small towns limit dispersal and reduce genetic diversity in populations of Texas horned lizards

Wall,

Biffi,

Ackel

et al. 2024

Ecology and Evolution

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

There is a general expectation that urban populations will be fragmented and the movement of individuals will be restricted leading to low effective population sizes, low genetic diversity, higher inbreeding, and higher differentiation than populations living in more continuous habitat. In this study, we compare the genetic diversity and differentiation of Texas horned lizards that are found in four small towns (Kenedy, Karnes City, Rockdale, and Smithville) in Texas and at Tinker Air Force Base, Oklahoma to populations that occur in 16 natural areas and to an introduced population in South Carolina. We also present more detailed spatial genetic data and home range data for several of the towns. Texas horned lizards (Phrynosoma cornutum) living in small towns have lower genetic diversity, higher differentiation, and smaller effective population sizes than populations located in more natural areas. There was evidence for human‐mediated movement of lizards into town; however, it has not been enough to counteract the effects of drift. Home range size is smaller in town than in more natural areas. Genetic patterns suggest dispersal occurs over short distances and is inhibited across areas with a high percent of impervious surface and major roads. These data suggest that effective planning to maintain suitable habitat and corridors to facilitate movement is critical to maintaining small terrestrial species like the Texas horned lizard and must be integrated into the early stages of urban development.

show abstract

Predation release of Texas horned lizards (Phrynosoma cornutum) living in small towns

Mirkin

Tucker

Williams

2021

Ecology and Evolution

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Altered community structure is a hallmark of urban environments; urban communities can differ greatly from their natural counterparts with some species able to adapt, while others decline (Fischer et al., 2012). The role that predation plays in structuring urban communities is not well understood but has been suggested to be similar to what is found in natural areas (Shochat et al., 2006). Increasing evidence, however, indicates that predation may act differently in urban environments, leading to what some authors have termed an urban predation paradox (

show abstract

Effects of Habitat Disturbance on Texas Horned Lizards: An Urban Case Study

Cited by 24 publications

References 41 publications

Variation in vital‐rate sensitivity between populations of Texas horned lizards

Variation in vital‐rate sensitivity between populations of Texas horned lizards

Small towns limit dispersal and reduce genetic diversity in populations of Texas horned lizards

Predation release of Texas horned lizards (Phrynosoma cornutum) living in small towns

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About