Land Management in the Ocala National Forest Effects Lizard Densities and Their Helminth Communities
Term of Award
Summer 2024
Degree Name
Master of Science in Biology (M.S.)
Document Type and Release Option
Thesis (restricted to Georgia Southern)
Copyright Statement / License for Reuse
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Department
Department of Biology
Committee Chair
Lance McBrayer
Committee Member 1
Stephen Greiman
Committee Member 2
Alan Harvey
Abstract
The Ocala National Forest is managed to support two critically endangered plant communities, Florida scrub and longleaf pine savannas. Most of the forest has been managed for sand pine scrub to produce pulpwood with smaller areas being dedicated to oak scrub or longleaf pines to provide habitat for endangered Florida Scrub Jays (Aphelocoma coerulescens) and red cockaded woodpeckers (Leuconootopicus borealis) respectively. I investigated how these management regimes effects non-target lizard species (Sceloporus woodi and Aspidoscelis sexlineata) and the helminth community of S. woodi. I found that management activities have mixed effects on non-target species. Sceloporus woodi appears to be more of a habitat specialist, preferring earlier successional habitat in the scrub jay managed areas, where it had higher densities, where A. sexlineata had similar densities throughout the forest. Sceloporus woodi were only found to be infected with nematodes with prevalence varying between management types. Lizards from mature scrub had the highest prevalence, then early successional scrub, and longleaf pine each having reduced prevalence showing a clear positive relationship between time since disturbance and infection prevalence in S. woodi. At least 5 species of nematodes were detected in S. woodi. Physaloptera turgida, Physaloptera sp., and Physalpteroides sp. were detected in the stomach, Strongyluris sp. was detected in the small intestine and an Ascaridae sp. was detected in the body cavity. These results show that this new management regime may be beneficial to non-target scrub specialists alongside the target species. Additionally, management practices alter the helminth communities within the S. woodi.
Recommended Citation
Brennan, Michael N., "Land Management in the Ocala National Forest Effects Lizard Densities and Their Helminth Communities" (2024). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 2828.
https://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/etd/2828
Research Data and Supplementary Material
No
