Where to “Rock”? Choice of retreat sites by a gecko in a semi-arid habitat

Penado, Andreia; Rocha, Ricardo; Sampaio, Marta; Gil, Vanessa; Carreira, Bruno M.; Rebelo, Rui

doi:10.13128/acta_herpetol-15304

Cited by 2 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 26 publications

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“…In the case of C. sexlineatus, although the impact is also noticeable, it is lower with respect to G. stehlini, which could be potentially linked to the fossorial habits and the small size of this species [42] that may lie in crevices that are unreachable to snakes. Finally, since T. boettgeri is also a small-sized and nocturnal gecko that perches upside-down under rocks to take refuge during daylight [57], the lowest impact detected for this species abundance could be related to its different refuge selection and nocturnal activity to that of L. californiae [58]. Determining population density is always a challenging endeavour [59,60] that often involves a certain amount of limitations and uncertainty [56,60,61].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Invasive snake causes massive reduction of all endemic herpetofauna on Gran Canaria

Piquet

López-Darias

2021

Proc. R. Soc. B.

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Invasive snakes represent a serious threat to island biodiversity, being responsible for far-reaching impacts that are noticeably understudied, particularly regarding native reptiles. We analysed the impact of the invasive California kingsnake, Lampropeltis californiae —recently introduced in the Canary Islands—on the abundance of all endemic herpetofauna of the island of Gran Canaria. We quantified the density in invaded and uninvaded sites for the Gran Canaria giant lizard, Gallotia stehlini , the Gran Canaria skink, Chalcides sexlineatus , and Boettger's wall gecko, Tarentola boettgeri . We used spatially explicit capture-recapture and distance-sampling methods for G. stehlini and active searches under rocks for the abundance of the other two reptiles. The abundance of all species was lower in invaded sites, with a reduction in the number of individuals greater than 90% for G. stehlini , greater than 80% for C. sexlineatus and greater than 50% for T. boettgeri in invaded sites. Our results illustrate the severe impact of L. californiae on the endemic herpetofauna of Gran Canaria and highlight the need for strengthened measures to manage this invasion. We also provide further evidence of the negative consequences of invasive snakes on island reptiles and emphasize the need for further research on this matter on islands worldwide.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Invasive snake causes massive reduction of all endemic herpetofauna on Gran Canaria

Piquet

López-Darias

2021

Proc. R. Soc. B.

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Questioning the proverb ‘more haste, less speed’: classic versus metabarcoding approaches for the diet study of a remote island endemic gecko

Gil

Pinho

Aguiar

et al. 2020

PeerJ

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Dietary studies can reveal valuable information on how species exploit their habitats and are of particular importance for insular endemics conservation as these species present higher risk of extinction. Reptiles are often neglected in island systems, principally the ones inhabiting remote areas, therefore little is known on their ecological networks. The Selvagens gecko Tarentola (boettgeri) bischoffi, endemic to the remote and integral reserve of Selvagens Archipelago, is classified as Vulnerable by the Portuguese Red Data Book. Little is known about this gecko's ecology and dietary habits, but it is assumed to be exclusively insectivorous. The diet of the continental Tarentola species was already studied using classical methods. Only two studies have used next-generation sequencing (NGS) techniques for this genus thus far, and very few NGS studies have been employed for reptiles in general. Considering the lack of information on its diet and the conservation interest of the Selvagens gecko, we used morphological and DNA metabarcoding approaches to characterize its diet. The traditional method of morphological identification of prey remains in faecal pellets collected over a longer period was compared with metabarcoding of samples collected during rapid surveys. Molecular results revealed that this species is a generalist, feeding on invertebrate, plant and vertebrate items, whereas the morphological approaches were unable to detect the latter two. These results opened up new questions on the ecological role of the Selvagens gecko that deserves to be further explored, such as the possible predation on seabirds, plant services or trophic competition with the sympatric Madeira lizard Teira dugesii. Metabarcoding identified a greater diversity of dietary items at higher taxonomic resolution, but morphological identification enabled calculation of relative abundances and biomasses of ingested arthropods, and detected a dietary shift on invertebrate preys between seasons. Results of this study highlight the global applicability of rapid metabarcoding surveys for understudied taxa on remote islands that are difficult to access. We recommend using the metabarcoding approach, even if 'speedy' sampling only is possible, but we must highlight that disregarding long-term ecological data may lead to 'hasty' conclusion.How to cite this article Gil V, Pinho CJ, Aguiar CAS, Jardim C, Rebelo R, Vasconcelos R. 2020. Questioning the proverb 'more haste, less speed': classic versus metabarcoding approaches for the diet study of a remote island endemic gecko. PeerJ 8:e8084 http://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.8084

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Where to “Rock”? Choice of retreat sites by a gecko in a semi-arid habitat

Cited by 2 publications

References 26 publications

Invasive snake causes massive reduction of all endemic herpetofauna on Gran Canaria

Invasive snake causes massive reduction of all endemic herpetofauna on Gran Canaria

Questioning the proverb ‘more haste, less speed’: classic versus metabarcoding approaches for the diet study of a remote island endemic gecko

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