Habitat use and food habitats of a gecko population in a west African suburban area

Abstract

1.The spatial and trophic ecology of Afrotropical gecko populations are poorly known. Here, we report ecological observations on Brook’s House Gecko (Hemidactylus angulatus), a widespread gekkonid species, in the Rivers State University of Science and Technology campus, Port Harcourt, Nigeria.2. A total of 488 gecko individuals were recorded during the present study, in two surveyed habitat types: (i) plantationm trees (PTH) and (ii) buildings (BDH). In PTH, they were observed in 13 out of 15 species of trees present in the study area, with their (log) frequency of sightings being positively correlated to the (log) frequency of surveyed trees per species.3. The geckos used substantially the non-native ornamental trees of the PTH habitat. Pinus ponderosa and Elaeis guineensis were significantly preferred by geckos over all the other tree species.4. Geckos also used frequently the buildings (BDH habitat) at the university campus. There was no correlation between (log) area of each building and (log) number of observed lizards.5. We collected faeces from 51 gecko individuals in dry season and 66 in wet season. There were no significant dietary differences between seasons, with Diptera and adult Lepidoptera dominating in the diet.6. Dietary habits of geckos differed significantly between habitat types, with Araneae and Lepidoptera (larvae) being eaten much more frequently in BDH, and in Coleoptera and Isopoda that were eaten much more frequently in PTH The diversity dietary metrics (Shannon and Dominance indices) were very similar either between seasons or between habitats.7. Our independent set of analyses (diet diversity metrics; contingency tables on taxonomic dietary composition and rank-abundance diagrams) showed that lizards exhibited a same feeding strategy in both wet and dry seasons as well as in the two habitat types, although the diet composition differed significantly between habitats.8. A “mixed” foraging strategy was apparently used by Hemidactylus angulatus at the study area, as also observed in other gekkonid species from elsewhere.