Microhabitat use, daily activity pattern, and diet of Laurent, 1998 (Reptilia: Liolaemidae) in the Andean forests of Arequipa, Peru.

This study describes the microhabitat use, daily activity pattern, and diet of Laurent, 1998 in the El Simbral and Tuctumpaya forests in Arequipa, Peru. El Simbral is a fragmented forest, whereas Tuctumpaya is unfragmented. Our results reveal that shows no positive selection for any of the microhabitats we identified in forests; on the contrary, it selects negatively against trees and nonthorny bushes. The daily activity patterns indicate a bimodal pattern with peaks at 9:00-10:59 and 13:00-13:59 h. The diet of consists mainly of plant material, and the most important animal prey category is Lygaeidae: Hemiptera, which is selected for positively. In particular, microhabitat selection varied for nonthorny bushes, which were selected negatively in the Tuctumpaya population but neither positively nor negatively in the El Simbral population. According to the proportions of plant material found, the from El Simbral were found to be omnivorous, whereas the Tuctumpaya population was herbivorous. However, the percentage of plant material consumed in the El Simbral population was close to the critical value for herbivory-omnivory. We conclude that the three ecological aspects of studied here are virtually identical in El Simbral and Tuctumpaya; therefore, this species is not affected significantly by the current fragmentation of forest.