Ecology and conservation of the endemic lizard Tropidurus hygomi in “restinga” habitats of the north coast of Bahia state, Brazil

Abstract

“Restingas” are herbaceous/ shrubby coastal sand-dune habitats that cover great areas of Brazil, particularly along the Bahia state coast. The restingas are disturbed and are under strong pressure, mainly in northeastern Brazil. Fragmentation of the landscape and habitat loss within natural ecosystems are the factors which are mainly responsible for reduction of species diversity by extinction events. The goal of thepresent study was elucidate whether the conservation status of restinga habitats on the northern coast of Bahia state was interfering with microhabitat use by the endemic lizard Tropidurus hygomi. The results showed that the use of microhabitat resources by T. hygomi did not have any signifi cant differences in the four areas we chose for study. However, diverse factors of degradation were found to contribute indirectly to its habitat loss. The T. hygomi lizard is a generalist in its use of restinga microhabitats, and probably due the endemic condition, its conservation status is linked directly to conservation of the restinga habitats on the northern coast of Bahia state.

Keywords

• conservation
• endemism
• lizard
• “restinga” habitat
• Tropidurus hygomi