Path to Extinction: Impact of Vegetational Change on Lizard Populations on Arapaho Prairie in the Nebraska Sandhills
نویسندگان
چکیده
-Since removal of cattle from Arapaho Prairie in 1977, secondary succession has resulted in increased vegetation cover. Studies of resident lizards on a 150 X 150 m grid revealed: (1) one lizard species (Holbrookia maculata) has essentially been eliminated in 15 yr (from a maximum of 74 residents in 1979 to three residents in 1993); (2) a second lizard population (Sceloporus undulatus) has declined from 56 residents in 1979 to less than 30 residents in 1993; and (3) preferred microhabitats occupied by lizards have not changed, but their microgeographic distributions have shifted to areas of blowouts, and home ranges have decreased.
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