Summary
Pradation on reptiles at three Mediterranean-type habitat sites was assessed by computing the incidence of reptiles as a percentage of vertebrates in the diet of each predator species and the incidence of each reptile species as prey for the entire assemblage of predators at each locality. The overall importance of reptiles is lowest in Chile, intermediate in California, and highest in Spain. These differences do not appear to result from interlocality variation in the size distributions of predators or of prey. The incidence of particular reptile species as prey is correlated with their relative abundances in Spain and California, but not in Chile. Behavioral and morphological attributes evidently make some species more vulnerable to predation and others less so than their abundances would predict. Predation on the speciose lizard genus Liolaemus in Chile is sufficient to promote behavioral responses but not major morphological divergence.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Andersson M, Erlinge S (1977) Influence of predation on rodent populations. Oikos 29:591–597
Barbehenn KR (1973) A comment on predator-prey species proportions. Am Nat 107:152–154
Bryant HC (1916) Habits and food of the roadrunner in California. Univ California Publ Zool 17:21–58
Burt WH, Grossenheider RP (1976) A field guide to the mammals. Houghton-Mifflin, Boston, 3rd ed
Calderón J (1977) El papel de la perdiz roja (Alectoris rufa) en la dieta de los predadores ibéricos. Doñana Acta Vertebrata (Spain) 4:61–126
Case TJ (1979) Character displacement and coevolution in some Cnemidophorus lizards. Fortschr Zool 25:235–282
Cody ML, Mooney HA (1978) Convergence versus nonconvergence in mediterranean-climate ecosystems. Annu Rev Ecol Syst 9:265–321
Connell JH (1975) Some mechanisms producing structure in natural communities: a model and evidence from field experiments. In: Cody ML, Diamond JM (eds) Ecology and evolution of communities. Belknap Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts, p 460–490
di Castri F, Mooney HA (eds) (1973) Mediterranean type ecosystems: origin and structure. Springer, Berlin Heidelberg New York
Fitch HS (1941) The feeding habits of California garter snakes. California Fish Game 27:2–32
Fitch HS (1974a) Predation by owls in the sierran foothills of California. Condor 49:137–151
Fitch HS (1974b) Ecology of a cottontail rabbit (Sylvilagus auduboni) population in central California. California Fish Game 33:159–184
Fitch HS (1948) A study of coyote relationships on cattle range. J Wildl Manage 12:73–78
Fitch HS (1949) Study of snake populations in central California. Am Midl Nat 41:513–579
Fitch HS, Glading B, House V (1946a) Observations on Cooper Hawk nesting and predation. California Fish Game 32:144–154
Fitch HS, Twining H (1946) Feeding habits of the Pacific rattlesnake. Copeia 1946:64–71
Fitch HS, Swenson F, Tillotson DF (1946b) Behavior and food habits of the Red-tailed Hawk. Condor 48:205–237
Fuentes ER, Cancino J (1979) Rock-ground patchiness in a simple Liolaemus lizard community (Reptilia, Lacertilia, Iguanidae). J Herp 13:343–350
Fuentes ER, Ipinza J (1979) A note on the diet of Liolaemus monticola (Iguanidae). J Herp 13:123–124
Fuentes ER, Jaksić FM (1979a) Lizards and rodents: an explanation for their relative species diversity in Chile. Arch Biol Med Exper (Chile) 12:179–190
Fuentes ER, Jaksić FM (1979b) Activity temperatures of eight Liolaemus (Iguanidae) species in central Chile. Copeia 1979:546–548
Fuentes ER, Jaksić FM (1980) Ecological species replacement of Liolaemus lizards along a habitat gradient. Oecologia (Berl) 46:45–48
Glanz W (1977) Small mammals. In Thrower NJW, Bradbury DE (eds) Chile-California mediterranean scrub atlas: a comparative analysis Dowden, Hutchinson, Ross, Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania, p 232–237
Glue D, Morgan R (1977) Recovery of bird rings in pellets and other prey traces of owls, hawks and falcons. Bird Study 24:111–113
Greene HW (1973) Defensive tail display in snakes and amphisbaenians. J Herp 7:43–61
Greene HW (1981) Dietary and phenotypic diversity in lizards: why are some organims specialized? In: Mossakowski D, Roth G (eds) Environmental adaptation and evolution: a theoretical and empirical approach. G. Fischer Verlag, Stuttgart, in press
Herrera CM, Jaksić FM (1980) Feeding ecology of the barn owl in central Chile and southern Spain: a comparative study. Auk 97:760–767
Hiraldo F, Fernández F, Amores F (1975) Diet of the Montagu's Harrier (Circus pygargus) in southwestern Spain. Doflana Acta Vertebrata (Spain) 2:25–55
Horn EE, Fitch HS (1942) Interrelations of rodents and other wildlife of the range. Univ California (Berkeley) Coll Agric Agric Exp Sta Bull 663:96–129
Jaksić FM, Fuentes ER (1980) Correlates of tail losses in twelve species of Liolaemus lizards. J Herp 14:137–141
Jaksić FM, Núñez H (1979) Escaping behavior and morphological correlates in two Liolaemus species of central Chile (Lacertilia: Iguanidae). Oecologia (Berl) 42:119–122
Jaksić FM, Soriguer RC (1981) Predation upon the European rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus L.) in mediterranean habitats of Chile and Spain: a comparative analysis. J Anim Ecol 50:269–281
Jaksić FM, Fuentes ER, Yáñez JL (1979) Two types of adaptations of vertebrate predators to their prey. Arch Biol Med Exper (Chile) 12:143–152
Jaksić FM, Greene HW, Yáñez JL (1981a) The guild structure of a community of predatory vertebrates in central Chile. Oecologia (Berl) 49:21–28
Jaksić FM, Núñez H, Ojeda FP (1980) Body proportions, microhabitat selection, and adaptive radiation of Liolaemus lizards in central Chile. Oecologia (Berl) 45:178–181
Jaksić FM, Seib RL, Herrera CM (1982) Predation by the barn owl (Tyto alba) in mediterranean habitats of Chile, Spain and California: a comparative approach. Am Midl Nat 107:151–162
Janzen DH (1976) The depression of reptile biomass by large herbivores. Am Nat 110:371–400
Kardong KV (1980) Gopher snakes and rattlesnakes: presumptive Batesian mimicry. Northwest Sci 54:1–4
Lardie RL (1961) Ejection of a secretion from the vent of Rhinocheilus lecontei. Bull Philadelphia Herp Soc 9:18
McCoy CJ, Gehlbach FR (1967) Cloacal hemorrhage and the defensive display of the colubrid snake Rhinocheilus lecontei. Texas J Sci 19:349–352
Mooney HA, ed (1977) Convergent evolution in Chile and California: mediterranean climate ecosystems. Dowden, Hutchinson, Ross, Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania
Moynihan M (1971) Successes and failures of tropical mammals and birds. Am Nat 105:371–383
Ohmart RD (1973) Observations on the breeding adaptations of the roadrunner. Condor 75:140–149
Paine RT (1966) Food web complexity and species diversity. Am Nat 100:65–75
Pianka ER, Parker WS (1975) Ecology of horned lizards: a review with special reference to Phrynosoma platyrhinos. Copeia 1975:141–162
Pianka ER, Pianka HD (1970) The ecology of Moloch horridus (Lacertilia: Agamidae) in Western Australia. Copeia 1970:90–103
Price AH, LaPointe JL (1981) Structure-functional aspects of the scent gland in Lampropeltis getulus splendida. Copeia 1981:138–146
Sage RD (1973) Ecological convergence of the lizard faunas of the chaparral communities in Chile and California. In: di Castri F, Mooney HA (eds) Mediterranean type ecosystems: origin and structure. Springer, Berlin Heidelberg New York, p 339–348
Schoener TW (1979) Inferring the properties of predation and other injury-producing agents from injury frequencies. Ecology 60:1110–1115
Schoener TW, Schoener A (1980) Ecological and demographic correlates of injury rates in some Bahamian Anolis lizards. Copeia 1980:839–850
Siegel S (1956) Nonparametric statistics for the behavioral sciences. McGraw-Hill, New York
Sousa WP (1979) Experimental investigations of disturbance and ecological succession in a rocky intertidal algal community. Ecol Monogr 49:227–254
Sousa WP, Schroeter SC, Gaines SD (1981) Latitudinal variation in intertidal algal community structure: the influence of grazing and vegetative propagation. Oecologia (Berl) 48:297–307
Stebbins RC (1954) Amphibians and reptiles of western Nort America. McGraw-Hill, New York
Talbot MW, Nelson JW, Storie RE (1942) The experimental area. Univ California (Berkeley) Coll Agric Agric Exp Sta Bull 663:7–12
Thrower NJW, Bradbury DE, eds (1977) Chile-California mediterranean scrub atlas: a comparative analysis. Dowden, Hutchinson, Ross, Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania
Turner FB (1977) The dynamics of populations of squamates, crocodilians and rhynchocephalians. In: Gans C, Tinkle DW (eds) Biology of reptilia, vol 7. Academic Press, London, p 157–264
Valverde JA (1967) Estructure de una comunidad mediterránea de vertebrados terrestres. Consejo Superior Investigaciones Cientificas, Madrid
Wunderle JM (1981) Avian predation upon Anolis lizards on Grenada, West Indies. Herpetologica 37:104–108
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Jaksić, F.M., Greene, H.W., Schwenk, K. et al. Predation upon reptiles in Mediterranean habitats of Chile, Spain and California: A comparative analysis. Oecologia 53, 152–159 (1982). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00545658
Received:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00545658