Limbless geckoes hanging on? Lessons in exploiting arid-zone unpredictability from an elusive habitat-specialist pygopod
Reece Pedler A D , Robert Brandle A , Aaron Fenner B and Shontelle Lennon CA Natural Resources – SA Arid Lands, PO Box 78, Port Augusta, SA 5700, Australia.
B School of Biological Sciences, Flinders University, GPO Box 2100, Adelaide, SA 5001, Australia.
C Mt Willoughby Station, PMB 9, Coober Pedy, SA 5723, Australia.
D Corresponding author. Email: reece.pedler@sa.gov.au
Wildlife Research 41(3) 266-274 https://doi.org/10.1071/WR13217
Submitted: 16 January 2014 Accepted: 5 September 2014 Published: 6 October 2014
Abstract
Context: The study of threatened species is often challenged by their rarity and secretive life-history traits. Species adapted to extreme environments prone to stochastic conditions present further challenges because of fluctuating populations and patchy distributions. We employed a variety of methods to gather records and habitat information on the bronzeback legless lizard (Ophidiocephalus taeniatus), an endemic, nationally vulnerable monotypic pygopod reptile that is poorly understood because of fossorial, cryptic behaviour and remote distribution in the stony deserts of inland Australia.
Aims: Our aim was to determine foundational information on the distribution and landscape parameters relevant to this species and its disturbance-prone habitat and to formulate conceptual models to guide understanding, future research and management of threats.
Methods: We used multiple data sources, including targeted field surveys with Antakarintja traditional land owners across ~5000 km2 of previously unsurveyed habitat, sampled the catch of uncapped mine shafts with community volunteers, trialled artificial refuge substrates and elicited public opportunistic sightings.
Key results: We gathered 30 new records of the species from leaf litter mats of six shrub species, across four land systems. Examination of these records in the context of land system boundaries demonstrated a continuous distributional link between previously known areas of habitat and suggested large tracts of potential habitat that remain unsurveyed for the species. This information in combination with other published data was used to create conceptual models of habitat preference, population and disturbance, in which we suggest that O. taeniatus favours microhabitats that are prone to severe and long-lasting disturbance in some parts of the landscape, exacerbated by human land use practices.
Conclusions: Our study suggests that O. taeniatus distribution is unlikely to be severely fragmented, as had previously been suggested. Its total extent of occurrence may be greater than previously thought, despite a very low area of occupancy within this.
Implications: This study emphasises the value of using multiple, innovative data sources when studying rare and cryptic species. Further distributional surveys in identified areas of potential habitat in combination with testing and refinement of our conceptual model of habitat and population drivers are needed to fully assess the distribution, conservation status and ecological drivers of O. taeniatus.
References
Badman, F. (Ed.) (2002). ‘Marla-Oodnadatta Soil Conservation District Plan.’ 2nd edn. (Marla-Oodnadatta Soil Conservation Board, Port Augusta, South Australia.)Biosecurity, S. A. (2012). ‘South Australia Buffel Grass Strategic Plan: a Plan to Reduce the Weed Threat of Buffel Grass in South Australia.’ (Government of South Australia.)
Brandle, R. (1998). ‘A Biological Survey of the Stony Deserts, South Australia 1994–1997.’ (Heritage and Biodiversity Section, Department for Environment and Heritage and Aboriginal Affairs: Adelaide, SA.)
Brandle, R., Sparrow, B., Foulkes, J., and Robinson, A. (2005). ‘A Biological Survey of the Mt Willoughby Indigenous Protected Area, South Australia, 2003.’ (Department for Environment and Heritage, Adelaide, SA.)
Burns, E., Lindenmayer, D. B., Thurgate, N., and Lowe, A. (2014). ‘Biodiversity and Environmental Change: Monitoring, Challenges and Direction.’ (CSIRO Publishing: Melbourne.)
Department for Environment and Heritage (2009). ‘South Australian Arid Lands Biodiversity Strategy – Stony Plains Conservation Priorities.’ (Department for Environment and Heritage, Adelaide, SA.)
Department of Land Resource Management (2012). ‘Threatened Species of the Northern Territory: Bronzeback Snake-Lizard, Ophidiocephalus taeniatus.’ Available at www.irm.nt.gov.au [Verified 18 September 2014]
Dickman, C., Haythornthwaite, A., McNaught, G., Mahon, P., Tamayo, B., and Letnic, M. (2001). Population dynamics of three species of dasyurid marsupials in arid central Australia: a 10-year study. Wildlife Research 28, 493–506.
| Population dynamics of three species of dasyurid marsupials in arid central Australia: a 10-year study.Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Downes, S., Foster, R., and Molnar, C. (1997). New insights into the distribution and habitat of the vulnerable bronzeback legless lizard (Ophidiocephalus taeniatus). Herpetofauna 27, 11–13.
Durso, A., Willson, J., and Winne, C. (2011). Needles in haystacks: estimating detection probability and occapancy of rare and cryptic snakes. Biological Conservation 144, 1508–1515.
| Needles in haystacks: estimating detection probability and occapancy of rare and cryptic snakes.Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Ehmann, H. (1981). The natural history and conservation of the bronzeback (Ophidiocephalus taeniatus Lucas and Frost) (Lacertilia, Pygopodidae). In ‘The Melbourne Herpetological Symposium, 1980, Melbourne’.
Ehmann, H. (1992). The apparent and severe decline of the bronzeback legless lizard (Ophidiocephalus taeniatus) at Abminga. Herpetofauna 22, 31–33.
Ehmann, H., and Metcalfe, D. (1978). The rediscovery of Ophidiocephalus taeniatus Lucas and Frost (Pygopodidae, Lacertilia) the bronzeback. Herpetofauna 9, 8–10.
Facelli, J., and Brock, D. (2000). Patch dynamics in arid lands: localised effects of Acacia papyrocarpa on soils and vegetation of open woodlands of south Australia. Ecography 23, 479–491.
| Patch dynamics in arid lands: localised effects of Acacia papyrocarpa on soils and vegetation of open woodlands of south Australia.Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Foulkes, J., de Preu, N., Sinclair, R., Thurgate, N., Sparrow, B., and White, A. (2014). Chenopod and acacia shrublands. In ‘Biodiversity and Environmental Change: Monitoring, Challenges and Direction‘. (Eds E. Burns, D. B. Lindenmayer, N. Thurgate and A. Lowe.) (CSIRO Publishing: Melbourne.)
Humphries, S., Groves, R., and Mitchell, D. (1991). Plant invasions of Australian ecosystems: a status review and management directions. Kowari 2, 1–134.
Hutchinson M. (1994 ).
Kingsford, R., and Norman, F. (2002). Australian waterbirds – products of the continent’s ecology. Emu 102, 47–69.
| Australian waterbirds – products of the continent’s ecology.Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
MacKenzie, D., and Royle, J. (2005). Designing occupancy studies: general advice and allocating survey effort. Journal of Applied Ecology 42, 1105–1114.
| Designing occupancy studies: general advice and allocating survey effort.Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Matejcic P. 2003
McDonald, P. J. (2009). The rediscovery of the bronzeback snake-lizard Ophidiocephalus taeniatus (Lucas and Frost, 1897) in the Northern Territory after a 111 year absence of records. Herpetofauna 39, 46–47.
McDonald, P. J., and Fyfe, G. (2008). ‘A Survey for the Bronzeback Snake-Lizard (Ophidiocephalus taeniatus), New Crown and Umbeara Pastoral Leases, Northern Territory.’ (Northern Territory Government, Alice Springs, NT.)
McDonald, P. J., Pavey, C., and Fyfe, G. (2012). The lizard fauna of litter mats in the stony desert of the southern Northern Territory. Australian Journal of Zoology 60, 166–172.
| The lizard fauna of litter mats in the stony desert of the southern Northern Territory.Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Michael, D. R., Cunningham, R. B., Donnelly, C. F., and Lindenmayer, D. B. (2012). Comparative use of active searches and artificial refuges to survey reptiles in temperate eucalypt woodlands. Wildlife Research 39, 149–162.
| Comparative use of active searches and artificial refuges to survey reptiles in temperate eucalypt woodlands.Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Morton, S., Stafford Smith, D., Dickman, C., Dunkerley, D., Friedel, M., McAllister, R., Reid, J., Roshier, D. A., Smith, M. A., Wardle, G. M., Watson, I. W., and Westoby, M. (2011). A fresh framework for the ecology of arid Australia. Journal of Arid Environments 75, 313–329.
| A fresh framework for the ecology of arid Australia.Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Pedler, R. D. (2010). The impacts of abandoned mining shafts: fauna entrapment in opal prospecting shafts at Coober Pedy, South Australia. Ecological Management & Restoration 11, 36–42.
| The impacts of abandoned mining shafts: fauna entrapment in opal prospecting shafts at Coober Pedy, South Australia.Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Read, J. L. (1999). Abundance and recruitment patterns of the trilling frog (Neobatrachus centralis) in the Australian arid zone. Australian Journal of Zoology 47, 393–404.
| Abundance and recruitment patterns of the trilling frog (Neobatrachus centralis) in the Australian arid zone.Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Read, J. L., Kovac, K.-J., Brook, B. W., and Fordham, D. (2012). Booming during a bust: asynhcronous population responses of arid zone lizards to climatic variables. Acta Oecologica 40, 51–61.
| Booming during a bust: asynhcronous population responses of arid zone lizards to climatic variables.Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Thompson, W. (2004). ‘Sampling Rare or Elusive Species: Concepts, Designs, and Techniques for Estimating Population Parameters.’ (Island Press: Washington, DC.)
