Temporal Trends in Reptile Occurrence Among Temperate Old-growth, Regrowth and Replanted Woodlands

This data records the species richness and abundance of 6 reptile species across 18 years and 218 sites in the New South Wales South West Slopes bioregion, covering approximately 1.5 million hectares. There were 26 reptile species detected but only 5 of which were recorded enough in order to perform statistical analyses. These were the Snake-Eyed Skink (Morethia boulengeri), straight-browed ctenotus (Ctenotus spaldingi), Southern Marbled Gecko (Christinus marmoratus), Ragged Snake-eyed Skink (Cryptoblepharus pannosus) and Southern Rainbow Skink (Carlia tetradactyla). This data was collected between 2002 and 2020 in the remaining fragmented temperate woodlands of the SWS bioregion using two types of surveys – active searches and artificial substrate arrays. We employed two kinds of surveys for reptiles on our long-term sites – active searches and artificial substrate arrays. The artificial substrate arrays comprised two 1 m x 1 m pieces of corrugated iron, four standard concrete roof tiles, and four hardwood timber railway sleepers. We established an artificial substrate array at the 0 m and 100 m points along the 200 m transect at each of our 218 sites. In each of our nine survey years between 2002 and 2020, we surveyed reptiles using repeated time and area-constrained (20 min/1 ha) active searches of natural habitat and inspections of two arrays of substrates. The time required to check each substrate array was approximately two and half minutes and hence five minutes per site. Active searches included scanning a site for basking animals, raking through leaf litter, lifting logs and surface rocks, and inspecting exfoliating bark and rock crevices. For all survey years, up to four experienced observers visited eight sites each per day over a five-day period. All surveys were conducted on clear, generally sunny days between 0900 hours and 1400 hours.
Type
collection
Title
Temporal Trends in Reptile Occurrence Among Temperate Old-growth, Regrowth and Replanted Woodlands
Brief Title
Woodland reptile Richness and Abundance in Temperate Woodlands
Collection Type
Dataset
Access Privileges
Fenner School of Environment & Society
DOI - Digital Object Identifier
10.25911/k6wm-ap66
Significance Statement
An 18 year study into the population richness and abundance of reptiles in the endangered temperate woodlands of the NSW South Western Slopes Bioregion.
Full Description
This data records the species richness and abundance of 6 reptile species across 18 years and 218 sites in the New South Wales South West Slopes bioregion, covering approximately 1.5 million hectares. There were 26 reptile species detected but only 5 of which were recorded enough in order to perform statistical analyses. These were the Snake-Eyed Skink (Morethia boulengeri), straight-browed ctenotus (Ctenotus spaldingi), Southern Marbled Gecko (Christinus marmoratus), Ragged Snake-eyed Skink (Cryptoblepharus pannosus) and Southern Rainbow Skink (Carlia tetradactyla). This data was collected between 2002 and 2020 in the remaining fragmented temperate woodlands of the SWS bioregion using two types of surveys – active searches and artificial substrate arrays. We employed two kinds of surveys for reptiles on our long-term sites – active searches and artificial substrate arrays. The artificial substrate arrays comprised two 1 m x 1 m pieces of corrugated iron, four standard concrete roof tiles, and four hardwood timber railway sleepers. We established an artificial substrate array at the 0 m and 100 m points along the 200 m transect at each of our 218 sites. In each of our nine survey years between 2002 and 2020, we surveyed reptiles using repeated time and area-constrained (20 min/1 ha) active searches of natural habitat and inspections of two arrays of substrates. The time required to check each substrate array was approximately two and half minutes and hence five minutes per site. Active searches included scanning a site for basking animals, raking through leaf litter, lifting logs and surface rocks, and inspecting exfoliating bark and rock crevices. For all survey years, up to four experienced observers visited eight sites each per day over a five-day period. All surveys were conducted on clear, generally sunny days between 0900 hours and 1400 hours.
Contact Email
david.lindenmayer@anu.edu.au
Contact Phone Number
+61 (0) 2 6125 7800
Principal Investigator
David Lindenmayer
Fields of Research
310307 - Population ecology
Socio-Economic Objective
180606 - Terrestrial biodiversity
Type of Research Activity
Applied Research
Date Coverage
2002
2020
Geospatial Location
text
NSW South Western Slopes Bioregion
Date of data creation
2002
Year of data publication
2023
Creator(s) for Citation
Distinguished Professor David
Lindenmayer
Dr Maldwyn John
Evans
Publisher for Citation
The Australian National University Data Commons
Publications
Temporal trends in reptile occurrence among temperate old-growth, regrowth and replanted woodlands
PONE-D-23-05429R1
Access Rights
Available Online
Access Rights Type
Open
Licence Type
CC-BY - Attribution
Data Location
Upon Request and an update will occur with a URL to an upload on data dryad
Retention Period
Indefinitely
Extent or Quantity
1
Data Size
353 KB
Data Management Plan
No

Request data files

Number of files: 1

Size: 352 KB

Identifier: anudc:6244

Status: Published
Published to:
  • Australian National University
  • Australian National Data Service
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