Ecology and natural history of <i>Tropidurus hispidus</i> (Squamata, Tropiduridae) from an area of Caatinga, Northeastern Brazil

Pentastomids can infect the respiratory tract of lizards, causing their death and as a result influencing the population size of hosts. Despite this, studies on rates of pulmonary infection of Brazilian lizards, including those living in Caatinga ecosystems of northeastern Brazil are scarce. Active collections of lizards were performed from October to December 2004 in an area of Caatinga of the Estação Experimental de São João do Cariri -- EESJC (07 masculine 25' S and 36 masculine 30' W), located in the state of Paraíba, Northeast of Brazil. Forty-five lizards inhabiting granite outcrops in an area of Caatinga were captured, belonging to the following species: Tropidurus hispidus (Spix, 1825) (18 individuals), T. semitaeniatus (Spix, 1825) (15 individuals), Phyllopezus periosus Rodrigues, 1986 (6 individuals), and P. pollicaris (Spix, 1825) (6 individuals). Laboratory examination revealed that all species had some degree of pulmonary infection caused by Raillietiella mottae. The highest rates of prevalence (66.7%) and mean intensity of infection (5.25 +/- 2.01, range of 2-11) were observed in P. periosus. The results obtained in this study show that lizards of the Brazilian semi-arid region are infected by a generalist species of pentastomid. The most likely cause for such pattern is the similarity in lizards' diets (ants and termites). It is particularly noteworthy that T. semitaeniatus, P. periosus, and P. pollicaris represent new host records for R. mottae.

卵胎生入侵种食蚊鱼的两性异形和雌性繁殖输出

Ecological characteristics and environmental variation influence both host species composition and parasite abundance. Abiotic factors such as rainfall and temperature can improve parasite development and increase its reproduction rate. The comparison of these assemblages between different environments may give us a more refined analysis of how environment affects the variation of helminth parasite abundance. The aim of the present study was to evaluate how temporal variation, host size, sex and reproduction affect helminth abundance in the Tropidurus hispidus lizard in Caatinga, Restinga and Atlantic Forest environments. Overall, larger-sized lizards showed higher helminth abundance. We found a monthly variation in the helminth species abundance in all studied areas. In the Caatinga area, monoxenic and heteroxenic parasites were related to the rainy season and to the reproductive period of lizards. In Restinga, monoxenic and heteroxenic helminth species were more abundant during the driest months. In the Atlantic Forest, the rainy and host reproductive season occurred continuously throughout the year, so parasite abundance was relatively constant. Nevertheless, heteroxenic species were more abundant in this area. The present results showed that the temporal variation, body size, sex, reproductive period and habitat type influence the abundance and composition of helminth species in T. hispidus.

We analyzed the frequency of tail autotomy, toe amputation and integument scars in three sympatric lizard species, Ameivula ocellifera, Tropidurus hispidus and T. semitaeniatus, from a Neotropical area of semi-arid Caatinga, in northeastern Brazil. We evaluated intraspecific differences in the frequency of injuries between the sexes within each species. Only in A. ocellifera there were differences in frequency of toe amputation and integument scars between males and females, with more injured females than males. This highest frequency of body injuries in females of A. ocellifera might be attributed to the mating behavior of the species, in which males bite and scratch the females. None of the species analyzed presented intersexual differences in frequency of tail autotomy. These findings might be due to similar predation pressure upon males and females as suggested for other lizards species.

Sexual dimorphism (SD) is a common phenomenon in the animal kingdom, especially in lizards. The mountain dragon (Diploderma micangshanensis) is a Chinese endemic that is widely distributed in montane regions of northern Sichuan, western Hubei Province, southern Gansu, Henan, and Shanxi Provinces. However, little is known about its morphology, ecology, behavior, physiology, and natural history. In this study, SD in size and shape in a population of D. micangshanensis from Henan Province, Central China was examined based on a sample of 35 males and 23 females. Sexual dimorphism was observed in a few body shape variables (e.g., head and trunk length) but not in body size (snout-vent length). Males had longer and wider heads and shorter trunks. Sexual dimorphism in these traits can be explained by the sexual selection, ecological divergence, and fecundity advantage hypotheses. Additional studies of the ecology, reproductive biology, natural history, and behavior of D. micangshanensis are needed to evaluate the relative contributions of these mechanisms to determining the patterns of SD observed in this population.

Between June/2004 and May/2005 we captured 03 specimens of the Iguana iguana, 26 of the Tropidurus hispidus and 03 of the Diploglossus lessonae from several municipalities of the Crato (7o14'S; 39o24'W), Barbalha (7o20'S; 39o18'W), Juazeiro do Norte (7o13'S; 39o19'W), Nova Olinda (7o06'S; 39o41'W) e Iguatu (6o21’S; 39o17’W), state of Ceara. The lizards were dissected for analyses of gastrointestinal helminthes. Four species of nematodes were found: Alaeuris vogelsangi, Pharyngodon sp., Thelandros (=Parapharyngodon) sceleratus e Thelandros verrucosus, with prevalences between 8% to 100%. Tropidurus hispidus have the most diverse nematode fauna (02 species). Iguana iguana had the highest prevalence of nematodes (100%) and mean infection intensity (4.866.6 ± 318.1, 4.2265.244). The results are the second record of A. vogelsangi infecting I. iguana and T. verrucosus infecting D. lessonae in the Northeastern Brazil. Tropidurus hispidus are a new record host for Pharyngodon sp. and T.

We analyzed the population structure and sexual size dimorphism of an Adenomera species occurring in the municipality of Sao Goncalo do Amarante, from September 2010 to August 2011, using pitfall traps and active searches. We captured 116 individuals; 36 males, 23 females and 57 juveniles. Sexual size dimorphism was not observed. The smallest individuals were found in the middle of the rainy season, and the higher abundance of juveniles during this period may be related to recruitment. Females were captured in pitfall traps more often than males, while males were captured during active searches more often than females due to their calling behavior. We provide basic information regarding this Adenomera population, located in a region of severe environmental degradation, which may serve as a source of information for future studies of the area aiming to evaluate how the construction of industrial complexes affects anuran populations.

Ground beetles in multiple species vary greatly in the expression of the shape on sexual traits, resulting in a sexual shape dimorphism as a consequence of sexual selection differences. The present research focuses on the study of inter and intrasexual sexual shape dimorphism of two generalist genera of ground beetles Pterostichus and Carabus. Geometric morphometric methods were applied to five generalist species of ground beetles Carabus exaratus, C. granulatus, Pterostichus melanarius, P. niger, and P. oblongopunctatus and several multivariate analyses were applied for two different traits, abdomen and elytra. Three of the five species analyzed showed high levels of sex-based shape dimorphism. However, the most generalist species, P. melanarius and P. oblongopunctatus, did not evidence shape-based sexual dimorphism differentiation in both of the analyzed traits, as statistically confirmed based on the permutation of pairwise comparison of the Mahalanobis distances of a sex–species classifier. It is generally known that environmental stress in natural populations can affect the fitness expression, principally related to sexual fecundity, being that this pattern is more evident in non-generalist species. In our results, the contrary pattern was found, with the absence of sexual shape dimorphism for two of the three generalist species analyzed. On the other hand, the interspecies shape variation was clearly identified using principal component analysis of both of the analyzed traits. Finally, this research is the first to analyze the relationship between sexual shape dimorphism in Russian ground beetles, evidencing the lack of understanding of the mechanism underlying the sexual dimorphism, especially in species living in extreme environments.

Uroderma magnirostrum Davis, 1968 is reported from four new localities in southeastern Brazil, significantly extending its geographical distribution south and westward. A total of 12 adult specimens collected in areas of Caatinga and Atlantic Forest in the states of Minas Gerais, Espírito Santo, and Rio de Janeiro, including specimens from the new localities and museum specimens were examined. Females from southeastern Brazil were larger than males in all external measurements analyzed, but after univariate statistical analyses using corrected p values for multiple tests no significant sexual dimorphism was detected. Mean values obtained from this sample fall within the known range documented for the species in both external and cranial measurements, and are similar to those found in specimens from north and northeastern Brazil. The habitats of the new localities of U. magnirostrum in southeastern Brazil ranged from pristine and secondary forests to a small urban park. Uroderma magnirostrum is apparently a rare species in southeast Brazil, which corroborates most previous reports of populations of this bat at other localities.

Index to Titles and Authors/Editors of Books Reviewed

At ESA's 21st annual meeting in Atlantic City, New Jersey, in 1936, the members in attendance passed a motion by Charles C. Adams calling for the formation of a committee to find a suitable location for archiving historic documents. The appointed members, dubbed the Committee on Repository for Historical Records of the Ecological Society of America, were C. C. Adams (chair), George D. Fuller, and Robert F. Griggs. The need for an archive was as clear then as it is now: There were concerns about losing papers that documented the history of both ESA and ecology, especially those in the files of aging members. C. C. Adams wrote, “As chairman of the Committee, I would be pleased to hear from all former officers of the Society regarding the amount and condition of the official files in their possession . . .” Some ESA members—those with an appreciation for the history of their developing profession—had accumulated boxes of material. The committee was urged to find a repository that was centrally located, presumably to minimize shipping costs. Five years later, in 1941, World War II provided an additional incentive for a central location. The American Antiquarian Society urged that professional organizations locate their documents away from population and industrial centers, to avoid losses in the event warfare occurred in North America. Since the Repository Committee was still without an archive to recommend, it suggested that members safeguard their papers, possibly sending them to less populated locations. ESA delayed shipments of Ecology, Ecological Monographs, and the Bulletin to European libraries, storing them until the war ended. Bylaw 13. The historical records of the Society shall be deposited in the University of Cincinnati Library. These records shall include complete sets of the periodicals, important documents, and appropriate memorabilia. A Committee on Historical Records, which shall be a Standing Committee, composed of the Librarian of the University of Cincinnati, the Secretary of the Society, and a member elected by the Society, shall supervise the collection and preservation of these records. The Secretary of the Society shall be the Chairman of this committee. Photo caption: William A. Dreyer was the first chair of the Committee on Historical Records and held that office for 26 years (1944–47, 1952–75). William Dreyer, ESA secretary at the time, willingly served as the committee's first chair. This arrangement seemed logical because many documents passed through his hands. However, Dreyer's successor, William A. Castle, wrote that having the secretary be the chair appears “unwise since it places an added demand for time on an individual who is already called upon for a large share of service to the Society.” Castle recommended that the bylaws be amended “in such a way that the responsibility for continuance of the historical records will be placed on some other interested member of the Society.” Based on Castle's recommendation, William Dreyer proposed an amendment to Bylaw 13 that would make the chair a separate office elected by the Society as a whole. The amendment passed and, presumably to no one's surprise, Dreyer was elected. Four years later the bylaw was amended again so that the chair was elected by the ESA Council, with a three-year term, rather than by the Society as a whole. William Dreyer was elected once again. He was chair until 1975, serving for 23 years (26 counting his years as ESA secretary). Subsequent chairs have served shorter terms, typically 3–6 years (Table 1). In 1985 the bylaw was changed to specify that the chair and other committee members would be appointed by the president, rather than being elected, but in 1995 that responsibility was given to the secretary (with another change to the bylaw). The committee eventually became known as the Historical Records Committee (HRC). During Dreyer's tenure as HRC chair, the committee usually consisted of two or three members who served for long periods. The committee was relatively passive, devoting itself primarily to archiving issues of the Society's journals and occasionally accepting donations of documents and correspondence from ecologists who had retired or died. Of course, from the time of ESA's founding in 1915, the minutes of business meetings along with reports and announcements were routinely published, first primarily in Ecology and later, beginning in 1946, in the Bulletin. Indexed as “Proceedings,” these documents are easily found using online databases, and provide a wealth of historical information. The three chairs after Dreyer—Robert McIntosh, Robert Burgess, and Emily Russell—were enthusiastic students of ecological history. They increased the size of the committee (Table 1), became more involved in the management of the archives, and organized symposia of a historical nature to celebrate anniversaries (as described below). But as Burgess wrote in his 1986 report, “the Committee is not (and has never been) active as a committee, [although] individuals have contributed to the continuing interest in the history of ecology, and will assist in the understanding and assimilation of materials pertaining to the development of our science.” Recently, with heightened interest in ESA's centennial celebration, and a desire to provide easy access to historical information on the history pages of ESA's web site (http://esa.org/history/), the Committee as a whole broadened its focus and became more involved. Growing to 14 members in 2014, it now has three subcommittees: Archives (Alan Covich, chair), Program (Juliana Mulroy, chair), and Web site (Sally White, chair). Its mission now is to encourage members to conserve documents and photos pertinent to the history of ESA and ecology, and to assist in making such records available through the ESA History web site and other communications. Initially, the only function of the Historical Records Committee was to manage the ESA archives. The documents remained at the University of Cincinnati while William Dreyer was HRC chair; but when he retired in 1975, a decision was made to move them to the University of Georgia, home of then-President Frank Golley. They were transferred to the University of Georgia Libraries (UGAL) in 1977, where they are now part of the Hargrett Rare Book and Manuscript Library. The kind of documents that should be archived has long been a matter of debate. The Committee on a Repository for Historical Records expressed the hope that “former officers of the Society and members who have documents worthy of preservation, including pertinent individual photographs of officers and members and outstanding memorabilia, will send such material to the Secretary to be included in the Repository.” According to the 1944 Secretary's report, the archived documents consisted of the following: Complete bound sets of Ecology and Ecological Monographs Bound volume of the Bulletin (volumes 1–8 inclusive) Two bound volumes of the Bulletin (volumes 1–10 and 11–20 inclusive) Naturalist's Guide to the Americas, 1926. Constitution and By-laws of the Society, 1938.2 Articles of Incorporation of the Society (copies only) Report of the Committee on Nomenclature (1952) Henry Chandler Cowles obituary, 1940 Correspondence of John W. Harshberger, 1926–19272 Replies to 1926 ESA Research Questionnaire2 Correspondence of George D. Fuller, 1934–1944 Correspondence of Charles C. Adams2 Icones Plantarum Omeiensum, May, 19442 Present-day historians would have liked much more, such as the correspondence of the earliest officers (some of the founders eventually archived their papers elsewhere). Nevertheless, ESA's archives at UGAL grew. A shipment of pertinent documents is received periodically from the Washington Office and includes photographs, recent issues of all journals and special reports, annual reports, newsletters, and files from the Executive Director, past presidents, and others. Both digital and paper documents are accepted, and oral histories and videos of special events are now being added. The HRC recently completed guidelines on what, how, and where to submit historical documents for archiving (http://esa.org/history/archives/). An important step in expanding the scope of ESA's archives was taken in 1981 when the ESA Council accepted an HRC recommendation that the papers of all officers (including section, chapter, and committee chairs) should be archived at the close of their terms in office. This requirement was formally added to the Bylaws in 1985. A similar recommendation relating to peer reviews of publications was initially rejected, but the following year the Council voted that “All records, correspondence, and other materials relating to the editorial process for ESA journals will be preserved by members of the Editorial Board and forwarded to the ESA archives at the end of their terms,” but that “All such records shall be maintained in strict confidentiality for a period of 10 years, or until the death of all parties, whichever comes first.” This limit was later extended to 25 years (with allowances for exceptional cases). It is common for an archive to place restrictions on accessing confidential documents. Much can be learned about a discipline's history by reading peer reviews, reference letters, award nominations, and other similar documents that were confidential at the time they were written. Some oral histories may have confidential information as well. Specifying the kinds of documents to archive has been a challenge, with chair after chair announcing the intention to develop a formal policy but with little progress being made. As a result, the default policy, often expressed in frustration, has been to “keep them all and let the historians decide.” The advent of digital communication and the transition away from paper documents has sharpened the challenge. For many it is no longer possible to simply box up a set of file folders and ship them to a repository. The HRC has worked with ESA staff and officers to develop revised policies, but it is not yet clear if they will be effective. The current guidelines can be accessed at http://esa.org/history/archives/. In 2010, the HRC secured funding from ESA's Governing Board to hold a two-day workshop at the University of Georgia to assess the status of ESA's documents and develop a plan for making them more accessible. Held in 2011, those in attendance were Kara Miller Blue (chair of the Archives Subcommittee at the time), Alan Covich, and Gregg Mitman, representing the HRC; Katherine McCarter and Jane Bain, representing the ESA staff; and Caroline Killens and Gilbert Head, representing UGAL. At that time ESA's documents were stored in about 700 Bankers Boxes (approximately 700 cubic feet) and had just recently been moved to a new state-of-the-art special collections building on campus. In addition to ESA documents, UGAL has the papers of other ecologists and The Institute of Ecology (TIE). The workshop participants concluded that a grant should be sought to (1) facilitate document processing, (2) identify gaps in the kinds of documents that should be deposited at UGAL, (3) assure that the ESA collection will become available online (and linked to the ESA History web site), and (4) locate other archives that have documents pertinent to the history of ESA and ecology. Obtaining a major grant to assist with curating ESA's collection has been a goal for more than 20 years but has not yet been accomplished. The workshop did lead to a new Memorandum of Understanding between UGAL and ESA. Over the years, considerable attention has been given to archiving the records of ESA officers. In fact, all ecologists have been encouraged to organize their documents (paper or digital) in files that will facilitate the work of future historians. Also, younger ecologists are urged to encourage their senior colleagues to do the same (http://esa.org/history/archives/). To stimulate interest in the centennial celebration and promote archiving, the HRC has sponsored a booth in the exhibit hall at the last five annual meetings. The first symposium sponsored by HRC was the Henry Chandler Cowles Memorial Symposium: 50 Years After His Retirement. Organized by Elbert Little and HRC Chair Robert Burgess, it was part of the 1983 Annual Meeting in Grand Forks, North Dakota. Nine of Cowles' former students were in attendance and spoke about their time at the University of Chicago. Nearly 100 people attended; Harriet Barclay gave the address at a banquet commemorating the occasion. Seven years later, for the 75th anniversary celebration in Snowbird, Utah, in 1990, William Kimler and HRC Chair Emily Russell organized a symposium with the title, Motivations for Ecological Research: How They Have Changed Through the Years. Also for that meeting, the committee prepared a display titled Leaders in Two Realms: Presidents of the Ecological Society of America as Leaders in Conservation (now archived at UGAL). In anticipation of the 100th anniversary, the number of historical sessions increased greatly. Since 2011, the HRC Program Subcommittee, chaired by Juliana Mulroy, has organized the following sessions: Doing history for the 2015 Centennial: How every ecologist can help locate primary records for research (2011) Preparing for ESA's 2015 Centennial: Why does understanding history matter to our future? (2012) Ecologists doing history: Notes from the field (2012) A Guide to Ecology's Past, Current, and Future History: Reflections on a Theme by Robert McIntosh (2013) Current Perspectives On The History Of Ecology (2013) Communities, Places, and American Ecology: Case Studies (2013) Ecological Concepts: Of what value and for whom? (2014) Ecological Century: Perspectives on the Evolution of the Discipline (2014) ESA's Struggle for Identity Over the First 100 Years: Lessons for the Future? (2014) In addition, HRC members and others have presented papers of a historical nature at these meetings, and proposals to the Program Committee for the centennial anniversary in Baltimore have been submitted. The Historical Records Committee has slowly morphed from oversight of the Society's archives to involvement in all aspects of the history of ESA and ecology as a science. One of the first steps in this transition occurred in 1995, when ESA secretary and HRC member Robert Peet and vice president Robert K. Colwell created ESA's first web site. They assembled lists of officers and award winners, along with other information and photos pertaining to the founding of the Society in the possession of former HRC chairs Robert Burgess and Robert McIntosh. The web site was updated from time to time by Robert Peet. Further changes were made recently by the HRC Web site Subcommittee, chaired by Sally White and guided by Robert Peet, Scott Franklin, ESA student member Susannah Tysor, and ESA staff members Jane Bain and Toni Kulmala. Always a work in progress, the web site (http://esa.org/history/) now includes the following kinds of information: Timeline with notable developments during ESA's 100-year history Timeline (including photos) for all deceased presidents that summarizes the issues confronted by each one during his or her time in office Timeline (including photos) for all living past presidents with personal reflections on their time in office Links to biographies that have been written for many ecologists Historical information about ESA's sections, chapters, and committees Links to ESA reports pertaining to public affairs Lists of ESA officers, award winners, and ESA meetings (and their themes) List of ESA journals and the years in which they were initiated List of books and articles pertinent to the history of ESA and ecology Information about the Historical Records Committee and its work Photo gallery Contact form for questions Protocols for archiving documents Future additions to content on the web site depend on suggestions and submissions by ESA members and staff. A long-term goal is to provide online access to many of ESA's archived documents, including oral histories, and to provide an online “road map” showing how to find other documents about the history of ESA, ecology, and ecologists—wherever they may be archived. Notably, many sections, chapters, and committees now have a history page on their own web sites. It has long been ESA policy to publish both obituaries and longer “Resolutions of Respect” when members died. The Historical Records Committee was not initially involved in soliciting these notices, but various issues led the Council to develop a formal policy in the 1980s. This policy was revised in 1991 and the HRC was asked to assist with implementation. Resolutions of Respect currently are reserved for former Society officers and major award winners, and for others if recommended by the HRC and approved by the president. With the Bulletin now online, the difference between obituaries and Resolutions of Respect has become less pronounced; both are highly valued as historical documents. Regrettably, they have never been published for some prominent ecologists, perhaps because it is not widely known that colleagues of the deceased are expected to write them. Thirty years passed between the founding of ESA and the appointment of the Historical Records Committee. The Society's archives document the rapid growth in stature that ESA now enjoys. Still, many records were not saved, and historians often lament the lack of appreciation of scientists, then and now, for the historical significance of their files. For some ecologists there is uncertainty about what documents to archive and how to organize them. There also are questions about digital documents, such as e-mail that accumulates rapidly and is easily lost before it can be properly “filed.” Some are hesitant to send confidential files, even though access restrictions are now routine for sensitive documents (http://esa.org/history/). Clearly, the HRC cannot fulfill its mission without the assistance of ESA members. In 1936 C. C. Adams wrote, “The history of any important scientific advance should be properly documented, and this cannot be done without the hearty support of the members of the Society.” Similarly, Robert McIntosh wrote in 1977, “with the increasing interest in ecology and the impact of ecological ideas on society, there is also more interest in the origins of ecology, how it has grown, the personalities of its founders and developers, and its interactions with society. It is important that records of the Society . . . be preserved.” Promoting and assisting that process has been HRC's primary function since its establishment 70 years ago.

The feeding habits, the sexual dimorphism in size and sexual maturity of the actively foraging lizard Cnemidophorusocellifer were analysed in an area of a reforested Restinga habitat located in the municipality of Mataraca, along the northern-most coast of Paraíba State, Brazil. Seventy-five specimens of C. ocellifer were examined (46 males and 29A females). Of this total, only 23 specimens had prey in their stomachs. The most frequent prey consumed items were orthopterans (50%), coleopterans (23.9%) and arachnids (10.9%); termites and insect larvae were less consumed (both with 2.2%). There were no significant differences observed between the numbers of prey consumed by either males or females. There were significant differences in SVL (snout-vent length) between the sexes, with males attaining larger SVL values. When the influence of SVL was removed from the analyses, sexual dimorphism in the form was still reflected in the head size of these lizards. Sexual maturity in females and males was attained with SVL of 42.2 and 49.0 mm respectively. Although no significant difference was observed between the SVL of the females and the number of eggs produced, there was a clear tendency for larger females to produce more eggs. The low structural complexity of the vegetation and the poor soil quality in the reforested restinga area examined does not furnish favourable habitat for insect and termite larvae, contributing to the marked differences in the diet of the population of C. ocellifer observed in the present study in relation to the diet of their conspecifics in undisturbed areas of restinga, cerrado and caatinga.

Sexual dimorphism (SD) is a common phenomenon in sexual species and can manifest in a variety of ways. Sexual size dimorphism (SSD) is commonly investigated, but it can be confounded with sexual shape dimorphism (SShD) if multivariate measures of size are not used. Univariate studies may also overestimate the prevalence or direction of SSD when the sexes are strikingly different in shape, which may be an issue in taxa such as Orthoptera and other terrestrial arthropods where maximum body size is strongly constrained. Here we tested for the occurrence of both SSD and SShD in the badlands cricket Gryllus personatus (Orthoptera, Gryllinae). We measured four body size dimensions—maxillae span, head width, pronotum length, and mean hind femur length—and used multivariate methods to test whether male and female adult badlands crickets were sexually dimorphic in size and/or shape. All the univariate dimensions were sexually dimorphic, with males having wider heads and maxillae than females and females having longer pronota and hind femora than males, which indicates SShD. However, multivariate methods failed to detect SSD, instead confirming that the sexes primarily differ in body shape. We show how a simple ratio of head width to pronotum length captures SShD in badlands crickets and apply it to iNaturalist, a citizen science platform, to broaden our findings. We propose that orthopterists studying SD minimally measure head width, pronotum length, and hind femur length as a standard that will allow a more repeatable and generalizable assessment of the prevalence and direction of both SSD and SShD.

This essay addresses the question of blending natural history and ecological wisdom into the genuine creativity exemplified by Prof. Ramon Margalef. Many have observed that modern biology is a triumph of precision over accuracy, and that ecology has sought maturity by striving toward this model in which the precision value of the tools has supplanted important questions. In pursuing a model of hard science, ecology has struggled with Popperian approaches designed to create a thin patina of real science over the vast seas of uncertainty so admired by the naturalists. We start with a discussion of the importance of natural history in ecology and conservation, and the present state of natural history in academic ecology. We then discuss the respect for natural history in human cultures, and conclude that an infatuation with authority has obfuscated the important truths to be found in nature. We consider some general processes associated with creativity, and finally we ask how natural history influences creativity in ecology. We conclude that the soaring creativity exemplified by Ramon Margalef is based on a joyful almost spiritual understanding of natural history and the courage to avoid authority.

Life history parameters such as diet, reproduction, and sexual dimorphism are crucial to understand ecological and evolutionary forces shaping species traits. Nevertheless, such information is scant in the literature for most Neotropical squamates. Gymnophthalmidae contains over 242 species in 46 genera and includes small-size, mostly terrestrial species, although psamophilic, semi-aquatic, and low vegetation dwellers also occur. Dryadosaura is a monospecific genus - Dryadosaura nordestina Rodrigues et al., 2005 - , occurring in Atlantic Forest areas from Rio Grande do Norte to Northern Bahia, and little is known about its ecology and natural history. We analyzed the species' diet, reproduction, and sexual dimorphism based on 170 specimens deposited in museum collections. Dryadosaura nordestina is considered generalist and active forager, based on dietary items. Arthropods, especially ants and insect larvae, dominate the diet. The reproductive period shows a peak during the rainy season (May through June), while recruitment occurs from July through November. Males are significantly larger than females, and sexes can also be distinguished based on shape variables: males have higher heads and longer bodies, while body height and width are larger in females.