A decade-long study has found that climate change differentially affects the survival of lizards in man-made and natural nesting habitats on Orchid Island, an islet off Taiwan’s southeastern coast, the National Museum of Natural Science said April 20.
According to Huang Wen-san, a researcher and curator at the museum, rising temperatures in an artificial nesting habitat favored by some long-tailed skinks, or Eutropis longicaudata, have reduced the survival of eggs incubated there.
“As Orchid Island’s ambient temperature rose by 0.5 degree Celsius from 2001 to 2009, temperatures inside drain pipe openings in a concrete retaining wall, where some skinks choose to lay their eggs, increased by an average of 1.7 degrees Celsius,” Huang said.
As a consequence, the survival rate of skink eggs in this man-made environment decreased by 25 percent over the decade, while that of those laid in natural habitats grew by 15 percent, Huang said. “The mild temperature climb has actually been beneficial to offspring viability when eggs are laid under rocks in natural surroundings,” he added.
Initially, the concrete wall benefited the lizards through warmer temperatures resulting in larger hatchlings that survive better, but now the habitat is too hot.
“This study reminds us that wildlife is more vulnerable than human beings to climate change, and that the impact of human activities is very complex,” Huang noted.
The research was published in the April 15 issue of the international journal Functional Ecology, the museum said.
Huang’s earlier study on the lizard’s unique parental protection of eggs from predatory snakes appeared in Animal Behaviour in 2006. (THN)
Write to Kwangyin Liu at kwangyin.liu@mail.gio.gov.tw