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Juxtaposition and Disturbance: Disentangling the Determinants of Lizard Community Structure
Author(s) -
Mesquita Daniel O.,
Colli Guarino R.,
Pantoja Davi L.,
Shepard Donald B.,
C. Vieira Gustavo H.,
Vitt Laurie J.
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
biotropica
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.813
H-Index - 96
eISSN - 1744-7429
pISSN - 0006-3606
DOI - 10.1111/btp.12236
Subject(s) - ecotone , ecology , species richness , community structure , habitat , disturbance (geology) , deforestation (computer science) , lizard , flooding (psychology) , rainforest , biology , geography , psychology , paleontology , computer science , psychotherapist , programming language
Abstract Disturbance alters the structure and dynamics of communities. Here, we examined the effects of seasonal flooding on the lizard community structure by comparing two adjacent habitats, a seasonally flooded and a non‐flooded forest, in a Cerrado–Amazon ecotone area, the C antão S tate P ark, Tocantins state, B razil. Despite the strong potential impact of seasonal flooding, the only significant environmental difference detected was more termite mounds in non‐flooded forests. Species richness was significantly higher in the non‐flooded forest. C olobosaura modesta , followed by M abuya frenata and A nolis brasiliensis , were the only species that differed in number of captures between sites. C olobosaura modesta was exclusively found in the non‐flooded forest, while A nolis brasiliensis was the most captured in the flooded forest. M abuya frenata is indicated as an indicator species in the flooded forest, and C olobosaura modesta in the non‐flooded forest. We found a significant association between lizard abundances and habitat characteristics, with flooding, canopy cover, and logs being the best predictors. A phylogenetic community structure analysis indicated a lack of structure in both lizard assemblages. Overall, we show that seasonal flooding can strongly impact species richness and species occurrence patterns, but not phylogenetic community structure. The A mazon– C errado transition is undergoing pronounced transformations due to deforestation and climate change. Despite being species‐poor compared with central areas in A mazon or C errado, this ecotone harbors species with important adaptations that could hold the key to persistence in human‐disturbed landscapes or during periods of climate change.