About This Project

I want to study how Common Wall Lizards disperse using man made structures (roads and railways), helped by habitat suitability and connectivity models, and field surveys. These results will give further insight on how species respond to the presence of roads and rails, and use them to expand their own territories.

Ask the Scientists

What is the context of this research?

Due to habitat fragmentation, many species have already gone extinct and many other are at the brink of extinction across the world. In many cases anthropogenic features (such as roads and railways) that lead to habitat fragmentation which is a main cause for population declines across many species. Other species however, are more anthropofilic and appear to benefit from the presence of roads and railways and even use them to expand their own range. Railroads are perhaps the best example of a man made feature that is used in this way. Common Wall Lizards use railway lines to colonize new territories, but we don't know how wide spread this phenomena is across their range.

What is the significance of this project?

Our previous work (which can be read here) suggests that Common Wall Lizards use railway lines to colonize new territories. However, the extent to which this is a wide process is poorly understood and needs further investigation. The results of this work will give significant insight on how species respond to man made structures, especially in context of animals with relatively limited dispersal abilities (such as lizards).

What are the goals of the project?

We aim to (i) model the habitat suitability of the Common Wall Lizard in its northeastern range limit using mathematical modeling (see in Methods); (ii) test whether the Common Wall Lizard expanded its range using anthropogenic features (such as railroads and roads) or natural corridors (such as along rivers) using mathematical modeling and field survey's (see Methods); and (iii) make a general prediction of possible routes of migration to other suitable habitats by using the observed corridors and calculating the landscape connectivity between known populations and suitable habitats.