Recovery of frog and lizard communities following primary habitat alteration in Mizoram, Northeast India

Lalremsanga. An annotated checklist of amphibians in and around Dampa Tiger Reserve, Mizoram, India

Amphibians are an integral part of the ecosystem and act as an ecological indicator.  As several species are added to the list of threatened species every year due to loss of habitat, it is important to understand the role of unmanaged landscape for sustenance of amphibian diversity.  In this study, 28 amphibian species were recorded from different modified habitat including 19 new records for Dampa Tiger Reserve (DTR) and its surrounding areas.  Further, six species, Amolops indoburmanensis, Limnonectes khasianus, Microhyla mukhlesuri, M. mymensinghensis, Raorchestes rezakhani, and Sylvirana lacrima are new distribution records for the state of Mizoram and out of these, two species, Raorchestes rezakhani and Sylvirana lacrima, are new country records for India.  Amongst the recorded species, four species are Data Deficient, two Vulnerable, 14 Least Concern, and eight species are not assessed as per the IUCN Red List.  Within the core and buffer areas of DTR, we found that natural perennial stream, puddles, canals, natural ponds, fish ponds, roadside, primary forest, secondary forest, paddy fields, and human settlement areas are excellent microhabitats for amphibian population and need to be conserved for their rich ecological niches.

Understanding the ecological niche to elucidate spatial strategies of the southernmost Tupinambis lizards

Understanding factors that shape ranges of species is central in evolutionary biology. Species distribution models have become important tools to test biogeographical, ecological and evolutionary hypotheses. Moreover, from an ecological and evolutionary perspective, these models help to elucidate the spatial strategies of species at a regional scale. We modelled species distributions of two phylogenetically, geographically and ecologically close Tupinambis species (Teiidae) that occupy the southernmost area of the genus distribution in South America. We hypothesized that similarities between these species might have induced spatial strategies at the species level, such as niche differentiation and divergence of distribution patterns at a regional scale. Using logistic regression and MaxEnt we obtained species distribution models that revealed interspecific differences in habitat requirements, such as environmental temperature, precipitation and altitude. Moreover, the models obtained suggest that although the ecological niches of Tupinambis merianae and T. rufescens are different, these species might co-occur in a large contact zone. We propose that niche plasticity could be the mechanism enabling their co-occurrence. Therefore, the approach used here allowed us to understand the spatial strategies of two Tupinambis lizards at a regional scale.