Habitat characteristics and species abundances of reptiles in northern Israel

Data and auxiliary information collected in a field survey of reptile assemblages in northern Israel, conducted in the spring seasons from 2016 to 2018. Data were collected in 272 Mediterranean woodland and shrubland sites, exposed to different types of human land uses. Sites are located along a geo-climatic gradient of 120 km, with elevations between 50 m and 1,570 m above sea level. Species data contains the abundances of 15 lizards, six snakes and one tortoise. The species included in the data are:

Mediodactylus orientalis, Ptyodactylus puiseuxi, Chamaeleo chamaeleon, Phoenicolacerta kulzeri, Phoenicolacerta laevis, Lacerta media, Ophisops elegans, Ablepharus rueppellii, Chalcides guentheri, Heremites vittate, Pseudopus apodus, Dolichophis jugularis, Hemorrhois nummifer, Platyceps collaris, Malpolon insignitus, Daboia palaestinae, Testudo graeca, Ptyodactylus guttatus, Laudakia stellio, Chalcides ocellatus, Eumeces schneideri, Psammophis schokari, and unidentified lizard species.

Data columns are:

Sample = sample site code

Date = sampling date

Region = name of sub region in northern Israel

Locality = sampling site name

T_min = average minimum annual temperature from 1970 to 2000

T_max = average maximum annual temperature from 1970 to 2000

Precipitation = mean annual rainfal (mm) from 1970 to 2000

Lat_sample = latitude of the centroid of the sampling site (m, ITM coordinate system)

Lon_sample = longitude of the centroid of the sampling site (m, ITM cooridnate system)

Elev_MEAN = elevation above sea level (m)

EgrtPredPress = an estimate of predation pressure by cattle egrets (based on distance to nearest colony and colony size)

Closeness = a visual estimate of vegetation cover

Barrenness = a visual estimate of the amount of non-vegetated cover

DISTURB = a visual estimate of the amount of anthropogenic disturbance to the site

CATTLE = a visual estimate of cattle grazing pressure

GOATS = a visual estimate of goat grazing pressure

Shannon_LC = Shannon's index of habitat diversity

Ndvi_MEAN = mean value of the normalized difference vegetation index captured by Landsat satellite imagery in August 2020

Ndvi_STD = standard deviation of the values of the normalized difference vegetation index captured by Landsat satellite imagery in August 2020

PreyLizAbun = total abundance of reptile species identified as cattle egret prey

HerpAbun = total reptile abundance

SpeciesRich = total species richness

Columns 23 - 46: abundances of individual reptile species