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Diversity
Special Issues
Biogeography, Ecology and Conservation of Reptiles—Second Edition
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Biogeography, Ecology and Conservation of Reptiles—Second Edition

A special issue of Diversity (ISSN 1424-2818).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 September 2026 | Viewed by 896

Image courtesy of Susy Sanoja-Sarabia

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Roger Meek

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Guest Editor
Institute for Development, Ecology, Conservation and Cooperation, Via G. Tomasi di5 Lampedusa 33, I-00144 Rome, Italy
Interests: conservation; amphibian; reptiles
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Dr. Julio A. Lemos-Espinal

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Guest Editor
Laboratorio de Ecología-UBIPRO, Facultad de Estudios Superiores Iztacala, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Avenida los Barrios 1, Los Reyes Iztacala, Tlalnepantla 54090, Mexico
Interests: ecology; amphibians; reptiles; biodiversity; conservation

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Diversity is a peer-reviewed open access journal publishing research on the science of biodiversity that publishes Special Issues that serve as collections of papers on specific topics. This latest Special Issue will focus on new studies on reptile ecology, evolution and conservation—three intrinsically linked subject areas. The papers published in a Special Issue will be collected and displayed on a dedicated page of the journal’s website and this Special Issue particularly seeks studies that are interdisciplinary and that combine aspects of ecology, ethology and evolution, so that the contributions can be of broad interest to a large number of readers. There are no limitations as to biogeographical region, and studies from the Global South are particularly welcome.

Special Issue submissions follow MDPI's standard editorial process and the journal’s Editor-in-Chief and/or designated Editorial Board Member will oversee Guest Editor appointments and Special Issue proposals, assessing their content for relevance and ensuring the suitability of the material for the journal. The papers published in a Special Issue will be collected and displayed on a dedicated page of the journal’s website. Further information on MDPI's Special Issue polices can be found here. For any inquiries related to a Special Issue, please contact the Editorial Office.

Dr. Roger Meek
Dr. Julio A. Lemos-Espinal
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Diversity is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2100 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • reptiles
  • ecology
  • evolution
  • conservation

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Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

16 pages, 6629 KB  
Article
Movement of Desert Grassland Whiptails, Aspidoscelis uniparens, in a Structured Landscape
by Douglas A. Eifler, Margaret C. Stanley, Darren F. Ward, Hannah Reynolds, Julia Clem and Maria A. Eifler
Diversity 2026, 18(3), 142; https://doi.org/10.3390/d18030142 - 27 Feb 2026
Viewed by 293
Abstract
Landscape structure can affect movement, which is influenced by foraging, thermoregulation, and predation risk. We evaluated search paths relative to landscape cover for a unisexual lizard (Aspidoscelis uniparens) whose movement is primarily motivated by foraging. In outdoor enclosures, we arranged artificial [...] Read more.
Landscape structure can affect movement, which is influenced by foraging, thermoregulation, and predation risk. We evaluated search paths relative to landscape cover for a unisexual lizard (Aspidoscelis uniparens) whose movement is primarily motivated by foraging. In outdoor enclosures, we arranged artificial plants in three distributions (uniform, mildly clumped, heavily clumped cover), testing the hypotheses that search effort and efficiency will vary with landscape configuration, and that movement patterns will reflect changes in foraging to accommodate thermoregulation and predation avoidance. We recorded movement parameters, assessing search paths relative to effort, efficiency, and space use. Effort did not vary with landscape configuration, but efficiency, movement patterns, and space use varied with plant distribution. With mildly clumped cover, lizards entered plants more frequently than in other cover configurations. Lizards in both clumped configurations preferentially used areas with more plants. Plant residence times also varied—short-duration visits occurred most often with mildly clumped cover, but with heavily clumped cover, long-duration visits were most common and median residence times were longest. The likelihood of moving to the nearest plant was highest with uniform cover, and that of revisiting plants was lowest with heavily clumped cover. The distribution of cover influenced movement patterns, space use, and search efficiency, likely arising from variation in predation risk. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Biogeography, Ecology and Conservation of Reptiles—Second Edition)
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13 pages, 1045 KB  
Article
Escape Tactics Used by Blanched Lesser Earless Lizards (Holbrookia maculata)
by Kaera L. Utsumi, Daanya Siddiqui, Janey B. Haddock, Makenna M. Orton, Telma G. Laurentino, Maria A. Eifler and Douglas A. Eifler
Diversity 2026, 18(2), 80; https://doi.org/10.3390/d18020080 - 30 Jan 2026
Viewed by 364
Abstract
Successful escapes depend on many factors, including predator type and habitat characteristics. Examining escape usually entails directly pursuing an individual and then measuring flight initiation distance (FID), but the effect of prolonged pursuit has not been well studied. We examined escape sequences by [...] Read more.
Successful escapes depend on many factors, including predator type and habitat characteristics. Examining escape usually entails directly pursuing an individual and then measuring flight initiation distance (FID), but the effect of prolonged pursuit has not been well studied. We examined escape sequences by blanched adult lesser earless lizards (Holbrookia maculata) in the Salt Basin Dunes (SBDs), testing the hypothesis that escape success and sequences would vary with sex and vegetation use. Their coloration is an adaptation to their sparsely vegetated white sand habitat. To evaluate escape behavior, we followed an individual directly until it disappeared (=successful escape), stopped moving, or 2 min elapsed. We recorded trial habitat (at the start and throughout), time to trial end, FID, length of moves, and total distance moved. FID varied with starting habitat—lizards beginning trials on exposed wood had the longest FID. The sexes differed in their move lengths: females made more short moves, while males made more long moves. The most important plant was sage (Artemisia filifolia), which was occupied at the start of 39% of trials, while 71% of trials ended in sage, and larger sage bushes supported longer escape sequences. Our study highlights the importance of vegetation for refuge and emphasizes the crucial role of the dune-plant landscape to lesser earless lizards. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Biogeography, Ecology and Conservation of Reptiles—Second Edition)
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