Estrutura de taxocenose de lagartos em um fragmento de floresta atlântica no nordeste do Brasil

Abstract

We investigated the contribution of ecological and historical factors in determining patterns of lizard assemblage structure from an Atlantic forest fragment, analyzing microhabitat use, diet composition and morphology. We collected the lizards with pitfall traps, glue traps and active visual search. We recorded 16 species belonging to eight families. The principal components analysis revealed a cluster in morphological space of Teiidae species and moderate in Gymnophthalmidae, suggesting the importance of historical factors in the morphology of these species. The null model showed that the assemblage is structured based on microhabitat use, but not in diet composition. Patterns of structure found in microhabitat use, as well as, the absence of pattern in prey selection seems to be determined by the evolutionary history of species, being competitive interactions not determinant, which is supported by the results of canonical phylogenetic ordination that revealed the significant influence of the historical aspects, related to the phylogenetic relationships of species, in microhabitat use in Teiidae, as well as, in diet composition of Iguania.