Diversity of a community of <em>Anolis</em> (Iguania: Dactyloidae) in the Central rainforest, department of Choco, Colombia

Abstract

The ecological characterization of an Anolis community was done in five localities of the Chocó District, all of them located in a tropical rainforest region. Visual Encounter Surveys (VES) were performed in three vegetation strata. In total, 303 individuals were recorded using a sampling effort of 960 hours / person, with a capture rate of 0.31 individuals / hour / person. The genus Anolis in this region is represented by 10 species, being A. maculiventris (54.1%), A. granuliceps (20.1%) and A. chloris (11.2%) the more common ones. All other species were present in low abundances. Estimates of diversity indicated that a significant percentage of the community was sampled. The results also revealed significant differences in the community structure of Anolis along the different rainforest altitudinal layers, as well as processes of exchange and exclusivity in particular cases.