Data and code from: Demography meets climate change: Life history challenges for a Neotropical viviparous lizard

This repository contains a comprehensive demographic dataset and analytical code for Notomabuya frenata, a Neotropical viviparous lizard, collected over a 15-year period (December 2005 to January 2021) in the Cerrado biome (Reserva Ecológica do IBGE, Federal District, Brazil). The data were compiled to model population dynamics and viability under current and future climate change scenarios.

Dataset structure and contents: The repository is organized into four main categories:

Mark-recapture data: Raw and processed field records from standardized pitfall trapping campaigns. Variables include individual identification (toe-clipping), morphology (snout-vent length, tail length, body mass), sex, capture history, and microsite descriptions (plot/trap).
Reproductive traits: Morphological data obtained from the dissection of preserved museum specimens (University of Brasília Herpetological Collection - CHUNB), providing clutch sizes and female body sizes used to parameterize fecundity models.
Environmental and spatial data: Georeferenced occurrence records, Minimum Convex Polygon (MCP) shapefiles defining the study area, and processed raster data (NetCDF/RDS) containing historical (2005–2020) and projected (2021–2100) climatic variables (maximum temperature and precipitation) sourced from WorldClim v2.1 under SSP2-4.5 and SSP5-8.5 scenarios.
Code and model outputs: A complete suite of R scripts to replicate the data cleaning, vital rate estimation (growth, survival, fecundity), and Integral Projection Model (IPM) construction. Fitted model objects (.rds) are provided to facilitate the reproduction of the demographic projections without re-running computationally intensive steps.

Reuse potential: These data are suitable for comparative life-history studies of tropical ectotherms, analysis of fire-prone ecosystem dynamics, and methodological development of spatially explicit demographic models. The code provides a framework for implementing IPMs with environmental covariates in R.

Legal and ethical considerations: Fieldwork procedures were approved by the Animal Use Ethics Committee of the University of Brasília (CEUA-UnB process no. 33,786/2016). Reproductive data were derived from specimens collected during a fauna rescue operation (Serra da Mesa hydroelectric dam); no animals were euthanized specifically for this study.

Methods
We sampled Notomabuya frenata from December 2005 to January 2021 in the Reserva Ecológica do Roncador, Distrito Federal, Brazil, using pitfall traps arranged in five subplots with different fire regimes. Lizards were captured, measured (SVL, tail length, and body mass), sexed, and permanently marked before release. Reproductive parameters were assessed using museum specimens collected during the filling of the Serra da Mesa reservoir (Goiás, Brazil). Environmental data (temperature and precipitation) was obtained from WorldClim for past and future projections (SSP2-4.5, SSP5-8.5). 

Data was processed in R (v4.3.3). Missing SVL values were imputed using the missForest package. Growth was modeled with the Von Bertalanffy equation and analyzed via Non-Linear Mixed Effects Models (NLME). Survival was estimated using a Gompertz mortality model in BaSTA and a Cormack-Jolly-Seber model (marked package), relating monthly survival to environmental predictors through model selection based on AIC. Reproduction was analyzed using Bayesian models (brms package), relating litter size to female body size. Population dynamic was modeled with an Integral Projection Model (IPM), estimating growth, survival, and fecundity under different environmental scenarios from 2005 to 2100. Population growth rate (λ) was computed as the dominant eigenvalue of the transition matrix, and temporal trends were analyzed via time series decomposition.