Habitat Alteration Influences a Desert Steppe Lizard Community: Implications of Species-Specific Preferences and Performance

Zeng, Zhi‐Gao; Bi, Jun-Huai; Li, Shuran; Wang, Yang; Robbins, Travis R.; Chen, Shaoyong; Du, Wei‐Guo

doi:10.1655/herpmonographs-d-14-00008.1

Cited by 20 publications

(19 citation statements)

References 69 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…A total of 65 hatchlings successfully hatched from 37 nests, which we released into two circular enclosures (16 m diameter, 0.5 m high, protected by bird nets) at the study site, with 34 and 31 lizards in the two enclosures. The maximum density of the lizards in the enclosures (0.17 and 0.15 lizards/m 2 ) was similar to that in the natural habitat at our study site (0.12 lizards/m 2 ) (Zeng et al., ), although the actual density in each enclosure was lower because we released the lizards gradually, and some of them died during the experiments. In addition to naturally available food sources, we provided mealworms (about 40% of total lizard mass) on the ground of enclosures weekly until late September.…”

Section: Methodssupporting

confidence: 70%

Female lizards choose warm, moist nests that improve embryonic survivorship and offspring fitness

Xia

Wang

et al. 2017

Functional Ecology

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The fitness consequence of maternal nest‐site choice has attracted increasing scientific attention, but field studies identifying the long‐term effects of nest‐site choice on offspring survival and reproductive success are still rare in vertebrates. To investigate the consequences of nest‐site choice in lizards, we quantified the thermal and hydric conditions of nest sites that were chosen by female toad‐headed agama (Phrynocephalus przewalskii) in the desert steppe of northern China. We also determined the effect of nest‐site choice on embryonic development and survival and on offspring growth, survival and maturity by comparing the embryos and offspring from maternally and randomly chosen nest sites. We found that female toad‐headed agama chose warm and moist nest sites that improved the developmental rate and survivorship of embryos and promoted the post‐hatching growth, sexual maturity, reproduction and fitness of offspring, thereby improving their reproductive success. Such studies on short‐lived lizards across multiple stages of embryonic and postembryonic ontogeny are critical for fully understanding the fitness consequences of nest‐site choice. A http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1365-2435.12995/suppinfo is available for this article.

show abstract

Section: Methodssupporting

confidence: 70%

Female lizards choose warm, moist nests that improve embryonic survivorship and offspring fitness

Xia

Wang

et al. 2017

Functional Ecology

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Ambient temperatures are important for reptiles to maintain key physiological and behavioral processes [41] and can influence microhabitat use [42,43]. Racerunners spent more time in shade and less time in full sun in midday [20].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The Mongolian racerunner is a small (SVL=30.9-65.8 mm) [18], oviparous Lacertid lizard distributed throughout Mongolia. Endemic to eastern Asia, the species is listed as endangered in South Korea [19,20]. The Mongolian racerunner is the dominant lizard in habitat with dense vegetation.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The Mongolian racerunner is the dominant lizard in habitat with dense vegetation. Predation risk likely differs by habitat, depending on the amount of shelter [20]. Main predators of the lizard in Mongolia include the Lesser Kestrel (Falco naumanni), Common Kestrel (F. tinninculus), Grey Shrike (Lanius excubitor), and corsac fox (Vulpes corsac) [20,21].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Mongolian Racerunners (Eremias argus) Occupancy in Active and Inactive Siberian Marmot (Marmota sibirica) Colonies

Suuri¹,

Baatargal²,

Rp³

2017

J Biodivers Endanger Species

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Habitat fragmentation caused by anthropogenic activities alters the distribution, abundance and diversity of wildlife species worldwide. As one example, Siberian marmots have experienced a >75% decline across Mongolia since the 1990s due to human harvests. Burrowing mammals are keystone; ecosystem engineers in many communities because burrowing can directly and indirectly alter the availability of resources, have effects at multiple spatial and temporal scales, and have a significant role in community organization. The deep and complex burrow systems of marmots provide underground shelters with stable microclimates that other vertebrate and invertebrate animals exploit. Our general hypothesis was that marmot colonies positively influence racerunner occupancy probability because burrows offer shelter from environmental conditions, refuges for predation, and a high diversity and number of insects and other prey items. Using occupancy modeling, we showed that the presence of a Siberian marmot colony influenced racerunner occupancy. Marmot active colony + inactive colony-ψ (AMC+IMC), p (temp+temp 2 ) were the best approximating model. Racerunner detection was highest at approximately 24.3°C. For the aspect and elevation model, foothills had an important influence on lizard occupancy. Our results showed that marmot burrows greatly influence Mongolian racerunner occurrence and suggest that habitat modification by rodent ecosystem engineers exert ecological influence on biodiversity.

show abstract

“…The multi‐ocellated racerunner ( Eremias multiocellata ), a small viviparous lizard (approximately 65 mm snout‐vent length), is one of the main lizard fauna in this habitat, which is predominantly sandy grassland with low to moderate levels of sparse vegetation dominated by Artemisia ordosica (Zeng et al . , ). Female E. multiocellata start to copulate in May, and give birth in July and August, with a gestation period of around two months (Zhang et al .…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Maternal food availability affects offspring performance and survival in a viviparous lizard

Wang

Zeng

et al. 2017

Functional Ecology

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Summary Whether maternal effects are adaptive or not has been a long‐standing topic of discussion in evolutionary ecology. The effects of maternal diet on offspring have been addressed by several studies on diverse organisms, but results are typically conflicting or inconclusive. In this study, we conducted food manipulation experiments with a factorial design (high and low maternal food conditions × high and low offspring food conditions) in a viviparous lacertid lizard (Eremias multiocellata) to test four competing hypotheses on the evolutionary significance of maternal effects: environmental matching hypothesis, low‐food compensation hypothesis, low‐food pathology hypothesis and no‐compensation hypothesis. We found that offspring under the maternal low‐food treatment had higher growth and survival rates than those under the maternal high‐food treatment, supporting the low‐food compensation hypothesis rather than the environmental matching hypothesis, which has been widely accepted as an explanation for the adaptive significance of maternal effects. Our study highlights the importance of testing multiple competing hypotheses that involve both adaptive and non‐adaptive explanations when studying the evolutionary significance of phenotypic plasticity. A http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1365-2435.12903/suppinfo is available for this article.

show abstract

Habitat Alteration Influences a Desert Steppe Lizard Community: Implications of Species-Specific Preferences and Performance

Cited by 20 publications

References 69 publications

Female lizards choose warm, moist nests that improve embryonic survivorship and offspring fitness

Female lizards choose warm, moist nests that improve embryonic survivorship and offspring fitness

Mongolian Racerunners (Eremias argus) Occupancy in Active and Inactive Siberian Marmot (Marmota sibirica) Colonies

Maternal food availability affects offspring performance and survival in a viviparous lizard

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About