Climate change, lizard populations, and species vulnerability/persistence: trends in ecological and predictive climate studies

Beatriz Nunes Cosendey (), Carlos Frederico Duarte Rocha and Vanderlaine Amaral Menezes
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Beatriz Nunes Cosendey: UERJ: Rua São Francisco Xavier, 524. Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro, Programa de Pós-Graduação em Ecologia e Evolução, Departamento de Ecologia- sala 220. Maracanã
Carlos Frederico Duarte Rocha: UERJ: Rua São Francisco Xavier, 524. Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro, Programa de Pós-Graduação em Ecologia e Evolução, Departamento de Ecologia- sala 220. Maracanã
Vanderlaine Amaral Menezes: UEZO: Av. Manuel Caldeira de Alvarenga, 1203. Fundação Centro Universitário Estadual da Zona Oeste, Campo Grande

Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, 2023, vol. 25, issue 9, No 1, 8929-8950

Abstract: Abstract The impact of climate change on the Earth’s environments has been widely discussed, although there is still little consensus on the degree of influence, and to what extent the effects are positive, negative or neutral. Predicting the impacts of climate change on organisms and their response to this process has been a growing challenge for ecologists in recent years. In this review, we surveyed the published research on the relationship between lizards and global climate change. We surveyed the keywords “climate change” and “warming”, combined with “lizard*” (there is, all words with this prefix), in three reference databases. We identified 401 relevant papers, and analyzed in further detail the group of studies (59 papers, 14.7% of the total) that developed thermoregulatory models to predict the persistence of lizards in a scenario of global warming. These 59 papers focused on species of 13 lizard families found on five continents. Overall, 62.5% of the papers that predicted the impacts of climate change on lizards indicated negative effects, while 21.9% reported positive effects, and 15.6%, a neutral scenario. The lizards identified as the most vulnerable to warming were tropical, viviparous, and thermoconformers, whereas species adapted to cooler climates would be the most likely to benefit from warming. On a broader scale, however, this scenario would lead to competition between lowland and highland lizards, for example, for thermally favorable areas. We conclude that it will be important to develop more detailed models that contemplate the specific features of each group for the development of more reliable predictions, in addition to the need for social conservation projects and the systematic identification of priority areas for conservation.

Keywords: Global warming; Extinction risk; Climate change impact; Vulnerability; Squamata; Database review (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
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DOI: 10.1007/s10668-022-02427-y

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