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Lizard community structure and spatial resource use along a forest-savannah-urban habitat gradient in the Dahomey Gap (West Africa)

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Abstract

Studies of animal communities along habitat gradients are useful in understanding the ecologicsl factors affecting species diversity and richness. Almost no investigations have been carried out on the community structure of vertebrate groups along habitat gradients modified by humans in historical or prehistoric times. Here, we analyze the community structures of lizards in suburban Lomé (Togo) and compare these with nearby savannah and forest sites using various statistical methods. We recorded a total of 25 lizard species in all sites. There was a heavy reduction in species richness from forest (18 taxa) to savannah (13) to suburbs (9); 24% of the species occurred in all habitat types, 40% solely in forest, and only two were found exclusively in suburban habitats. Suburban habitat types were relatively homogeneous in the number of observed species (maximum number of taxa per habitat = 6). There were significant interspecific differences in substratum type preferences and vertical spatial niche among species, but no evidence of nonrandom niche partitioning. There was a nonrandom “clustered” distribution of the various species along the available resource categories, indicating that species-specific preferences instead of community-driven mechanisms are more likely to explain the observed patterns. We conclude that lizard communities in tropical cities are (i) less species-rich than in the surrounding more natural habitats, (ii) usually clustered into specific habitat/substratum types (often artificial ones), and (iii) not assembled through competitive interactions.

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Data will be available by the first author (LL) on request.

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Acknowledgements

We are indebted with two anonymous referees for the helpful comments on the submitted draft, and to Prof. J.E. Fa (Manchester Metropolitan University) for the revision of the English style.

Funding

This study was indirectly supported by funds provided from Mohamed Bin Zayed Species Conservation Fund and Turtle Conservation Fund.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute for Development, Ecology, Conservation and Cooperation, via G. Tomasi di Lampedusa 33, Rome, 00144, Italy

    Luca Luiselli, Daniele Dendi & Gabriel Hoinsoudé Segniagbeto

  2. Department of Zoology and Animal Biology, University of Lomé, Lomé, Togo

    Luca Luiselli, Daniele Dendi & Gabriel Hoinsoudé Segniagbeto

  3. Department of Animal and Environmental Biology, Rivers State University of Science and Technology, P.M.B. 5080, Port Harcourt, Nigeria

    Luca Luiselli & Daniele Dendi

  4. Ecolobby, Rome, Italy

    Fabio Petrozzi

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  1. Luca Luiselli
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  2. Daniele Dendi
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  4. Gabriel Hoinsoudé Segniagbeto
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LL generated the idea and designed the field protocol. All authors participated equally in data collection, analysis and writing of the various drafts. All authors agreed on the final submitted version of the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Luca Luiselli.

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Figure S1

Saturation curves for lizard species discoveries across habitat types in suburban Lomé, Togo (PDF 88 KB)

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Luiselli, L., Dendi, D., Petrozzi, F. et al. Lizard community structure and spatial resource use along a forest-savannah-urban habitat gradient in the Dahomey Gap (West Africa). Urban Ecosyst 25, 1015–1026 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11252-022-01215-w

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