Interannual variation in lizard communities in areas with and without vineyards in the central Monte Desert, Argentina

Abstract

The great variation in species’ responses to habitat fragmentation has made it difficult to identify trends that help predict how populations and communities behave. This study aimed to characterize two lizard assemblages terms of diversity, population structure and body size, conducting an interannual comparison between areas with and without vineyards in the central Monte Desert of Argentina. Two sampling years were examined, comparing a cultivated site with a non-cultivated site, between 2016 and 2019. Our findings indicate that the cultivated site showed more richness and lower diversity than the non-cultivated one; however, overall, the body size of the species at the non-cultivated site was greater, especially in the second year (2018–2019). Additionally, there was a higher total abundance of lizards (species pool) at the non-cultivated site, with variation between seasons across years and within the same year, but with overall peak abundance during the summer. We conclude that environmental factors and changes at the cultivated site affect the interannual structural parameters of the populations under study. This work contributes to future studies focused on the effect of agricultural activity on lizard populations, and to the development of conservation strategies that preserve lizard species and their functionality in dry agroecosystem land.