Impacts of land cover on reptile movement and habitat use in farming landscapes

Agriculture is one of the greatest threats to biodiversity worldwide, but knowledge of how agriculture modifies animal movement, which is crucial for survival, is limited. Here, we examined the effect of landscape composition on the movements of the oriental garden lizard Calotes versicolor in agricultural landscapes of north-central Pakistan. We radio-tracked 32 individuals over 5 months to determine whether land cover type (farmland, tree patches, grassland) influences hourly movement rate, inter-day distance moved, and activity area size. We found that hourly movement rates were higher in tree patches compared to grasslands, and higher when animals moved between land cover types rather than within individual land cover types. Activity area size and movement rates became smaller as the season progressed, but they did not differ according to animal sex or body size. Habitat selection analysis showed that lizards preferred tree patches, avoided farms, roads, water bodies and human dwellings, and used grasslands in proportion to availability. When lizards used farmlands, they were found in field margins 85% of the time. Our results emphasize the importance of treed areas as reptile habitat in these highly modified agricultural lands. Agricultural intensification that reduces the availability of tree patches and field margins will likely reduce the extent to which lizards can use the landscape by removing preferred habitat. Maintaining tree cover and small fields with field margins should promote the coexistence of wildlife conservation and food production in agricultural landscapes.