Environmental correlates of reptile variation on the Houtman Abrolhos archipelago, eastern Indian Ocean

Aim: To examine the relationships between island environmental attributes, both biotic and abiotic, and three measures of reptilian variation – species assemblage, species richness, and body size distributions.
Location: Houtman Abrolhos archipelago, Western Australia.
Taxon: Reptiles.
Methods: Nineteen islands were sampled from 2002 - 2012 using foraging and trapping. Body size (snout-vent length) was measured on first capture. Island size varied from 0.3 - 587 ha, encompassing the three geomorphic island types, the three bathymetric groups, and a range of other environmental attributes.
Results: From about 1500 captures, 24 reptile species were recorded, including three previously undocumented on the archipelago, and 55 records of species not previously recorded on specific islands. Four significantly different reptile assemblage groups were identified. These were highly correlated with geomorphological composition - two groups encompassing the three large aeolianite islands;...

研究目标：探究岛屿的生物与非生物环境属性，与爬行动物三项变异衡量指标——物种集合（species assemblage）、物种丰富度以及体型分布之间的关联。
研究区域：澳大利亚西部的豪特曼阿勃罗洛斯群岛（Houtman Abrolhos archipelago）。
研究类群：爬行动物。
研究方法：2002年至2012年间，采用诱捕法与野外觅食调查法对19座岛屿开展采样。于个体首次捕获时测量其体型（吻肛长，snout-vent length）。岛屿面积跨度为0.3至587公顷，涵盖3种地貌岛屿类型、3类水深梯度组，以及一系列其他环境属性。
研究结果：本次调研累计获得约1500次捕获记录，共记录到24种爬行动物，其中3种为该群岛此前未被记载的物种，另有55次记录为特定岛屿此前未发现的物种。本研究识别出4个具有显著差异的爬行动物种集合群，上述类群与岛屿地貌组成高度相关——其中2个类群包含3座大型风成岩岛屿；……