Biogeography, Ecology, and Spatial Patterns of Patagonian Lizards

IGNACIO MINOLI; CRISTIAN H. F. PEREZ; MARIANA MORANDO; LUCIANO AVILA

Lizards of Patagonia Diversity, Systematics, Biogeography and Biology of the Reptiles at the End of the World

Springer Nature Switzerland

Lugar: Gewerbestr; Año: 2020; p. 189 - 216

Patagonia has a great diversity of lizards, including 6 families, 11 genera,and 163 species. The majority of this diversity with documented geographicalrecords corresponds to the Liolaemidae family (Phymaturus and Liolaemus).Latitudinally, lizard richness is higher between 37° and 39° S, decreasing graduallyuntil latitude 54° S; longitudinally, it is higher between 69° and 71° W. The georeferencedrecords and the number of collected specimens have some biases, withhigher values in the northern regions (up to latitude 42° S). However, there are areasup to latitude 45° S with species richness similar to others with a greater number ofcollected individuals. The vegetation units with the highest species richness (S) inArgentinean Patagonia are the northern and central areas reaching west of ChubutProvince: Western District (S = 60) and Typical Southern Monte (S = 49), passingthrough areas with intermediate richness and with only one species (Wet MagellanicSteppe) or none (Evergreen shrub, Monte?s Mountains and Valleys, Western InteriorPampa, and Peat Bogs). There is a general trend toward lower species richness invegetation units located in the extreme south of Argentina and south of latitude 41°S in Chile. We evaluated differences in lizard diversity and evenness among vegetationunits through a dendrogram based on species incidences and found six clusters.Then, we compared species richness between members of each cluster with rarefactioncurves. Species marginally distributed in Patagonia have a narrower altitudinalrange than Patagonian endemics. Species in genus Liolaemus have small differencesin altitudinal range, but species of Phymaturus have pronounced differencesin altitudinal ranges. Our spatial analyses, based on intensive systematic-taxonomicactivity over the last two decades, shed light into the understanding of lizard distributionsin one of the regions with the greatest diversity of reptiles in the world. We also provide ecological and spatial metrics for an updated list of Patagonian lizards.We highlight that the usefulness of discretizing large volumes of information andgeographic space into a synthetic framework allows using quantitative results forthe study of spatial patterns of biodiversity, decision-making for design studies, useof resources, and creation of protected areas.