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Animals
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The Effects of Urbanization on Herpetofauna
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The Effects of Urbanization on Herpetofauna

A special issue of Animals (ISSN 2076-2615). This special issue belongs to the section "Herpetology".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (15 August 2023) | Viewed by 11289

Special Issue Editor

Dr. Bill Bateman

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
School of Molecular and Life Sciences, Curtin University, Perth, WA 6845, Australia
Interests: behavioural ecology; conservation ecology; urban ecology; herpetology

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Urban ecology is a broad and growing field, reflecting the growth of urban areas globally. The persistence of some taxa within these urban areas is due both to the survival of suitable habitat and to adaptation by the organisms to an altered environment with different temperature regimes, cover, food and risk of predation. Amphibians and Reptiles, diverse groups, show all types of response to urbanisation, from local extinction to adaptation to a novel, favourable environment. This Special Issue aims to include studies on urbanisation and herpetofauna from around the world, including the following topics:

  • Physiology;
  • Diet;
  • Habitat use;
  • Competition;
  • Invasive species.

Dr. Bill Bateman
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Animals is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • reptile
  • snake
  • lizard
  • turtle
  • chelonian
  • crocodilian
  • urban ecology
  • population
  • behaviour
  • habitat use
  • telemetry
  • physiology
  • novel habitat
  • habitat fragmentation
  • amphibians
  • frogs
  • toads
  • salamanders

Published Papers (5 papers)

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Research

16 pages, 1391 KiB  
Article
Faunal Diet of Adult Cane Toads, Rhinella marina, in the Urban Landscape of Southwest Florida
by Melinda J. Schuman, Susan L. Snyder, Copley H. Smoak and Jeffrey R. Schmid
Animals 2023, 13(18), 2898; https://doi.org/10.3390/ani13182898 - 13 Sep 2023
Viewed by 1448
Abstract
We investigated the diet of cane toads (Rhinella marina) inhabiting urbanized areas in southwest Florida to provide high taxonomic resolution of prey items, contrast toad diets between sampling seasons and sexes, and assess this invasive species’ ecological role in the urban [...] Read more.
We investigated the diet of cane toads (Rhinella marina) inhabiting urbanized areas in southwest Florida to provide high taxonomic resolution of prey items, contrast toad diets between sampling seasons and sexes, and assess this invasive species’ ecological role in the urban landscape. A pest control agency collected cane toads from two golf course communities in Naples, Florida, USA during November–December 2018 (early dry season) and June–July 2019 (early wet season), and faunal stomach contents were quantified from a random subsample of 240 adult toads (30 males and 30 females from each community and season). Yellow-banded millipedes (Anadenobolus monilicornis), big-headed ants (Pheidole spp.), and hunting billbugs (Sphenophorus venatus vestitus) were the most frequently consumed prey items and had the highest total numbers and/or volume with corresponding highest indices of relative importance. There was considerable overlap in the seasonal prey importance values for each golf course community and little if any difference in the importance values between toad sexes in each community. Nonetheless, big-headed ants were the most important prey in both communities during the wet season, while yellow-banded millipedes were the most important dry season prey in one community and hunting billbugs the most important in the other. Despite limited spatiotemporal sampling effort, our results indicated that cane toad was consuming arthropod taxa considered pests in the urban ecosystem. Further studies are needed to investigate the potential effects of human activities and environmental variability on the cane toad diet and to determine whether cane toads act as a biological control for pest populations. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Effects of Urbanization on Herpetofauna)
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13 pages, 2220 KiB  
Article
Going, Going, Gone The Diminishing Capacity of Museum Specimen Collections to Address Global Change Research: A Case Study on Urban Reptiles
by Yanlin Li, Anna J. M. Hopkins and Robert A. Davis
Animals 2023, 13(6), 1078; https://doi.org/10.3390/ani13061078 - 17 Mar 2023
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 2180
Abstract
It has been increasingly popular to use natural history specimens to examine environmental changes. As the current functionality of museum specimens has extended beyond their traditional taxonomic role, there has been a renewed focus on the completeness of biological collections to provide data [...] Read more.
It has been increasingly popular to use natural history specimens to examine environmental changes. As the current functionality of museum specimens has extended beyond their traditional taxonomic role, there has been a renewed focus on the completeness of biological collections to provide data for current and future research. We used the collections of the Western Australian Museum to answer questions about the change in occurrence of five common reptile species due to the rapid urbanization of Perth. We recorded a significant decline in collection effort from the year 2000 onwards (F = 7.65, p < 0.01) compared to the period 1990–1999. Spatial analysis revealed that only 0.5% of our study region was well sampled, 8.5% were moderately sampled and the majority of the regions (91%) were poorly sampled. By analysing the trend of specimen acquisition from 1950 to 2010, we discovered a significant inconsistency in specimen sampling effort for 13 common reptile species across time and space. A large proportion of past specimens lacked information including the place and time of collection. An increase in investment to museums and an increase in geographically and temporally systematic collecting is advocated to ensure that collections can answer questions about environmental change. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Effects of Urbanization on Herpetofauna)
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14 pages, 5533 KiB  
Article
Home Range of the Caspian Whipsnake Dolichophis caspius (Gmelin, 1789) in a Threatened Peri-Urban Population
by Thabang Rainett Teffo, Krisztián Katona, Gergely Babocsay, Endre Sós and Bálint Halpern
Animals 2023, 13(3), 447; https://doi.org/10.3390/ani13030447 - 28 Jan 2023
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1702
Abstract
Semi-natural environments within cities can provide habitats for vulnerable reptile species. Better understanding of their habitat use and home range sizes is important for their conservation. We investigated the spatial ecology of Caspian whipsnakes (Dolicophis caspius) in a peri-urban habitat in [...] Read more.
Semi-natural environments within cities can provide habitats for vulnerable reptile species. Better understanding of their habitat use and home range sizes is important for their conservation. We investigated the spatial ecology of Caspian whipsnakes (Dolicophis caspius) in a peri-urban habitat in Budapest, Hungary. We used radiotelemetry to track five adult snakes and analyzed their microhabitat preferences, home range sizes and daily movements. The Caspian whipsnakes intensively utilized areas covered with woody vegetation, with a high density of hibernacula. The tracked snakes used an area of 40.15 ha during the activity period from spring to autumn, but for the winter, they withdrew to a central area of 1.75 ha, abundant in hibernacula. During the activity period the individual home range sizes varied between 6.1 and 15.5 ha, estimated using the minimum convex polygon (MCP); however, for the entire datasets of the individuals, the adaptive kernel method gave the highest mean (13.8 ha), while the LoCoH-R yielded the smallest home ranges (5.19 ha). We found that the average daily displacement for the different individuals ranged between 12.6 and 36.6 m during their main activity season. In the study area, the whipsnakes currently have enough space for foraging, but the restricted spatial distribution of hibernacula, which is mainly available in the central dry rocky forest and partly in the shrubby areas, can limit the extent of the suitable habitat. Human activities and anthropogenic disturbances, especially around hibernacula, may exert pressure on this peri-urban snake population. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Effects of Urbanization on Herpetofauna)
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23 pages, 1256 KiB  
Article
Island Hopping through Urban Filters: Anthropogenic Habitats and Colonized Landscapes Alter Morphological and Performance Traits of an Invasive Amphibian
by James Baxter-Gilbert, Julia L. Riley, Carla Wagener, Cláudia Baider, F. B. Vincent Florens, Peter Kowalski, May Campbell and John Measey
Animals 2022, 12(19), 2549; https://doi.org/10.3390/ani12192549 - 23 Sep 2022
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1825
Abstract
A prominent feature of the modern era is the increasing spread of invasive species, particularly within island and urban ecosystems, and these occurrences provide valuable natural experiments by which evolutionary and invasion hypotheses can be tested. In this study, we used the invasion [...] Read more.
A prominent feature of the modern era is the increasing spread of invasive species, particularly within island and urban ecosystems, and these occurrences provide valuable natural experiments by which evolutionary and invasion hypotheses can be tested. In this study, we used the invasion route of guttural toads (Sclerophrys gutturalis) from natural-native and urban-native populations (Durban, South Africa) to their urban-invasive and natural-invasive populations (Mauritius and Réunion) to determine whether phenotypic changes that arose once the toads became urbanized in their native range have increased their invasive potential before they were transported (i.e., prior adaptation) or whether the observed changes are unique to the invasive populations. This urban/natural by native/invasive gradient allowed us to examine differences in guttural toad morphology (i.e., body size, hindlimb, and hindfoot length) and performance capacity (i.e., escape speed, endurance, and climbing ability) along their invasion route. Our findings indicate that invasive island populations have reduced body sizes, shorter limbs in relation to snout-vent length, decreased escape speeds, and decreased endurance capacities that are distinct from the native mainland populations (i.e., invasion-derived change). Thus, these characteristics did not likely arise directly from a pre-transport anthropogenic “filter” (i.e., urban-derived change). Climbing ability, however, did appear to originate within the urban-native range and was maintained within the invasive populations, thereby suggesting it may have been a prior adaptation that provided this species with an advantage during its establishment in urban areas and spread into natural forests. We discuss how this shift in climbing performance may be ecologically related to the success of urban and invasive guttural toad populations, as well as how it may have impacted other island-derived morphological and performance phenotypes. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Effects of Urbanization on Herpetofauna)
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11 pages, 2826 KiB  
Communication
Non-Native Turtles (Chelydridae) in Freshwater Ecosystems in Italy: A Threat to Biodiversity and Human Health?
by Giuseppe Esposito, Luciano Di Tizio, Marino Prearo, Alessandro Dondo, Carlo Ercolini, Gianpiero Nieddu, Angelo Ferrari and Paolo Pastorino
Animals 2022, 12(16), 2057; https://doi.org/10.3390/ani12162057 - 12 Aug 2022
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 3131
Abstract
Marketed globally, freshwater turtles are popular pets. Two species of the Chelydridae family are increasingly reported in Italy: the snapping turtle (Chelydra serpentina) and the alligator snapping turtle (Macrochelys temminckii). Both pose potential threats to public safety and habitat [...] Read more.
Marketed globally, freshwater turtles are popular pets. Two species of the Chelydridae family are increasingly reported in Italy: the snapping turtle (Chelydra serpentina) and the alligator snapping turtle (Macrochelys temminckii). Both pose potential threats to public safety and habitat biodiversity. This update reports on their distribution and impact on biodiversity and human health. The recent increase in the number of C. serpentina in urban and rural areas suggests illegal importation into the country. Findings are reported for the north (35% and 100% for C. serpentina and M. temminckii, respectively) and the central-northern regions (60% for C. serpentina), predominantly Umbria and Latium, and the Tiber River catchment area in particular. Because omnivorous, Chelydridae species can affect native biodiversity; because they are carriers of pathogens, they endanger public health. Monitoring plans need to take account of this neglected threat. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Effects of Urbanization on Herpetofauna)
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