Martín José, Rodríguez-Ruiz Gonzalo, Cuervo José Javier
Departamento de Ecología Evolutiva, Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales, CSIC, Madrid, Spain.
Curr Zool. 2023 Aug 16;70(5):647-658. doi: 10.1093/cz/zoad034. eCollection 2024 Oct.
Habitat selection is a dynamic process that depends on many environmental variables that can vary with weather conditions. This is important because, within a context of global change, extreme weather events, such as severe droughts, are predicted to become more frequent. We examined the patterns of microhabitat selection and underground movements (using PIT-tag telemetry) of a strictly fossorial reptile, the North African checkboard amphisbaenian , during the summer drought period. We aimed to test whether changes in strategies of habitat use and movements could allow this amphisbaenian to cope with unfavorable weather. We found that during the summer drought period, did not use the microhabitats in relationship to their availability, but particularly selected sites with high abundance of rocks but also areas under a high cover of bushes, where environmental conditions were more favorable. We also found, using PIT-tag telemetry, that the numbers of individuals located under rocks and their activity (number of days with movements) decreased largely in summer. However, the animals were not entirely inactive, but, especially males were active below the ground under bushes and made some relatively long underground hidden movements between favorable areas.
栖息地选择是一个动态过程，它取决于许多会随天气状况而变化的环境变量。这一点很重要，因为在全球变化的背景下，预计诸如严重干旱等极端天气事件会变得更加频繁。我们研究了一种严格穴居的爬行动物——北非棋盘纹蚓蜥在夏季干旱期的微栖息地选择模式和地下活动情况（使用被动集成应答器遥测技术）。我们旨在测试栖息地利用和活动策略的变化是否能使这种蚓蜥应对不利天气。我们发现，在夏季干旱期，该蚓蜥并非根据微栖息地的可利用性来使用它们，而是特别选择岩石丰富且灌木丛覆盖率高的区域，这些区域的环境条件更为有利。我们还通过被动集成应答器遥测技术发现，夏季位于岩石下的个体数量及其活动（有活动的天数）大幅减少。然而，这些动物并非完全不活动，尤其是雄性在灌木丛下的地下较为活跃，并在有利区域之间进行了一些相对较长距离的地下隐蔽移动。
