Microhabitat Variation Explains Local‐scale Distribution of Terrestrial Amazonian Lizards in Rondônia, Western Brazil

Abstract

We investigate the role of ecology and phylogeny in the association between lizard abundance and microhabitat variables in an Amazon rain forest site. Using pitfall trap arrays, we collected data from 349 individuals belonging to 23 lizard species. After accounting for spatial autocorrelation and using a canonical correspondence analysis (CCA), we found that lizard captures were significantly associated with microhabitat variables, which accounted for 48 percent of the observed variation. Furthermore, a canonical phylogenetic ordination (CPO) indicated that microhabitat variables are more important in determining the distribution of lizard species than phylogenetic relationships among species. Termite nests, canopy openness, and tree circumference were strongly associated with the number of captures of certain lizard species. Our results confirm autecology studies of individual lizard species for which data are available. We suggest that maintaining heterogeneous forested microhabitats should be a central goal for sustaining a high lizard biodiversity in Amazon rain forests.Abstract in Portuguese is available in the online version of this article.

The Conservation Value of Small Fragments For Atlantic Forest Reptiles

“…, Blevins & With , Garda et al . ). Explanations for the opposite trend are less straightforward and generally involve ad hoc hypotheses (Andersson et al .…”

“…For instance, smaller fragments are more susceptible to edge effects, and a greater proportion of total area is affected by climatic and biotic influences from the surrounding matrix, resulting in modified microhabitats, which can significantly affect the occurrence of lizards in tropical forests (Garda et al . ).…”

“…Indeed, we found an equivalent number of publications reporting positive (N = 16) compared to no (N = 13) or negative (N = 3) effects of increasing fragment area on squamate species diversity indicators. Positive effects of fragment area are expected on several patch attributes, such as resource availability, territory size, habitat quality, and heterogeneity (Kitchener et al 1980, Blevins & With 2011, Garda et al 2013. Explanations for the opposite trend are less straightforward and generally involve ad hoc hypotheses (Andersson et al 2010, Cabrera-Guzm an & Reynoso 2012.…”

The combined influence of riverine barriers and flooding gradients on biogeographical patterns for amphibians and squamates in south‐eastern Amazonia

“…For example, topographical characteristics, soil composition and microhabitat variation influence the distribution of plants (Schietti et al ., ; Emílio et al ., ; Zuquim et al ., ). As well as these variables, distance to streams (Fraga et al ., ; Menin et al ., ), forest type (Gascon et al ., ; Pavan, ; Garda et al ., ) and leaf‐litter morphology (Menin et al ., ) all influence amphibian and squamate distribution. However, the overall difficulty researchers have faced in detecting general patterns suggests that the relationship between ecological factors and distributional patterns is idiosyncratic (Dias‐Terceiro et al ., ).…”

Mechanisms of the impact of a weed (grader grass, Themeda quadrivalvis ) on reptile assemblage structure in a tropical savannah

“…Structurally depauperate habitats tend to have lower reptile diversity in general, including reptile predators (Price et al, 2010;Garda et al, 2013). For example, snakes were much less common in cheat grass-invaded sagebrush habitats than in uninvaded habitats (Hall et al, 2009).…”