Does Forest Degradation Affect Lizard Assemblage In The Arid Chaco Ecoregion? Dataset

The dataset contains information about vegetation coverage and abundance of three lizard species from two sites with differents degrees of disturbance in the Arid Chaco Ecoregion. Monthly samplings were conducted from November to February during the summer of 2014-2015. Two forested areas were selected for comparison: one section that had experienced high amounts of degradation and one section that had suffered only slight degradation. Observers conducted diurnal visual encounter surveys along seven 200 m long transects in each of the two sites. A total of 14 independent systematically distributed transects were conducted, separated by 50 m parallel intervals. All the surveys were performed under similar weather conditions. We categorized the lizards by sex (male and female) and age (adults and juveniles). The microhabitat ground cover characteristics we assessed were: 1) bare ground, 2) herbs/grass, 3) litter, 4) cacti, and 5) rocks; number of shrubs and trees; and the number of vegetal species. To obtain microhabitat coverage data, pictures were taken where the animals were observed at a distance of 1.5 m above the ground. Using the photographs, we calculated the proportion of each microhabitat coverage characteristic. To calculate the number of trees and shrubs a two meter by two meter cardinally oriented X was superimposed over the exact point where the subjects were found and an observer traced the axis counting the number of trees and shrubs that crossed the line. The total number of vegetal species within each delimited area determined its richness.