Climate change and habitat loss are affecting animal populations around the world and reptiles such as South Australia’s own endangered pygmy bluetongue are susceptible to higher temperatures and declining long-term rainfall trends.
Climate change and habitat loss are affecting animal populations around the world and reptiles such as South Australia’s own endangered pygmy bluetongue are susceptible to higher temperatures and declining long-term rainfall trends.
Flinders University scientists are working on securing a sustainable future for the burrow-dwelling endemic skink (Tiliqua adelaidensis) by assessing their suitability to cooler and slightly greener locations, below their usual range in the state’s drier, hotter northern regions.
While the lizards take time to acclimatise to their new homes, translocation remains one of the more important ways to conserve rare species and mitigate extinction risk to climate and habitat changes.
The latest research, outlined in a new article in Biology, compared the ability of three separate pygmy bluetongue lizard populations to withstand different microclimates in South Australia – between the northern Flinders Ranges near Jamestown, Mid North near Burra, and southern-most translocation sites near Tarlee and Kapunda.
Read more at Flinders University
Image: The burrow-dwelling endemic skink (Tiliqua adelaidensis) is being assessing for their suitability to cooler and slightly greener locations. Photo courtesy Mike Gardner (Flinders University).
