Abstract
The study of biodiversity is a fundamental step to develop conservation strategies. Reptile populations are immersed in a global crisis, due to anthropic disturbances. Almost the entire Pampa ecoregion in Argentina was modified for agricultural and livestock activities, the only remnants of mountain native grasslands in Buenos Aires province being the Tandilia and Ventania mountain systems. Ventania reptiles have been exhaustively researched in last years, while Tandilia counts with fewer studies. We presented an actualized reptiles list of the Tandilia Mountain System. We used five data sources to collect presence records: literature, fieldwork, museum collection, citizen science, and a online database. The composition of reptiles from the Tandilia Mountain range includes 26 species in 12 families. Due to the presence of several endemic reptiles, and the representativeness of more than half of the reptiles of Pampa Ecoregion, Tandilia would be useful to determine conservation priority areas to conserve the native grassland and their reptile fauna.
Highlights
Biodiversity knowledge of a specific area is a fundamental step to assess and plan conservation actions against current local and global threats (Ringuelet and Aramburu 1957; Krebs 2008)
The composition of reptiles from the Tandilia mountain range includes 26 species distributed in the following 12 families: Amphisbaenidae, Liolaemidae, Tropiduridae, Phyllodactylidae, Gymnophthalmidae, Teiidae, Scincidae, Diploglossidae, Leptotyphlopidae, Dipsadidae, Viperidae and Chelidae (Table 1)
We conducted an extensive review of museum collections, databases, and literature, and we included our fieldwork observations, to compile the most complete list to date of the reptile species inhabiting the Tandilia Mountains
Summary
Biodiversity knowledge of a specific area is a fundamental step to assess and plan conservation actions against current local and global threats (Ringuelet and Aramburu 1957; Krebs 2008). Two mountain ranges systems emerge in the extremely flat Pampa grasslands: the Tandilia and the Ventania These mountains, acting as a refuge for native grassland species, including several endemic amphibians and reptiles (Isacch et al 2017; Herrera et al 2019; Vera et al 2020; Martínez Aguirre et al 2021). Both mountain systems are severely fragmented, and the native highland grassland is surviving in a few thousands of small remnants, harboring an outstanding biodiversity (Schwerdt et al 2014; Martínez Aguirre et al 2021). The overgrazing, quarry activities, and the urban growth over the mountains accentuate the degradation, fragmentation, and isolation of grassland remnants (Cepeda et al 2013)
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