012 Geckos Down Under

Following on from our interview with John McGrath, Australian geckos are our focus for episode 12. We talk about the influences on starred knob tail gecko habitat and why velvet geckos are important food for an elapid snake. Of course there is an Australian gecko for the Species of the Bi-Week. FULL REFERENCE LIST AVAILABLE AT: herphighlights.podbean.com   Main Paper References: Driscoll, Don A., Catherine A. Whitehead, and Juliana Lazzari. 2012. “Spatial Dynamics of the Knob-Tailed Gecko Nephrurus Stellatus in a Fragmented Agricultural Landscape.” Landscape Ecology 27 (6): 829–41. Webb, Jonathan K., David A. Pike, and Richard Shine. 2008. “Population Ecology of the Velvet Gecko, Oedura Lesueurii in South Eastern Australia: Implications for the Persistence of an Endangered Snake.” Austral Ecology 33 (7): 839–47. Species of the Bi-Week: Hoskin, Conrad J., and Patrick Couper. 2013. “A Spectacular New Leaf-Tailed Gecko (Carphodactylidae: Saltuarius) from the Melville Range, North-East Australia.” Zootaxa 3717 (4): 543–58. Other Mentioned Papers/Studies: Blay, Nicola, and Isabelle M Côté. 2001. “Optimal Conditions for Breeding of Captive Humboldt Penguins (Spheniscus Humboldti): A Survey of British Zoos.” Zoo Biology 20: 545–55. Brown, G. P., and Shine, R. 2007. "Like mother, like daughter: inheritance of nest-site location in snakes." Biology letters, 3(2): 131-133. Croak BM, Pike DA, Webb JK, Shine R, 2010. "Using artificial rocks to restore nonrenewable shelter sites in human-degraded systems: colonization by fauna." Rest Ecol 18:428–438. Gamble, T. 2010. "A review of sex determining mechanisms in geckos (Gekkota: Squamata)". Sexual Development, 4(1-2): 88-103. James, Alexander N., Kevin J. Gaston, and Andrew Balmford. 1999. “Balancing the Earth’s Accounts.” Nature 401 (6751): 323–24. Llewelyn, John, Ben L. Phillips, Greg P. Brown, Lin Schwarzkopf, Ross A. Alford, and Richard Shine. 2011. “Adaptation or Preadaptation: Why Are Keelback Snakes (Tropidonophis Mairii) Less Vulnerable to Invasive Cane Toads (Bufo Marinus) than Are Other Australian Snakes?” Evolutionary Ecology 25 (1): 13–24. Oliver, P. M., Bauer, A. M., Greenbaum, E., Jackman, T., and Hobbie, T. 2012. "Molecular phylogenetics of the arboreal Australian gecko genus Oedura Gray 1842 (Gekkota: Diplodactylidae): Another plesiomorphic grade?." Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution, 63(2): 255-264. Shine R., Webb J. K., Fitzgerald M. and Sumner J. 1998. "The impact of bush-rock removal on an endangered snake species, Hoplocephalus bungaroides (Serpentes: Elapidae)." Wildl. Res. 25: 285–95. Smith, A. L., Bull, C. M., and Driscoll, D. A. 2012. "Post-fire succession affects abundance and survival but not detectability in a knob-tailed gecko." Biological Conservation, 145(1): 139-147. Werner, Y. L., Frankenberg, E., Volokita, M., and Harari, R. 1993. "Longevity of geckos (Reptilia: Lacertilia: Gekkonoidea) in captivity: an analytical review incorporating new data." Israel Journal of Zoology, 39(2): 105-124. Music – Treehouse by Ed Nelson