Influence of climate, elevation, and land use in regional herpetofaunal distribution in Tochigi Prefecture, Japan

Understanding the relationship between the distribution of organisms and their environment is important for regional conservation planning. While most herpetofaunal community studies address environmental influence on species richness, few studies describe environmental influence on species composit...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Community ecology 2005, Vol.6 (2), p.219-227
Main Authors: Sasaki, K, M.W. Palmer, T. Hayashi
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Amphibians
climate
Datasets
Forest cover
forests
herpetofauna
human population
introduced species
Land cover
Land use
Ordination
planning
population density
Prefectures
Reptiles
Species
species diversity
surveys
temperature
Topographical elevation
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Understanding the relationship between the distribution of organisms and their environment is important for regional conservation planning. While most herpetofaunal community studies address environmental influence on species richness, few studies describe environmental influence on species composition at geographic scales. Field surveys of herpetofauna were conducted during 1994-2000 in Tochigi Prefecture, which covers ca. 6400 km_ of mainland Japan and includes a wide range of elevation, annual mean temperature, and human population densities. We evaluated whether (i) regional herpetofauna are distributed along a gradient of climate and elevation, as well as land cover and land use, and (ii) 'climate/elevation' and 'landcover' variables differ in their relative contribution. Ordination indicated a strong geographic gradient in species composition that was correlated with climate, elevation, land cover and land use. Reptiles were strongly influenced by land cover and land use (residential, agricultural, and forested area), while amphibians responded to all gradients (climate, elevation, and land cover and land use). All species with declining populations listed in the Prefectural Red Data Book were associated with mid-elevation regions, where anthropogenic modification is most intensive. All exotic species were strongly associated with anthropogenic gradients.
ISSN:1585-8553
1588-2756
DOI:10.1556/ComEc.6.2005.2.10