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Diversity
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Urban Ecology of the Amphibians and Reptiles
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Urban Ecology of the Amphibians and Reptiles

A special issue of Diversity (ISSN 1424-2818). This special issue belongs to the section "Animal Diversity".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (20 June 2023) | Viewed by 14444

Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Ivelin A. Mollov

E-Mail Website1 Website2
Guest Editor
Department of Ecology and Environmental Conservation, Faculty of Biology, University of Plovdiv “Paisii Hilendarski”, 24 Tsar Asen Street, 4000 Plovdiv, Bulgaria
Interests: ecology of amphibians and reptiles; urban ecology; feeding ecology of amphibians and reptiles; herpetology
Prof. Dr. Richard Seigel

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Biological Sciences, Towson University, Towson, MD 21252, USA
Interests: reptiles; amphibians; conservation; wildlife; population ecology

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

In contemporary environmental research, the study of the impact of urbanization on the biodiversity and its preservation in cities, the creation of a sustainable urban environment for the biota and its proper management, is taking a very serious place. Urbanization is recognized to be one of the main factors for habitat loss leading to local biodiversity extinction in urban areas. As urbanization is spreading rapidly across the globe, a basic challenge for conservation is to understand how it affects biodiversity. Although urbanization often causes the extinction of native species, the complex nature of urban land use can have a complicated influence on local biodiversity.

Amphibians and reptiles represent a very important component of urban ecosystems. They occur in a variety of terrestrial and aquatic habitats and therefore tolerate the impact of human activity to varying degrees. This leads to a reduction in their diversity compared to natural conditions and changes in the structure of their populations and communities. Scientific publications of recent years have shown opportunities for the use of amphibians and reptiles as model animal groups in complex urban ecology studies.

This Special Issue will provide an opportunity to highlight new research on the problem of clarification of the ecological processes and changes occurring in the amphibian and reptile populations in urban environments around the world, and studies in this area will help to effectively plan conservation and restoration activities for the urban herpetofauna.

Prof. Dr. Ivelin A. Mollov
Prof. Dr. Richard Seigel
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 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.

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Published Papers (6 papers)

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Research

15 pages, 701 KiB  
Article
Consistent Nest Site Selection by Turtles across Habitats with Varying Levels of Human Disturbance
by Molly Folkerts Caldwell, Jorge E. López-Pérez, Daniel A. Warner and Matthew E. Wolak
Diversity 2023, 15(2), 275; https://doi.org/10.3390/d15020275 - 14 Feb 2023
Viewed by 2098
Abstract
Human disturbance impacts the breeding behavior of many species, and it is particularly important to understand how these human-caused changes affect vulnerable taxa, such as turtles. Habitat alteration can change the amount and quality of suitable nesting habitat, while human presence during nesting [...] Read more.
Human disturbance impacts the breeding behavior of many species, and it is particularly important to understand how these human-caused changes affect vulnerable taxa, such as turtles. Habitat alteration can change the amount and quality of suitable nesting habitat, while human presence during nesting may influence nesting behavior. Consequently, both habitat alteration and human presence can influence the microhabitat that females choose for nesting. In the summer of 2019, we located emydid turtle nests in east-central Alabama, USA, in areas with varying levels of human disturbance (high, intermediate, low). We aimed to determine whether turtles selected nest sites based on a range of microhabitat variables comparing maternally selected natural nests to randomly chosen artificial nests. We also compared nest site choice across areas with different levels of human disturbance. Natural nests had less variance in canopy openness and average daily mean and minimum temperature than artificial nests, but microhabitat variables were similar across differing levels of disturbance. Additionally, we experimentally quantified nest predation across a natural to human-disturbed gradient. Nest predation rates were higher in areas with low and intermediate levels of disturbance than in areas with high human disturbance. Overall, these results show that turtles are not adjusting their choices of nest microhabitat when faced with anthropogenic change, suggesting that preserving certain natural microhabitat features will be critical for populations in human-disturbed areas. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Urban Ecology of the Amphibians and Reptiles)
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16 pages, 4652 KiB  
Article
Do Suburban Populations of Lizards Behave Differently from Forest Ones? An Analysis of Perch Height, Time Budget, and Display Rate in the Cuban Endemic Anolis homolechis
by Annabelle Vidal, Roger Pradel and Frank Cézilly
Diversity 2023, 15(2), 261; https://doi.org/10.3390/d15020261 - 13 Feb 2023
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 2358
Abstract
Urbanization transforms natural ecosystems into novel habitats, which can result in negative consequences for biodiversity. Therefore, it is important to understand the mechanisms of maintenance of native species in urbanized environments, including behavior—which can act as a fast response to rapid environmental changes. [...] Read more.
Urbanization transforms natural ecosystems into novel habitats, which can result in negative consequences for biodiversity. Therefore, it is important to understand the mechanisms of maintenance of native species in urbanized environments, including behavior—which can act as a fast response to rapid environmental changes. We compared some behavioral traits between two suburban and two forest populations of Anolis homolechis. Direct observations of 779 individuals revealed that perch height was positively influenced by body size, but not by sex. Suburban individuals perched higher than forest ones, and even more so in the afternoon compared to the morning; a behavior that was not observed in forests populations. These differences might be due to a change from foraging activities in the morning to vigilance, display, and/or thermoregulation in the afternoon, promoted by suburban habitat conditions (e.g., higher predator abundance, open habitat structure, and urban heat). Video recordings of 81 focal individuals showed that males were more active than females (i.e., spending less time in stationary behavior and having a higher display rate), with no significant effect of habitat type. As some of our results diverge from previous studies on invasive anoles, we recommend extending comparative studies of urban and non-urban populations to other native Anolis. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Urban Ecology of the Amphibians and Reptiles)
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14 pages, 1457 KiB  
Article
The Effects of Landscape Heterogeneity on East China Anuran Communities: Identifying Spatial Scales in an Urbanizing Landscape
by Wei Zhang, Ben Li and Gang Yang
Diversity 2022, 14(11), 968; https://doi.org/10.3390/d14110968 - 11 Nov 2022
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1711
Abstract
Cities are growing rapidly worldwide, with over half of the human population living in cities. Amphibians are the most threatened vertebrates on our planet and are particularly vulnerable to the effects of urbanization. While it is known that landscape features and scales are [...] Read more.
Cities are growing rapidly worldwide, with over half of the human population living in cities. Amphibians are the most threatened vertebrates on our planet and are particularly vulnerable to the effects of urbanization. While it is known that landscape features and scales are important for amphibians in urban areas, we do not adequately understand how the urban landscape affects diversity patterns, nor have we identified which spatial scale is most appropriate for evaluating how amphibians respond to urban environments. In this study, we examined the relationships between anuran abundance/richness and landscape features at four spatial scales in Shanghai, China. In order to determine the relative importance of landscape variables and the most appropriate spatial scale, a multi-model inference approach was used to evaluate and compare model weighted mean coefficients. Our results show that large spatial scales, i.e., 1500 m and 2000 m, best predicted relative anuran abundance and richness, while the total anuran abundance responded most strongly to landscape variables at smaller scales, i.e., 500 m and 1000 m. Patch richness and the interspersion and juxtaposition index play a large role in predicting the anuran species’ richness and abundance. The abundance of P. nigromaculatus, F. multistriata, and B. gargarizans increased with patch richness. Species richness and total abundance were most strongly related to the interspersion and juxtaposition index. Our research highlights the importance of identifying the most suitable spatial scale in urban environments because not all anuran respond to the same spatial scale. We found that the relationships between anuran relative abundance and species and urban habitat features are not consistent with the prediction of other landscapes (e.g., farmland, forest, and island). Additionally, constructing diverse habitat patches and more neighboring habitats may maintain or improve anuran communities in urbanizing landscapes. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Urban Ecology of the Amphibians and Reptiles)
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11 pages, 1382 KiB  
Article
Rock Refuges Are Strongly Associated with Increased Urban Occupancy in the Western Fence Lizard, Sceloporus occidentalis
by Alexander J. Rurik, Seth C. Wilmoth, Kendra E. Dayton and Amanda M. Sparkman
Diversity 2022, 14(8), 655; https://doi.org/10.3390/d14080655 - 14 Aug 2022
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 2021
Abstract
Urbanization has dramatically altered habitats for local species worldwide. While some species are unable to meet the challenges that these alterations bring, others are able to persist as long as a threshold for suitable habitat is met. For reptiles, a key feature for [...] Read more.
Urbanization has dramatically altered habitats for local species worldwide. While some species are unable to meet the challenges that these alterations bring, others are able to persist as long as a threshold for suitable habitat is met. For reptiles, a key feature for persistence in urban areas can be access to suitable refuges from predation, high temperatures, and/or other environmental challenges. We tested for effects of local and landscape variables affecting urban occupancy in the Western Fence Lizard, Sceloporus occidentalis, in transects across an urban–rural gradient, with a specific focus on the presence of rock, tree, and shrub refuges. We found that fence lizards were much more likely to be present in areas with more rock cover, and in parks or low-density residential areas. Occupancy was also positively related to canopy cover in the general vicinity, though negatively related to number of trees along the transects. Our results highlight the importance of assessing local habitat features to successfully predict the occupancy of reptile species in urban habitats, and present directions for future research with concrete conservation and management applications. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Urban Ecology of the Amphibians and Reptiles)
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12 pages, 1223 KiB  
Article
Advertisement Call Variation of Two Frog Species along an Urban–Rural Gradient in Shanghai, China
by Ningning Liu, Shurong Zhong, Tianhou Wang, Xiuzhen Li, Li Wei, Chunjing Zou, Shanshan Zhao and Ben Li
Diversity 2022, 14(7), 550; https://doi.org/10.3390/d14070550 - 8 Jul 2022
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 2336
Abstract
Urbanization has a significant influence on amphibian communities, populations, and individuals because of habitat loss, degradation of habitat quality, and habitat fragmentation. Advertisement calls of anurans are used for communication and play an important role in reproduction; however, how anthropogenic noise and habitat [...] Read more.
Urbanization has a significant influence on amphibian communities, populations, and individuals because of habitat loss, degradation of habitat quality, and habitat fragmentation. Advertisement calls of anurans are used for communication and play an important role in reproduction; however, how anthropogenic noise and habitat change caused by urbanization affect anuran advertisement calls is less well known. In this study, we examined changes in the advertisement calls of two frog species, the ornamented pygmy frog (Microhyla fissipes) and rice frog (Fejervarya multistriata), during the breeding season along an urban–rural gradient in Shanghai, China. We used the percentage of impervious area (including buildings and roads) in each 2 km-radius landscape to represent the urbanization index of 34 study sites. We then measured five advertisement call parameters (call duration, call interval, call rate, pulse rate, and dominant frequency) of these two species (100 males of F. multistriata and 89 males of M. fissipes) in each study site from May to July in 2020 and 2021. We explored how the urbanization index and other variables (air temperature, snout–vent length and calling situation (one frog species calling, or two frog species calling together)) in each study site affected these call parameters. The results showed that the dominant frequency of M. fissipes was significantly negatively related to urbanization index, and call duration and call interval were significantly negatively related to air temperature; furthermore, call rate and pulse rate were significantly positively related to air temperature, and call duration was also significantly positively related to snout–vent length. For F. multistriata, pulse rate was significantly negatively related to urbanization index, snout–vent length, and situation (two frog species calling together), but significantly positively related to air temperature; by contrast, call interval was significantly positively related to snout–vent length. We suggested that these two frog species had different responses to urbanization, which could help us to better understand the change of anuran breeding behaviors and reproductive life-history strategies in the face of rapid urbanization. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Urban Ecology of the Amphibians and Reptiles)
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11 pages, 1625 KiB  
Article
High Conservation Value of an Urban Population of a State-Endangered Turtle
by Brian P. Durkin, Teal M. Richards-Dimitrie, Kaite P. Anderson, Hunter J. Howell and Richard A. Seigel
Diversity 2022, 14(5), 354; https://doi.org/10.3390/d14050354 - 30 Apr 2022
Viewed by 2379
Abstract
Although reports of urban populations of amphibians and reptiles are increasingly common, the viability of such populations and information on threats to their continued existence remain less well known. From 2010–2018, we studied the nesting ecology of the imperiled Northern Map Turtle ( [...] Read more.
Although reports of urban populations of amphibians and reptiles are increasingly common, the viability of such populations and information on threats to their continued existence remain less well known. From 2010–2018, we studied the nesting ecology of the imperiled Northern Map Turtle (Graptemys geographica) in an urbanized area in northeastern Maryland, USA. Mark-recapture data showed an estimated population size of 32 females with an annual survival of 89%. Females nested in highly altered areas such as flower gardens, along railroad rights-of-way, and along fence lines, but nest survival was much higher than in nearby natural areas, mainly due to very low predation rates from Raccoons. However, nesting females were subject to considerable disturbance from vehicle and foot traffic while nesting. To alleviate disturbance, we partnered with the town to construct a wildlife exclusion fence designed to isolate nesting Map Turtles from human disturbance. Due to the high annual survival of nests, this urban population may be important in the overall viability of Northern Map Turtles in this area. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Urban Ecology of the Amphibians and Reptiles)
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