Effects of Habitat Disturbance on Lizard Functional Diversity in a Tropical Dry Forest of the Pacific Coast of Mexico

Abstract

Tropical dry forests are complex and diverse ecosystems threatened by multiple anthropogenic factors, such as habitat disturbance caused by land use change. We assessed species and functional diversity of lizard communities in areas with different levels of tropical dry forest disturbance in the Chamela region, Mexico. Functional richness, functional evenness, and functional dispersion were assessed considering six lizard functional traits. We recorded 415 lizards of 15 species. Species richness, species diversity, functional richness, functional dispersion, and the number of functional groups are lower in disturbed sites than in undisturbed tropical dry forest sites. On the contrary, abundance and functional evenness were higher in strongly disturbed sites. We suggest that lizard functional diversity should be studied further in order to secure the integrity of herpetofaunal communities and ecosystem processes.