PS 34-222 - Detecting for Potential Herpetofaunal Community Variation in Recently Restored Coastal Habitat in Central California

Abstract: The California Floristic Province is a global biodiversity hotspot, partly as a function of the extreme environmental heterogeneity present throughout much of the province. Within maritime Mediterranean ecosystems, habitats vary at the scale of hundreds of meters, presenting a unique mosaic for range limited species. Little attention has been given as to how herpetofauna (amphibians and reptiles) utilize these narrow coastal strands. In many of these coastal areas they have been, or are threatened by, human development and habitat fragmentation. In herpetofaunal conservation, little is known of the impact of habitat restoration, this being due to there being no consensus on preferred vegetation characteristics and effective monitoring methods. With this in mind, we examined the fine scale habitat use of different herpetofauna across an isolated coastal preserve habitat matrix (coastal strand, coastal prairie, coastal scrub, riparian woodland and perennial wetlands). This study took place at Younger Lagoon Reserve, a part of the University of California Reserve System, located in Santa Cruz, California. We monitored herpetofauna activity at forty coverboards spread across the reserve, with observations beginning in the early winter of 2022. Herpetofauna were identified to species, counted, and sometimes captured by hand for further investigation. We examined potential long term trends in species presence to identify changes in community structure over time and between habitat types. There was no difference found in species richness between habitat types and any differences in community structure showed no strong correlation. Among the herpetofauna observed in this study the most commonly detected were southern alligator lizards (Elgaria multicarinata) and terrestrial garter snakes (Thamnophis elegans), with only the former being strongly associated with a particular habitat. Based on previous studies, herpetofauna presence is closely associated with more complex vertical structure and multi-tiered canopy. Future habitat restoration, planning and management should focus on vegetation structural diversity and connectivity which is more likely to benefit a variety of herpetofauna species.