Foraging mode affects extinction risk of snakes and lizards, but in different ways

What factors render a species more vulnerable to extinction? In reptiles, foraging mode is a fundamental ecological dimension: some species actively search for immobile prey, whereas others ambush mobile prey. Foraging mode is linked to diet, morphology, movement ecology, and reproductive output, an...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Conservation letters 2023-09, Vol.16 (5), p.n/a
Main Authors: Baeckens, Simon, Meiri, Shai, Shine, Richard
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Conservation
Conservation status
Data analysis
Datasets
Endangered & extinct species
endangered species
Extinction
Feeding rates
Generalized linear models
life history
Lizards
Movement ecology
phylogenetic comparative methods in conservation
Phylogenetics
Predation
Prey
Reptiles
Reptiles & amphibians
sit‐and‐wait foraging
Snakes
Species extinction
Taxa
Threatened species
threatening processes
Trends
Citations: Items that this one cites
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Summary:What factors render a species more vulnerable to extinction? In reptiles, foraging mode is a fundamental ecological dimension: some species actively search for immobile prey, whereas others ambush mobile prey. Foraging mode is linked to diet, morphology, movement ecology, and reproductive output, and hence plausibly might affect vulnerability to threatening processes. Our analyses of data on 1543 taxa revealed links between foraging mode and (IUCN) conservation status, but in opposite directions in the two main squamate groups. Ambush‐foraging snakes were more threatened and with declining populations than were active searchers, whereas lizards showed the reverse pattern. This divergence may be linked to differing consequences of foraging mode for feeding rates and reproductive frequency in snakes versus lizards. Our findings underscore the need for taxon‐specific conservation management, particularly in groups such as reptiles that have been neglected in global conservation prioritization.
ISSN:1755-263X
1755-263X
DOI:10.1111/conl.12977