Relaciones espaciales y alimenticias del ensamblaje de reptiles del complejo cenagoso de Zapatosa, departamento del Cesar (Colombia)

Abstract

Relaciones espaciales y alimenticias del ensamblaje de Reptiles del complejo cenagoso de Zapatosa, depaRtamento del cesaR (colombia) guido Fabian medina-Rangel 1,2 gladys cáRdenas-áRevalo 1 ABSTRACT To find environmental factors that favors richness and abundance of species and groups of reptiles, his preference for microhabitats, species diet and differences between habitats in parameters such as size of individuals, level of detection and proportion of predation, we made four field trip in surrounding areas of the Zapatosa's wetland complex, between November of 2006 and October of 2007, embracing both the rainy and the dry season Habitats with significant differences between environmental and structural variables were riparian forest, palm-grove, tree-lined savanna and chasmophyte forest; riparian forest and dry forest were not different. The slope of the land and degree of human intervention were variables more related to species abundance. By increasing the slope and human intervention, the richness and abundance of reptiles in general and snakes and lizards decreased; with the increase of environmental temperature average, abundance of reptiles decreased. With increasing herbaceous cover and decreased tree diameter, the richness of snakes and lizards decreased. The body size of the reptiles was not different between habitats, although small sizes predominated in all. Snakes had lower detection values those lizards. Riparian forest had the highest detection values. A fifth of all lizards showed some sign of predation and was higher in the palm-grove. Terrestrial reptiles were the richest and most abundant in the study. Lizards had the highest amplitude in the habitat use and microhabitat, while snakes Helicops danieli and Leptodeira septentrionalis and lizards Anolis gaigei, Gonatodes albogularis y Cnemidophorus lemniscatus in the food use. Lizards exhibit greater overlap in the use of resources.

Use of microhabitat and activity patterns of two lizard species from a seasonal dry forest in northern Colombia

“…In the study area, as well as in other localities within the dry forest of the Colombian Caribbean, the studied species coexist with other lizard species such as Gonatodes albogularis and Gymnophthalmus speciosus. Furthermore, they present little overlap of spatial and trophic niche dimensions, as reported by Medina-Rangel and Cárdenas-Árevalo (2015), which would favour activity without competition between these species in a particular ecological scenario with resource scarcity. Herein, L. sanctaemartae and L. rugiceps were found to be homogeneously distributed within the available thermal and structural landscape.…”

“…In the dry forest assemblages of Colombia, small, terrestrial and diurnal lizards constitute a dominant ecomorphological group, including species with a large number of individuals in their populations that dispute for microhabitats offered by the heterogeneous substrates of the forest floor and exploit similar food resources (Carvajal-Cogollo and Urbina-Cardona 2015;Medina-Rangel and Cárdenas-Árevalo 2015;Rojas-Murcia et al 2016). Lepidoblepharis sanctaemartae (Ruthven, 1916) and Loxopholis rugiceps (= Leposoma rugiceps) (Cope, 1869) belong to said ecomorphological group and, according to Medina-Rangel and Cárdenas-Árevalo (2015), these small lizards explore a smaller number of microhabitats compared to larger species, presenting higher overlap in trophic niche and lower overlap in spacial niche (microhabitat).…”

Estado de conservación, sexo y tamaño corporal de reptiles en Santiago Nonualco, El Salvador

“…El tamaño mediano es óptimo para mantener el equilibrio ecológico y estaría en sintonía con la gran cantidad de presas pequeñas o medianas características de estos ambientes, además no demandan recursos especiales para subsistir (Bernal, 2014). Esto a nivel comunitario representaría una estrategia para facilitar la segregación en el uso del espacio o el alimento (Medina-Rangel & Cárdenas-Árevalo, 2015). En cambio, las especies de tamaño grande, aunque siempre tienden a ser menos abundantes, se les asocia a ambientes conservados y complejos donde los recursos como el alimento les sea factible de conseguir (Lynch, 2012;Jack et al, 2020) y presentan un ámbito hogareño mayor (Morales-Mávil et al, 2001).…”

Filling a gap in the distribution of the Berthold’s Bush Anole, Polychrus gutturosus (Squamata, Polychrotidae), in Honduras

“…The removal of the land occupied by the invaders may have given time for the onset of a slow recovery; a result of this may be the observation of species such as those mentioned above, which share specific requirements within undisturbed or seldom disturbed forests (e.g. Vitt et al 1998;Urbina-Cardona et al 2006;Medina-Rangel and Cárdenas-Árevalo 2015). We conclude that it is necessary to increase conservation actions within the RHBRP to reduce habitat loss, which is advancing very rapidly, affecting this and many other species that inhabit this important protected area, which is the most biodiverse in the country (see McCranie et al 2006;Martínez et al 2020;Turcios-Casco et al 2020).…”