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Ecological Effects of the Invasive Giant Madagascar Day Gecko on Endemic Mauritian Geckos: Applications of Binomial-Mixture and Species Distribution Models

The invasion of the giant Madagascar day gecko Phelsuma grandis has increased the threats to the four endemic Mauritian day geckos (Phelsuma spp.) that have survived on mainland Mauritius. We had two main aims: (i) to predict the spatial distribution and overlap of P. grandis and the endemic geckos...

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Autores principales: Buckland, Steeves, Cole, Nik C., Aguirre-Gutiérrez, Jesús, Gallagher, Laura E., Henshaw, Sion M., Besnard, Aurélien, Tucker, Rachel M., Bachraz, Vishnu, Ruhomaun, Kevin, Harris, Stephen
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Public Library of Science 2014
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4005729/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24785293
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0088798
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author Buckland, Steeves
Cole, Nik C.
Aguirre-Gutiérrez, Jesús
Gallagher, Laura E.
Henshaw, Sion M.
Besnard, Aurélien
Tucker, Rachel M.
Bachraz, Vishnu
Ruhomaun, Kevin
Harris, Stephen
author_facet Buckland, Steeves
Cole, Nik C.
Aguirre-Gutiérrez, Jesús
Gallagher, Laura E.
Henshaw, Sion M.
Besnard, Aurélien
Tucker, Rachel M.
Bachraz, Vishnu
Ruhomaun, Kevin
Harris, Stephen
author_sort Buckland, Steeves
collection PubMed
description The invasion of the giant Madagascar day gecko Phelsuma grandis has increased the threats to the four endemic Mauritian day geckos (Phelsuma spp.) that have survived on mainland Mauritius. We had two main aims: (i) to predict the spatial distribution and overlap of P. grandis and the endemic geckos at a landscape level; and (ii) to investigate the effects of P. grandis on the abundance and risks of extinction of the endemic geckos at a local scale. An ensemble forecasting approach was used to predict the spatial distribution and overlap of P. grandis and the endemic geckos. We used hierarchical binomial mixture models and repeated visual estimate surveys to calculate the abundance of the endemic geckos in sites with and without P. grandis. The predicted range of each species varied from 85 km(2) to 376 km(2). Sixty percent of the predicted range of P. grandis overlapped with the combined predicted ranges of the four endemic geckos; 15% of the combined predicted ranges of the four endemic geckos overlapped with P. grandis. Levin's niche breadth varied from 0.140 to 0.652 between P. grandis and the four endemic geckos. The abundance of endemic geckos was 89% lower in sites with P. grandis compared to sites without P. grandis, and the endemic geckos had been extirpated at four of ten sites we surveyed with P. grandis. Species Distribution Modelling, together with the breadth metrics, predicted that P. grandis can partly share the equivalent niche with endemic species and survive in a range of environmental conditions. We provide strong evidence that smaller endemic geckos are unlikely to survive in sympatry with P. grandis. This is a cause of concern in both Mauritius and other countries with endemic species of Phelsuma.
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spelling pubmed-40057292014-05-02 Ecological Effects of the Invasive Giant Madagascar Day Gecko on Endemic Mauritian Geckos: Applications of Binomial-Mixture and Species Distribution Models Buckland, Steeves Cole, Nik C. Aguirre-Gutiérrez, Jesús Gallagher, Laura E. Henshaw, Sion M. Besnard, Aurélien Tucker, Rachel M. Bachraz, Vishnu Ruhomaun, Kevin Harris, Stephen PLoS One Research Article The invasion of the giant Madagascar day gecko Phelsuma grandis has increased the threats to the four endemic Mauritian day geckos (Phelsuma spp.) that have survived on mainland Mauritius. We had two main aims: (i) to predict the spatial distribution and overlap of P. grandis and the endemic geckos at a landscape level; and (ii) to investigate the effects of P. grandis on the abundance and risks of extinction of the endemic geckos at a local scale. An ensemble forecasting approach was used to predict the spatial distribution and overlap of P. grandis and the endemic geckos. We used hierarchical binomial mixture models and repeated visual estimate surveys to calculate the abundance of the endemic geckos in sites with and without P. grandis. The predicted range of each species varied from 85 km(2) to 376 km(2). Sixty percent of the predicted range of P. grandis overlapped with the combined predicted ranges of the four endemic geckos; 15% of the combined predicted ranges of the four endemic geckos overlapped with P. grandis. Levin's niche breadth varied from 0.140 to 0.652 between P. grandis and the four endemic geckos. The abundance of endemic geckos was 89% lower in sites with P. grandis compared to sites without P. grandis, and the endemic geckos had been extirpated at four of ten sites we surveyed with P. grandis. Species Distribution Modelling, together with the breadth metrics, predicted that P. grandis can partly share the equivalent niche with endemic species and survive in a range of environmental conditions. We provide strong evidence that smaller endemic geckos are unlikely to survive in sympatry with P. grandis. This is a cause of concern in both Mauritius and other countries with endemic species of Phelsuma. Public Library of Science 2014-04-30 /pmc/articles/PMC4005729/ /pubmed/24785293 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0088798 Text en © 2014 Buckland et al http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are properly credited.
spellingShingle Research Article
Buckland, Steeves
Cole, Nik C.
Aguirre-Gutiérrez, Jesús
Gallagher, Laura E.
Henshaw, Sion M.
Besnard, Aurélien
Tucker, Rachel M.
Bachraz, Vishnu
Ruhomaun, Kevin
Harris, Stephen
Ecological Effects of the Invasive Giant Madagascar Day Gecko on Endemic Mauritian Geckos: Applications of Binomial-Mixture and Species Distribution Models
title Ecological Effects of the Invasive Giant Madagascar Day Gecko on Endemic Mauritian Geckos: Applications of Binomial-Mixture and Species Distribution Models
title_full Ecological Effects of the Invasive Giant Madagascar Day Gecko on Endemic Mauritian Geckos: Applications of Binomial-Mixture and Species Distribution Models
title_fullStr Ecological Effects of the Invasive Giant Madagascar Day Gecko on Endemic Mauritian Geckos: Applications of Binomial-Mixture and Species Distribution Models
title_full_unstemmed Ecological Effects of the Invasive Giant Madagascar Day Gecko on Endemic Mauritian Geckos: Applications of Binomial-Mixture and Species Distribution Models
title_short Ecological Effects of the Invasive Giant Madagascar Day Gecko on Endemic Mauritian Geckos: Applications of Binomial-Mixture and Species Distribution Models
title_sort ecological effects of the invasive giant madagascar day gecko on endemic mauritian geckos: applications of binomial-mixture and species distribution models
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4005729/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24785293
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0088798
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