Convexity, Desert Lizards, and Spatial Heterogeneity

Abstract

The number of lizard species in the flatland desert habitat is correlated with several different structural attributes of the vegetation. It is shown that both the horizontal and vertical components of spatial heterogeneity are correlated with the number of lizard species. The habits of the twelve component species are considered briefly as they relate to the partitioning of the biotope space. Three species are food specialists, eight display various substrate specificities, and only one species appears to be truly "convex." Two tests of the present interpretation of these results are proposed, and some speculations concerning Australian flatland desert lizards are made.