Lagartos como espécies indicadoras para o monitoramento em uma unidade de conservação da Caatinga

Queiroz Batista, Flávia Regina and Richter, Aline and Arbo Menezes, Bruna and Ribeiro D Anunciação, Paula and Arruda Pinto, Hugo Bonfim and Correia Magalhães Júnior, Arnaldo José and de Marco Júnior, Paulo and Gomes Côrtes, Lara (2025) Lagartos como espécies indicadoras para o monitoramento em uma unidade de conservação da Caatinga. Biodiversidade Brasileira, 15 (2). pp. 30-44. ISSN 2236-2886

Abstract

For nine years, lizard monitoring was conducted in the Raso da Catarina Ecological Station, encompassing the arboreal and arboreal-shrubby caatinga phytophysiognomies. We tested and improved a monitoring protocol to be integrated into the Monitora Program's toolbox. This study sought to answer crucial questions to enable lizard monitoring in protected areas through this program, including identifying the species composition and those that serve as indicators for the proposed protocol. The main objectives sought to answer: (1) whether there were characteristic communities for each phytophysiognomy; (2) whether there were specific indicator species for these phytophysiognomies; and (3) whether there was variation in the population dynamics of the indicator species over the years. To this end, the capture method using pitfall traps was employed to survey species in the field. Generalized linear mixed models were used to assess whether there were differences in the richness and abundance of the studied phytophysiognomies. To assess the difference in composition between the phytophysiognomies, we used a permutational analysis of variance (PERMANOVA) multivariate analysis using distance matrices. Indicator species analyses (IndVal) were also performed to evaluate the relationship of species with each phytophysiognomy and to identify potential indicators. Finally, the abundance distribution of indicator species over the years was calculated. The results indicated a difference in the abundance and composition of species between the phytophysiognomies and pointed to seven species as indicators. More significant declines in the abundances of the species *Tropidurus cocorobensis *, *Ameivula gr. ocellifera* , and *Anotosaura vanzolinia* were also observed in the years 2017 and 2021. Lizards proved to be an effective group for monitoring because they have communities that are very characteristic of each phytophysiognomy studied, and can respond to changes in these environments.