General herpetological collecting is size-biased for five Pacific lizards

Journal of Herpetology
By: , and 

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Abstract

Accurate estimation of a species' size distribution is a key component of characterizing its ecology, evolution, physiology, and demography. We compared the body size distributions of five Pacific lizards (Carlia ailanpalai, Emoia caeruleocauda, Gehyra mutilata, Hemidactylus frenatus, and Lepidodactylus lugubris) from general herpetological collecting (including visual surveys and glue boards) with those from complete censuses obtained by total removal. All species exhibited the same pattern: general herpetological collecting undersampled juveniles and oversampled mid-sized adults. The bias was greatest for the smallest juveniles and was not statistically evident for newly maturing and very large adults. All of the true size distributions of these continuously breeding species were skewed heavily toward juveniles, more so than the detections obtained from general collecting. A strongly skewed size distribution is not well characterized by the mean or maximum, though those are the statistics routinely reported for species' sizes. We found body mass to be distributed more symmetrically than was snout–vent length, providing an additional rationale for collecting and reporting that size measure.

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Publication type Article
Publication Subtype Journal Article
Title General herpetological collecting is size-biased for five Pacific lizards
Series title Journal of Herpetology
DOI 10.1670/14-093
Volume 49
Issue 4
Year Published 2015
Language English
Publisher The Society for the Study of Amphibians and Reptiles
Contributing office(s) Fort Collins Science Center
Description 6 p.
First page 507
Last page 512
Country United States
State Mariana Islands
Online Only (Y/N) N
Additional Online Files (Y/N) N
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