Abstract
The degree of species loss was assessed by comparing the structure of communities and species diversity of reptiles from three different environments, one natural (tropical evergreen forest [TEF]) and two modified (shaded coffee plantation [SCP] and grazing area [GA]) from the mid portion of the Sierra Madre Oriental, Mexico. The results showed 29 species, 18 in TEF, 13 in SCP and 12 in GA. According to the abundance of each species, the reptile structure for TEF and SCP was similar and they both differed from GA, while the diversity (effective number of species) was the highest for TEF. The percentage of number of species from TEF accounted for 28% more species than SCP and GA, which indicated a species loss of about 70% in disturbed environments. The values of beta diversity were the highest between TEF and GA, followed by SCP and GA and to a lesser degree between TEF and SCP, which indicates that TEF showed a high number of exclusive species. Our results suggest that carrying out long-term studies that include richness and diversity in environments with different levels of disturbance, in addition to including characteristics of natural history, might enhance the development of more efficient conservation strategies for these species.
Highlights
The development of agriculture and livestock activities has generated a high loss of original vegetation in diverse ecosystems of the world (Cayuela et al 2006, Barragán et al 2011)
Surveys were carried out in tropical evergreen forest (TEF), shaded coffee plantation (SCP) and grazing area (GA) and they were identified according to the vegetation structure as described by Rzedowski (2006; Figure 1)
Species composition was in the following order: TEF with 18 species, SCP with 13 species and GA with 12 species
Summary
The development of agriculture and livestock activities has generated a high loss of original vegetation in diverse ecosystems of the world (Cayuela et al 2006, Barragán et al 2011). An example of this, is the group of reptiles, which, due to their ecological and physiological characteristics, limited home ranges or the low vagility of their species, are highly sensitive to changes in the environment where they occur (Kurz et al 2014, Berriozabal-Islas et al 2017). Suazo-Ortuño et al (2008) found that lizards showed a high preference for disturbed areas (farming and grazing areas). These authors reported a steady increase in population size for two consecutive years of sampling and their conclusion was that anthropogenic disturbance in some circumstances might be a positive factor for some species and negative for others
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