Global Assessment of Reptile Distributions
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What are the intrinsic and extrinsic drivers of lizard clutch-size evolution?

14/6/2020

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In a recent publication in Global Ecology and Biogeography GARDians explored the global diversity and distribution of lizard clutch sizes.
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We tested the geographic factors that affect clutch sizes in across nearly 4000 lizard species. We found similar patterns to those that have long been known in birds but were never seriously studied in other groups of organisms: lizards lay large clutches at high latitudes and at highly seasonal regions. We postulate that high latitudes with their short, pronounced productivity peals both allow the production of large clutches and promote putting all the eggs in one basket – because the window of opportunity is short in highly seasonal regions. We hypothesize that this may further be a factor preventing taxa with fixed clutch sizes from colonizing high latitudes.

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Median log‐transformed clutch size in 96 km × 96 km grid cells globally. Top: all lizards; bottom: only lizards with variable clutch sizes. Note that the colour scale differs between the maps. To the right of each map is a curve showing a generalized additive model of the mapped variable (in black), the 95% confidence intervals of the mapped variable per 96‐km latitudinal band (shaded dark grey), and the range of values of the mapped variable per 96‐km latitudinal band (shaded light grey).
Authors: Shai Meiri, Uri Roll
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The latitudinal diversity gradient and interspecific competition: no global relationship between lizard dietary niche breadth and species richness

27/1/2017

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In a 2017 publication in Global Ecology and Biogeography, we collated a novel quantitative volumetric dietary dataset for 308 lizard species worldwide from the field and literature. This novel dataset enabled us to test seven competing hypotheses posited to explain dietary niche breadth, focusing on those that are thought to either cause, or be influenced by, the latitudinal diversity gradient.
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Notomabuya frenata (photo Alison Gainsbury)
A species’ niche breadth is defined as the suite of environments or resources that the species can inhabit or use. Niche breadth is often invoked to explain the latitudinal diversity gradient. The latitudinal diversity gradient is the increase in species richness or biodiversity that occurs from the poles to the tropics. Despite this pattern having been recognized for over 200 years, the processes that drive and maintain the latitudinal diversity gradient remain unclear. We investigated which processes are important drivers of global lizard dietary niche breadth patterns, focusing on the relationship between niche breadth and species richness.
A major tenant explaining greater species richness in the tropics is interspecific competition. Dietary niche breadth has long been hypothesized to decrease from the poles toward the tropics, as the numbers of competitors increase. Geographical variation in niche breadth is also hypothesized to be linked to high ambient energy levels, water availability, productivity and climate stability – reflecting an increased number of available prey taxa. Range size and body size are also hypothesized to be strongly and positively associated with niche breadth. We sought to determine which of these factors is associated with geographical variation in niche breadth across broad spatial scales and thus potentially drive the latitudinal diversity gradient.
Overall, our findings are consistent with the notion that climate is an important predictor of dietary specialization, with both less rainfall and more stable temperatures associated with narrower dietary niches. Trophic interactions between lizard species and their arthropod prey are sensitive to climate. It is likely that climatic conditions not only affect these interactions but also alter the functional role of other vertebrate predators in terrestrial ecosystems. The sensitivity of dietary niche breadth to climate has important implications for essential ecosystem functions that maintain increased species richness in the tropics, such as food web stability and energy flow.
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Norops meridionalis (photo: Alison Gainsbury)
The synergistic effects of a narrow dietary niche and small range size augments the vulnerability of species to habitat loss and climate change. Based on our findings, the ‘competitionist’s paradigm’ seems to be the exception rather than the rule in explaining the latitudinal diversity gradient.
Author: Alison Gainsbury
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Patterns of species richness, endemism and environmental gradients of African reptiles

28/7/2016

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In our recent publication in the Journal of Biogeography, we assembled a comprehensive distribution map of all reptiles in Africa in order to quantify their geographical overlap with the other vertebrate groups, and to assess the environmental correlates underlying these patterns.
The latitudinal gradient of increasing biological diversity towards the equator is one of the best recognized patterns in biogeography, and has been acknowledged for some time. The naturalist, Alexander von Humboldt wrote of his travels over 200 hundred years ago, that as we approach the tropics, "the greater the variety of structure, form, colour, youth and vigor of organic life." A number of well-known hypotheses explaining this pervasive pattern of the increasing number of different species towards the equator have since proliferated. These include elevated ambient energy and precipitation, the number of different habitats or niches, higher plant productivity, and many more.
Until now reptile diversity gradients have remained largely unmapped and the least studied of the terrestrial vertebrates, especially in Africa. This is an important distinction because reptiles are an extremely diverse class of terrestrial vertebrates (over 10,000 species and counting), and as ectotherms, which often thrive in arid regions, their diversity patterns are thought to differ from the classic latitudinal gradient of the other land vertebrates (amphibians, birds, and mammals). In addition, the distinct reptile lineages - amphisbaenians, crocodiles, lizards, snakes, and turtles are likely to respond differently to environmental variables.

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Vipera palaestinae (photo: Uri Roll)
To create our geographic distribution map of reptiles in Africa, we obtained data from a variety of field-guides and atlases, museum databases, the primary literature, IUCN assessments, and maps based on expert knowledge of reptile species and the habitats they occupy. A challenging aspect of the project was to ensure that our maps remained current with respect to new species discoveries and taxonomic name changes (which are constantly being revised), and we also had to confirm the validity of type specimen identifications and localities, especially those referenced from obscure sources and archaic museum specimens. We used GIS software to digitize and overlay the maps of each individual African reptile species (1,601 species in total!) one on top of the other, which allowed us to count the number of species present in a given area - which we call “species richness”.
Here is the product of all of that hard work - the first comprehensive richness map of all reptile species in Africa. The colour codes correspond to the number of species from low (blue) to high (red). It shows that the reptile richness map is largely congruent with previously mapped amphibian, bird, and mammal richness showing the classic species latitudinal gradient, including high richness in the arid regions not seen in the other vertebrates. But when you look at the reptile groups distinctly you see that while the overall reptile richness map mostly resembles snakes, lizards in particular are qualitatively very different. Lizard richness hotspots are widely dispersed with high diversity in tropical regions, as well as arid and mountainous areas, where the distribution of the other reptile and non-reptile groups is relatively low.

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When we looked at which environmental predictors best explained these species richness maps we found that net primary productivity (the amount of photosynthetic activity by plants) and precipitation explain most of the variation in reptile and other vertebrates. This explains the clear latitudinal pattern seen in their respective maps, which reflects a strong correlation with plant productivity and rainfall as you move closer to the equator. But again, lizards are unique in that none of these environmental correlates explain their distributions. This is because lizards are well adapted to a wide range of habitats including the tropics as well as the harsh conditions of the desert where plant productivity and rainfall are low. We also showed that individual lizard species on average occupy smaller geographic distributions, reflecting their ability to occupy diverse niches.
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Our findings that the distribution of lizard species in Africa is unique when compared to the other vertebrate groups now confirms a pattern that has been seen elsewhere in previous studies (i.e. Australia) and most recently by our paper on the global distribution of reptiles. This shows the importance of studying the diverse reptile groups distinctly instead of lumping them all together, and will have bearing on large-scale conservation efforts that do not represent all reptile groups.
Author: Amir Lewin
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