Pub Date : 2023-12-20DOI: 10.1163/15685381-bja10165
Annelise Swords, M. Cramberg, Seth Parker, Anchal Scott, Stephanie Sopko, Ethan Taylor, Bruce A Young
In tetrapedal locomotion, whether horizontal or during climbing, interactions between the foot and the contact surface or substrate influence the locomotor performance. Multiple previous studies of tetrapedal squamates (lizards) have reported that the animals used the same locomotor velocity, regardless of the angle of ascension. The present study was performed to determine if the American alligator (Alligator mississippiensis) would exhibit a stable climbing velocity and to determine to what degree, if any, this climbing velocity could be modified by substrate differences. Sub-adult Alligator mississippiensis, with body lengths around 170 cm, used the same stride velocity when moving at angles of 0°, 30°, and 55°. During these trials, both the sub-adult and juvenile alligators used a “low walk” gait, rather than a distinctive climbing gait. When the alligators traversed an open grate, their stride duration increased (and stride velocity decreased) presumably due to the insertion (and retraction) of their claws and digits into the grate. When climbing at 55° the juvenile and sub-adult alligators used the same stride duration; the sub-adults used a stride length that was significantly larger in absolute terms, but significantly shorter in relative terms. Despite their large size, and their more caudal center of mass, the climbing performance of Alligator mississippiensis is similar to what has been described in the previously-studied tetrapedal squamates.
{"title":"Alligatorascension: climbing performance of Alligator mississippiensis","authors":"Annelise Swords, M. Cramberg, Seth Parker, Anchal Scott, Stephanie Sopko, Ethan Taylor, Bruce A Young","doi":"10.1163/15685381-bja10165","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/15685381-bja10165","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000In tetrapedal locomotion, whether horizontal or during climbing, interactions between the foot and the contact surface or substrate influence the locomotor performance. Multiple previous studies of tetrapedal squamates (lizards) have reported that the animals used the same locomotor velocity, regardless of the angle of ascension. The present study was performed to determine if the American alligator (Alligator mississippiensis) would exhibit a stable climbing velocity and to determine to what degree, if any, this climbing velocity could be modified by substrate differences. Sub-adult Alligator mississippiensis, with body lengths around 170 cm, used the same stride velocity when moving at angles of 0°, 30°, and 55°. During these trials, both the sub-adult and juvenile alligators used a “low walk” gait, rather than a distinctive climbing gait. When the alligators traversed an open grate, their stride duration increased (and stride velocity decreased) presumably due to the insertion (and retraction) of their claws and digits into the grate. When climbing at 55° the juvenile and sub-adult alligators used the same stride duration; the sub-adults used a stride length that was significantly larger in absolute terms, but significantly shorter in relative terms. Despite their large size, and their more caudal center of mass, the climbing performance of Alligator mississippiensis is similar to what has been described in the previously-studied tetrapedal squamates.","PeriodicalId":50799,"journal":{"name":"Amphibia-Reptilia","volume":"101 9","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.6,"publicationDate":"2023-12-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"138954197","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-12-15DOI: 10.1163/15685381-bja10164
Etienne Boncourt, Björn Reineking, Gabriel Chambonnet, Stéphanie Gaucherand
Movement is a key aspect of amphibian ecology as the life cycle of many species involves seasonal dispersal and migration. However, there is still a lack of knowledge about how amphibians move across landscapes in relation to landscape structure and resource availability. Modern lightweight GPS loggers and associated statistical tools offer new perspectives to fill this gap. We tracked the movements of 20 adult European common frogs (Rana temporaria) in a human-transformed mountain landscape during summer using GPS tags programmed with a constant 4-hour time interval between fixes. Using integrated step-selection analysis, we demonstrate firstly that frogs strongly selected aquatic habitats over open grassland. Second, ski runs have a negative effect on frogs, indicated by longer movement steps. Weather (air temperature and rain) had no effect on frog movements. These results constitute a promising first step towards studying anuran movement in relation to landscape structure at fine spatial and temporal scales.
{"title":"Movement behaviour of the common frog (Rana temporaria) in an anthropized mountain landscape: integrated step selection analysis of GPS tracking data","authors":"Etienne Boncourt, Björn Reineking, Gabriel Chambonnet, Stéphanie Gaucherand","doi":"10.1163/15685381-bja10164","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/15685381-bja10164","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000Movement is a key aspect of amphibian ecology as the life cycle of many species involves seasonal dispersal and migration. However, there is still a lack of knowledge about how amphibians move across landscapes in relation to landscape structure and resource availability. Modern lightweight GPS loggers and associated statistical tools offer new perspectives to fill this gap. We tracked the movements of 20 adult European common frogs (Rana temporaria) in a human-transformed mountain landscape during summer using GPS tags programmed with a constant 4-hour time interval between fixes. Using integrated step-selection analysis, we demonstrate firstly that frogs strongly selected aquatic habitats over open grassland. Second, ski runs have a negative effect on frogs, indicated by longer movement steps. Weather (air temperature and rain) had no effect on frog movements. These results constitute a promising first step towards studying anuran movement in relation to landscape structure at fine spatial and temporal scales.","PeriodicalId":50799,"journal":{"name":"Amphibia-Reptilia","volume":"38 6","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.6,"publicationDate":"2023-12-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139000105","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-12-04DOI: 10.1163/15685381-bja10163
Gustavo Campillo-García, O. Flores-Villela, Brett O. Butler, Miriam Benabib, Riccardo Castiglia
A phylogenetic reassessment of the Sceloporus torquatus species complex is presented using a multilocus approach. Topological conflicts related to a clade belonging to disjunct southern populations of S. madrensis are resolved, confirming the identity of such populations as distinct from the nominal populations of S. madrensis located 175 kilometres to the north. We describe this southern clade as a new species distributed in the Sierra Madre Oriental based on its phylogenetic distinctiveness and a combination of morphological characters and measurements, increasing the number of recognised species in the S. torquatus complex to seven.
{"title":"More cryptic diversity among spiny lizards of the Sceloporus torquatus complex discovered through a multilocus approach","authors":"Gustavo Campillo-García, O. Flores-Villela, Brett O. Butler, Miriam Benabib, Riccardo Castiglia","doi":"10.1163/15685381-bja10163","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/15685381-bja10163","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000A phylogenetic reassessment of the Sceloporus torquatus species complex is presented using a multilocus approach. Topological conflicts related to a clade belonging to disjunct southern populations of S. madrensis are resolved, confirming the identity of such populations as distinct from the nominal populations of S. madrensis located 175 kilometres to the north. We describe this southern clade as a new species distributed in the Sierra Madre Oriental based on its phylogenetic distinctiveness and a combination of morphological characters and measurements, increasing the number of recognised species in the S. torquatus complex to seven.","PeriodicalId":50799,"journal":{"name":"Amphibia-Reptilia","volume":"10 10","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.6,"publicationDate":"2023-12-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"138602108","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-11-27DOI: 10.1163/15685381-bja10161
Leonardo F.B. Moreira, Natália P. Smaniotto, K. Ceron, D. Santana, Vanda L. Ferreira, Christine Strüssmann, Ulisses Galatti
Fire and land cover are two elements intertwined with the natural history of organisms from seasonally dry environments. Here, we investigated the influence of fire attributes (burned area and frequently-burned area) and land cover on the relative abundance of three amphibians from the Pantanal ecoregion that belong to distinct ecomorphological groups: Chiasmocleis albopunctata, Pseudis platensis, and Scinax acuminatus. We systematically reviewed amphibian ecology studies in the Pantanal and analysed quantitative data between 2000 and 2021, comprising 34 sites from 12 amphibian surveys. Amphibian abundance, land cover, and fire data were assessed within buffers of a 1000 m radius. Species abundance was correlated with burned area and wetland cover. While the abundance of C. albopunctata and P. platensis decreased with burned area in the last three years, the abundance of S. acuminatus increased with wetland cover. Despite the claimed resilience of species inhabiting grasslands and savannas, there was substantial evidence for the influence of burned areas, even under modest human land use. Our findings illustrate that a broad array of land cover and fire attributes may influence amphibian persistence in the Pantanal ecoregion, with the magnitude depending on species traits often overlooked in modelling approaches.
{"title":"Ashes still smoking: the influence of fire and land cover on Pantanal ecoregion amphibians","authors":"Leonardo F.B. Moreira, Natália P. Smaniotto, K. Ceron, D. Santana, Vanda L. Ferreira, Christine Strüssmann, Ulisses Galatti","doi":"10.1163/15685381-bja10161","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/15685381-bja10161","url":null,"abstract":"Fire and land cover are two elements intertwined with the natural history of organisms from seasonally dry environments. Here, we investigated the influence of fire attributes (burned area and frequently-burned area) and land cover on the relative abundance of three amphibians from the Pantanal ecoregion that belong to distinct ecomorphological groups: Chiasmocleis albopunctata, Pseudis platensis, and Scinax acuminatus. We systematically reviewed amphibian ecology studies in the Pantanal and analysed quantitative data between 2000 and 2021, comprising 34 sites from 12 amphibian surveys. Amphibian abundance, land cover, and fire data were assessed within buffers of a 1000 m radius. Species abundance was correlated with burned area and wetland cover. While the abundance of C. albopunctata and P. platensis decreased with burned area in the last three years, the abundance of S. acuminatus increased with wetland cover. Despite the claimed resilience of species inhabiting grasslands and savannas, there was substantial evidence for the influence of burned areas, even under modest human land use. Our findings illustrate that a broad array of land cover and fire attributes may influence amphibian persistence in the Pantanal ecoregion, with the magnitude depending on species traits often overlooked in modelling approaches.","PeriodicalId":50799,"journal":{"name":"Amphibia-Reptilia","volume":"251 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.6,"publicationDate":"2023-11-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139227882","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-11-27DOI: 10.1163/15685381-bja10160
O. Oskyrko, Nicholas Parry, Daniel Jablonski
Ireland is home to only one native lizards’ species, the viviparous lizard and one of the few areas of the world where there are no native snakes. However, since the end of the 19th century, there have been reports indicating the presence of legless lizards, Anguis fragilis Linnaeus, 1758 population whose origin is unknown. As this genus has been intensively studied genetically and taxonomically in the past decade, we have decided to investigate newly obtained mtDNA sequences (ND2 gene) to trace affiliation of the Anguis population in Ireland. We genetically examined 12 individuals from the Burren area (western Ireland) and compared them to available data. The Irish population was identified as belonging to A. fragilis, specifically to the most common haplotype of the Illyrian-Central European haplogroup. This genetic affiliation is shared by populations across a wide European region, including the western Balkans, Spain, France, western Hungary, Austria, Germany, Latvia, Poland, the Czech Republic, Russia, Sweden, Norway, and Great Britain. Our findings showed that the Irish population does not exhibit unique mitochondrial variability. This haplotype is present across the range of the species, including Great Britain, which is not in contrast with the earlier hypothesis that nearby populations from this area, along with human-mediated introductions, could be the source of Anguis populations in Ireland. This is thus potentially the first documented case of Anguis introduction out of the native range. However, further research, including broader sampling in Great Britain and genomics, is required to determine and trace its exact origin.
{"title":"Saint Patrick, what about legless lizards? Tracing the mitochondrial affiliation and possible origin of Anguis (Squamata: Anguidae) population in Ireland","authors":"O. Oskyrko, Nicholas Parry, Daniel Jablonski","doi":"10.1163/15685381-bja10160","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/15685381-bja10160","url":null,"abstract":"Ireland is home to only one native lizards’ species, the viviparous lizard and one of the few areas of the world where there are no native snakes. However, since the end of the 19th century, there have been reports indicating the presence of legless lizards, Anguis fragilis Linnaeus, 1758 population whose origin is unknown. As this genus has been intensively studied genetically and taxonomically in the past decade, we have decided to investigate newly obtained mtDNA sequences (ND2 gene) to trace affiliation of the Anguis population in Ireland. We genetically examined 12 individuals from the Burren area (western Ireland) and compared them to available data. The Irish population was identified as belonging to A. fragilis, specifically to the most common haplotype of the Illyrian-Central European haplogroup. This genetic affiliation is shared by populations across a wide European region, including the western Balkans, Spain, France, western Hungary, Austria, Germany, Latvia, Poland, the Czech Republic, Russia, Sweden, Norway, and Great Britain. Our findings showed that the Irish population does not exhibit unique mitochondrial variability. This haplotype is present across the range of the species, including Great Britain, which is not in contrast with the earlier hypothesis that nearby populations from this area, along with human-mediated introductions, could be the source of Anguis populations in Ireland. This is thus potentially the first documented case of Anguis introduction out of the native range. However, further research, including broader sampling in Great Britain and genomics, is required to determine and trace its exact origin.","PeriodicalId":50799,"journal":{"name":"Amphibia-Reptilia","volume":"1 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.6,"publicationDate":"2023-11-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139228733","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-11-22DOI: 10.1163/15685381-440401seh
{"title":"Congress Report – 22nd European Congress of Herpetology","authors":"","doi":"10.1163/15685381-440401seh","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/15685381-440401seh","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":50799,"journal":{"name":"Amphibia-Reptilia","volume":"49 2","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.6,"publicationDate":"2023-11-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139248872","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-11-22DOI: 10.1163/15685381-440406seh
{"title":"SHE Grant is Herpetology for 2024","authors":"","doi":"10.1163/15685381-440406seh","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/15685381-440406seh","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":50799,"journal":{"name":"Amphibia-Reptilia","volume":"2 3","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.6,"publicationDate":"2023-11-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139248743","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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