Biogeography, Ecology and Conservation of Reptiles

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

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 May 2025 | Viewed by 583

Special Issue Editors

Institute for Development, Ecology, Conservation and Cooperation, Via G. Tomasi di5 Lampedusa 33, I-00144 Rome, Italy
Interests: conservation; amphibian; reptiles

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Guest Editor
Institute for Development Ecology Conservation and Cooperation Via G. Tomasi di Lampedusa 33 I, 00144 Rome, Italy
Interests: community ecology; reptile biology and conservation; tropical reptile ecology; chelonian conservation; reptile population biology; reptile dietary habits and foraging ecology
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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.

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Dr. Roger Meek
Prof. Dr. Luca Luiselli
Guest Editors

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Keywords

  • reptiles
  • ecology
  • evolution
  • conservation

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

13 pages, 3022 KiB  
Article
Prime Basking Sites and Communal Basking in the Lizard, Lacerta bilineata; High Risk for Juveniles?
by Roger Meek and Luca Luiselli
Diversity 2024, 16(12), 728; https://doi.org/10.3390/d16120728 - 27 Nov 2024
Viewed by 397
Abstract
Sunlight and the heat it provides are important ecological resources for reptiles especially for those species living in temperate zones that bask extensively to maximize heat uptake. Sun basking has both benefits and costs for reptiles, giving heat that provides the energy to [...] Read more.
Sunlight and the heat it provides are important ecological resources for reptiles especially for those species living in temperate zones that bask extensively to maximize heat uptake. Sun basking has both benefits and costs for reptiles, giving heat that provides the energy to drive physiology but basking in open patches increases risk of predation due to higher visibility. Prime basking sites are believed to increase benefits for reptiles that include, in addition to open sunlit areas, facilitate detection of predators and prey and escape to nearby refuges. However, if such sites are limited, both inter and intra-specific interference may occur and this kind of competition may impact on a reptile’s ability to access prime basking sites, and as a consequence, its capacity to thermoregulate to optimum body temperatures. This may be especially important for juveniles, for whom rapid growth is a key factor in survivorship. We studied communal basking and interaction events at prime basking sites in the European green lizard, Lacerta bilineata, in a hedgerow in western France. We compared basking behaviour of adults and juveniles with sympatric adult wall lizards Podarcis muralis using non-invasive photographic-mark-recapture. Adult L. bilineata were more evenly distributed across basking sights compared to juveniles but significant differences were only detected between males and juveniles. Juvenile L. bilineata abandoned basking sites at the approach of both adult males and females and were aggressively removed by adult male L. bilineata. We found inter-specific communal basking between both adult and juvenile L. bilineata with adult wall lizards P. muralis. Communal basking was observed between male and female L. bilineata but not between adult males or between adult female L. bilineata. Communal basking was in proportionally greater frequency in juveniles compared to adult L. bilineata. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Biogeography, Ecology and Conservation of Reptiles)
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