کد مقاله کد نشریه سال انتشار مقاله انگلیسی نسخه تمام متن
4393109 1618264 2013 10 صفحه PDF دانلود رایگان
عنوان انگلیسی مقاله ISI
Namibian and North American sand-diving lizards
موضوعات مرتبط
مهندسی و علوم پایه علوم زمین و سیارات فرآیندهای سطح زمین
پیش نمایش صفحه اول مقاله
Namibian and North American sand-diving lizards
چکیده انگلیسی

Although similar in physical characteristics, dune ecosystems of the Namibian and North American Deserts have distinctive geological ages, regional climates and microenvironments. Specialist sand-diving lizards have evolved in each system albeit at different tempos and modes of speciation. Meroles anchietae (Lacertidae), and Gerrhosaurus skoogi (Gerrhosauridae) of the Namib Desert, and six taxa of Uma (Phrynosomatidae) inhabiting isolated dune systems across the North American Deserts have separately evolved convergent external morphologies, but differ in body mass, reproductive cycles, number and size of progeny, metabolic physiology and behavior. All are omnivores consuming variable proportions of vegetation including seeds along with insects that are part of detritus-based food webs. Populations of M. anchietae and Uma undergo dramatic density changes depending on annual surpluses or deficits of energy and water, mediated through unpredictable rainfall and prey availability. Unlike Namib lizards, which inhabit large contiguous dune landscapes, several species of Uma are seriously threatened by habitat loss and fragmentation from development and recreational activities. Harsh conditions common to all desert dune environments present similar challenges to species that live there, but differences in their age, climate and geographic extent offer exceptional opportunities for understanding evolution and ecosystem structure and function.


► Arid dunes offer exceptional opportunities to study lizard evolution and ecology.
► Dune climates and geological age have strongly influenced lizard evolution.
► Sand-diving lizards are important predators in their detritus-based communities.
► The lizard genera differ in mass, reproduction, behavior and metabolic physiology.
► In North America, habitat loss seriously threatens several species of Uma.

ناشر
Database: Elsevier - ScienceDirect (ساینس دایرکت)
Journal: Journal of Arid Environments - Volume 93, June 2013, Pages 116–125
نویسندگان
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