Patterns of nonindigenous herpetofaunal richness and biotic homogenization among Florida counties

Abstract

Recent studies of geographic patterns of nonindigenous species richness suggest that a few key biogeographic and anthropogenic factors explain much of the variation in the richness of established species. It remains unknown, however, if the factors identified in these studies are taxon- and scale-specific or if general rules apply broadly across taxa and spatial scales. To address this issue, I used multiple regression analysis to identify factors that contribute significantly to variation in nonindigenous herpetofaunal richness at a relatively small spatial scale, the county level, in Florida, USA. Additionally, I used the Jaccard similarity index to determine if nonindigenous species affect the biotic similarity of the herpetofaunas of Floridian counties. In the regression analysis, county latitude strongly and negatively affected nonindigenous herpetofaunal richness, explaining approximately two-thirds of the variation in this variable. To a smaller degree, human population and university presence both related positively with nonindigenous herpetofaunal richness. Several other variables, including county land area, were not significantly related to nonindigenous herpetofaunal richness. The consistent importance of human population to nonindigenous species richness in this and past studies suggests that the influence of anthropogenic factors may be universal and are as or more important than the natural biogeographic factors that generally relate with native species richness. No evidence of overall homogenization was found based on Jaccard index values. However, a significant relationship between homogenization scores and distance between counties suggests that the effect of nonindigenous herpetofaunal richness on the similarity of county biotas is scale-dependent, such that adjacent counties tend to experience homogenization, while distant counties tend to experience differentiation as a result of the presence of nonindigenous herpetofauna. The results of this and similar studies may be useful in predicting the introduction and spread of nonindigenous species and in evaluating the effects of such introductions on native biodiversity.