Ecosystem Engineers: Elephant Eating Habits Influence Lizard Habitat Choices

Ecosystem Engineers: Elephant Eating Habits Influence Lizard Habitat Choices

ScienceDaily
Jan. 28, 2008

It is like the premise of a popular home improvement show: in the before photos, the surroundings are undesirable and in the after shot there's lots of attractive spaces to grab a meal, start a family and relax in seclusion from life's stresses. The difference here is that the potential new homeowner is a lizard and the renovations come -- not from a sophisticated Manhattan designer -- but instead from a herd of elephants. An examination of the connections between elephants and lizards appears in the journal Ecology, where a researcher reports that the elephants' eating habits have a strong influence on the lizards' habitat choices. The results demonstrate an important and little understood aspect of ecosystem engineering, and may help land managers working on wildlife refuges in Africa.

Working at the Mpala Research Center in Kenya between 2004 and 2007, the author of the report, Robert M. Pringle of Stanford University, found that Kenya dwarf geckos (Lygodactylus keniensis) showed a strong preference for trees which had been damaged by browsing elephants (Loxodontia africana). In fact, the local lizard population increased proportionally with the number of damaged trees. By contrast, lizards were virtually absent from undamaged trees in the same study area.

Article at: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/01/080128154611.htm