What makes an island a suitable refuge for an endemic lizard?
dc.contributor.author
dc.date.accessioned
2021-03-23T15:24:11Z
dc.date.available
2021-03-23T15:24:11Z
dc.date.issued
2021-03
dc.identifier.issn
1366-9516
dc.identifier.uri
dc.description.abstract
To identify and evaluate the environmental properties of the Mediterranean islands that make them a suitable habitat for their endemic lizards. This would represent an important improvement in our knowledge and would assist the conservation of these lizards, which are threatened by both the expansion of mainland species and the increasing intensity of human disturbance on these islands.
Location
Mediterranean Basin.
Methods
I assessed the environmental associations of 50 species of lizard (19 endemic) across 552 Mediterranean islands using outlying mean index analysis. The strength of the species responses was assessed using binomial generalized linear models.
Results
The presence of endemic species is positively correlated with the distance of the island from the mainland. Island connectivity is also positively correlated with an increased presence of endemic lizards, but not with an increased presence of mainland species (i.e. those with exclusive or mainly continental natural distribution). In addition, island size, temperature and vegetation productivity are positively correlated with the presence of mainland species. Outlying mean index (OMI) analysis showed that the endemic species occupy niche positions that are similar to the average environmental conditions in the archipelago, but frequently without using the entire range of niches. The mainland species usually occur in more peripheral positions in the environmental space, except for some highly expansive species.
Conclusions
Lizards that are endemic to the Mediterranean islands were found to be present on a large number of islands within an archipelago, but they quickly disappear as the conditions change, largely because of human activity. Large islands act as population reservoirs for mainland species, facilitating secondary colonization of peripheral islets
dc.format.mimetype
application/pdf
dc.language.iso
eng
dc.publisher
Wiley
dc.relation.isformatof
Reproducció digital del document publicat a: https://doi.org/10.1111/ddi.13206
dc.relation.ispartof
Diversity and Distributions, 2021, vol. 27, núm. 3, p.463-472
dc.relation.ispartofseries
Articles publicats (IEA)
dc.rights
Attribution 4.0 International
dc.rights.uri
dc.subject
dc.title
What makes an island a suitable refuge for an endemic lizard?
dc.type
info:eu-repo/semantics/article
dc.rights.accessRights
info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
dc.type.version
info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion
dc.identifier.doi
dc.type.peerreviewed
peer-reviewed
dc.identifier.eissn
1472-4642