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Published 2013 • in the United States of America VOLUME • NUMBER VARA ISSN: 1083-446X elSSN: 1525-9153 Editor Craig Hassapakis USA Berkeley, California, Associate Editors Raul E EIoward O Clark, Diaz University of Kansas, USA Garcia and Associates, Erik R Wild Jr USA University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point, USA Assistant Editors Daniel D Fogell Alison R Davis University of California, Berkeley, USA Southeastern Community College, USA Editorial Review Board David C Blackburn California Kenneth Dodd, C Bill Academy of Sciences, USA University of Florida, Peter V Texas USA USA Jodi J L R Pakistan Elnaz Najafimajd Ege University, TURKEY USA Rohan Pethiyagoda VENEZUELA Australian Rowley Museum, AUSTRALIA Virginia SAUDIA ARABIA Rafaqat Masroor Museum of Natural History, PAKISTAN Mushinsky University of South Florida, A Ibrahim Ha’il University, Julian C Lee New Mexico, USA Henry Lindeman Jaime E Pefaur Australian Adel A&M University, USA Taos, Edinboro University of Pennsylvania, Universidad de Los Andes, Jelka Crnobrnja-Isailovc IBISS University of Belgrade, SERBIA SOUTH AFRICA Lee A Fitzgerald Jr USA Harvey B Lillywhite University of Florida, Branch Museum, Port Elizabeth Nasrullah Rastegar-Pouyani Museum, AUSTRALIA Peter Uetz Commonwealth University, Razi University, IRAN Larry David Wilson USA Instituto Regional de Biodiversidad, USA Advisory Board Aaron M Bauer Allison C Alberts Zoological Society of San Diego, Michael USA Villanova University, USA USA Royal Ontario Museum, Antonio W Salas Environment and Sustainable Development, Erdelen Roy W McDiarmid USGS Patuxent Wildlife Research Center, USA Robert W Murphy Russell A Mittermeier Conservation International, R UNESCO, FRANCE James Hanken Harvard University, USA B Eisen Public Library of Science, Walter USA Eric R Pianka CANADA University of Texas, Austin, USA Dawn S Wilson AMNH Southwestern Research Station, USA PERU Honorary Members Carl ( Cover C Joseph Gans 1923 - 2009 ) ( T Collins 1939 - 2012 ) : This painting shows a young Dumeril’s Monitor ( Varanus dumerilii) creeping through the foliage on the floor of a Bornean Kerangas interesting community is characterized by heavily leached soils, a density of small trees and a flora that is homogeneous by forest This tropical standards Among the plant groups commonly represented are the orchids and pitcher plants Dumeril’s Monitors occur near rivers in various types of forest from southern Burma through the Malaysian Peninsula, Borneo and Sumatra The hatchlings, like the one shown, are well-known for their strikIt has been suggested that the colors, which begin to fade at the age of six weeks, mimic the dangerously venomous Red-headed Krait ( Bungarus flaviceps), which shares its range Dumeril’s Monitors are of modest size, usually not attaining a length much more than four feet They feed on crabs, snails, and other animals Cover art work Carel Brest van Kempen ing coloration — Amphibian & Reptile Conservation Worldwide Community-Supported Herpetological Conservation (ISSN: 1083-446X; elSSN: 1525-9153) is published by Craig Hassapakis /Amphibian & Reptile Conservation as full issues at least twice yearly (semi-annually or more often depending on needs) and papers are immediately released as they are finished on our website; http://amphibian-reptile-conservation.org; email: arc.publisher@gmail.com Amphibian & Reptile Conservation is published as an open access journal Please visit the official journal website at: http://amphibian-reptile-conservation.org Amphibian & Reptile Conservation accepts manuscripts on the biology of amphibians and reptiles, with emphasis on conservation, sustainable management, and biodiversity Topics in these areas can include: taxonomy and phylogeny, species inventories, distribution, conservation, species profiles, ecology, natural history, sustainable management, conservation breeding, citizen science, social networking, and any other topic that lends to the conservation of amphibians and reptiles worldwide Prior consultation with editors is suggested and important if you have any questions and/or concerns about submissions Further details on the submission of a manuscript can best be obtained by consulting a current published paper from the journal and/or by accessing Instructions for Authors at the Amphibian and Reptile Conservation Instructions to Authors : website: http://amphibian-reptile-conservation.org/submissions.html © Craig Hassapakis/Amphibian & Reptile Conservation ~ * amphibian-reptile-conservation.org 001 August 2012 | Volume | Number | e49 Copyright: © 2012 Pianka This Attribution License, original author is an open-access article distributed which permits unrestricted use, and source distribution, under the terms of the Creative and reproduction in Commons Amphibian & Reptile Conservation any medium, provided the 6(1): 1-24 are credited POINT OF VIEW Can humans share spaceship earth? Eric R Pianka Section ofIntegrative Biology* C0930, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas, USA — Abstract Earth was a pretty durable spaceship, but we have managed to trash its life support systems, the atmosphere, and the oceans Humans have also destroyed vast areas of habitats and fragmented many others We have modified the atmosphere and in doing so have increased the greenhouse effect, which has changed the climate to produce ever increasing maximum temperatures Increased temperatures threaten some lizard species in highly biodiverse tropical and subtropical regions Many lizards are also threatened by habitat loss and over-harvesting Although lizards are ectotherms and might therefore be expected to be resilient to global warming, evidence strongly suggests that many species could be threatened by warming Some, such as fossorial or nocturnal species or those in cold temperate regions, may be little affected by climate warming but many others such as thermoconformer species in tropical forests and live bearers appear to be particularly vulnerable The 2011 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species lists 12 lizard species as extinct and another 462 species as Critically Endangered, Endangered, or Vulnerable Together, these constitute at least 8.4%, probably more, of all described lizard species The highly biodiverse lizard fauna of Madagascar is especially threatened mostly due to habitat loss from extensive deforestation by humans Three of the IUCN listed species are monitor lizards Most varanids are top predators, generally have large territories, and have low population densities, which make them particularly vulnerable to habitat loss, habitat fragmentation, and over-harvesting All monitor lizards are listed by CITES as Endangered, and five species are officially listed as “threatened with extinction.” Others, including the sister taxon to varanids, the Earless monitor Lanthanotus from Borneo, and several island endemic Varanus species from biodiversity hot spots in SE Asia should be added to these lists The future survival of all lizards including varanids will depend on our ability to manage the global environment Sustainable management will require controlling the runaway population growth of humans, as well as major changes in our use of resources To maintain lizard biodiversity, anthropogenic climate change and habitat destruction must be addressed Key words Biodiversity, climate change, conservation biology, deforestation, extinction, global wanning, Lantha- management notus, lizards, Madagascar, Milankovitch cycles, overpopulation, threatened species, Varanus, wildlife Citation: Pianka ER 2012 Can humans share spaceship earth? Amphibian & Reptile Conservation 6(1):1-24(e49) I Introduction and ask readers to indulge and permit some opinions editorializing The incomplete Amphibian and Reptile Conservation invited me to write an essay for this special issue on the conservation biology of monitor lizards As I began to write, I quickly realized that I wanted to address the much larger issue of the enormous impact we humans have had on the entire planet (our one and only “spaceship” Boulding 1966) as well as on all of our fellow Earthlings Although the subjects of anthropogenic climate change and habitat loss are far too broad to be fully addressed here, I offer a synopsis and attempt to illustrate selected global-scale issues with examples drawn from lizards, monitors where possible me fossil record shows that lizards appeared 150 million years ago — since then first many clades have appeared and some have gone extinct (Evans 2003) The oldest varanoid fossils date years ago (mya) but the clade is from about 90 million older than that (Molnar 2004) Throughout this long evolutionary history, lizards have survived many extreme climate changes The planet has undergone numerous ice ages as well as tremely warm some episodes However, the exploding ex- human population combined with increased energy use per per- son has resulted in ongoing increases in global temperatures Will lizards be able to survive? Correspondence Email: erp@austin.utexas.edu amphibian-reptile-conservation.org 002 August 2012 | Volume | Number | e49 Pianka loss Anthropogenic extinction events Hundreds of different taxa went With the advent of human agriculture and city states about 10,000 years ago, humans began large scale de- extinct during the transition forestation from the Pleistocene to the present day Possible causes of this “Quaternary extinction event” (Koch and Bamosky tion_event) include climate change and overkill man hunters as people migrated to inhabited regions in the many by hu- previously un- Humans first reached Australia about 50,000 years ago but did not get to the Americas about 13,000 until tinctions followed + years ago Massive ex- to alter atmospheric levels many centuries ago, long before the industrial rev- is that Pleistocene extinctions burning of fossil others peat carbon, human invasions were extensive and among included many large mammals, such as mam- that moths, mastodons, chalicotheres, gomphotheres, pampa- levels have increased have occurred over the loss of soil and to well above any 400,000 years The last last Some last birds that perished include giant colonization of 10,000 years (“the long seems overdue (Ruddiman 2003) ice age warm period This extended more recent wave of many extinctions followed islands, including the and Galapagos Archipelagos, Indian Ocean tion of agriculture human lation and, Caribbean islands, and flightless island birds, including New colonization potentially greater anthropogenic extinction event is now human popu- almost certainly activities, especially deforestation fuels The rate of global warming is being released into the atmosphere (in terms of the greenhouse effect, each molecule of methane ecule of methane burns, it is When 25 molecules of carbon dioxide) lent to gives off heat and is equivaa mol- oxidized two molecules of water and one of carbon dioxide, both of which are powerful greenhouse gases Long frozen fossil methane is being released from rapidly thawing permafrost and from the deep oceans at an ever accelerating rate As temperatures rise, more methane bubbles into A cur- rently underway up History of global is in accelerating because long frozen reserves of methane are Zealand Dodos and Moas, human based on current evidence, and burning of fossil went extinct (Steadman 2006), as did other island endemics such as land tortoises Of course, little evidence is available for how people might have affected smaller species such as most lizards, but at least one gigantic Australian monitor lizard is known to have gone extinct during the Pleistocene following corresponds to the inven- and the resulting surge due to anthropogenic Ha- Caledonia and other Pacific islands, Mada- gascar, islands of the Mediterranean, warm for roughly the summer” Fagan 2004) An colder glacial period but has stayed Dromomithids Many and than the three preceding ones Earth should be entering a South American Adzebills and huge Australian emu-like New C0 and through interglacial phase, fuels, deforestation, years Earth cave bears, diprotodons, several marsupial other humans waii, in temperature thermal spike has been prolonged for considerably longer many carnivores, lemurs, as well as various apes including A Four spikes ungulates, saber-toothed cats, theres, glyptodonts, lions, warm presently in a following cave carbon dioxide and methane were spaced approximately every 100,000 + strongly suggesting that anthropogenic activities were in- show began as the Milankovitch cycles soon thereafter on both continents, volved Fossil records primarily deforestation, activities, (Ruddiman 2003, 2005) Oxygen isotopes in air samples from ice cores from the Antarctic and Greenland dating back for more than 400,000 years have allowed inference of temperature changes over most of the last half a million years Four prolonged ice ages are evident These changes are caused largely by periodic fluctuations in Earth’s orbit and the inclination of its axis known New World and Australia during the late Pleistocene and Holocene Human olution http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quatemary_extinc- 2006, all denizens of planet Earth are potentially imperiled megafauna, in many species, especially and fragmentation due to human overpopulation, to the surface, further raising temperatures in an ever- increasing positive feedback loop warming probably already been reached at A tipping point has which climate cannot return to pre-industrial conditions Eventually, of course, Together, the atmosphere and the oceans control the Milankovitch cycles will generate another ice age, cli- mate Ocean currents act as conveyor belts moving heat away from the equator Changes in tectonic events like the rise of the ocean currents due but that could be many millennia from now Human activities, to Panamanian isthmus especially the enhanced greenhouse effect, but also including burning of fossil fuels and even 3-5 mya, or the ongoing constriction of the Indonesian the waste heat produced by nuclear through flow by the northward movement of the Austra- greatly to our already overheated spaceship Glaciers are lian plate have had drastic impacts on past climates and melting, and sea levels have risen However, we now face a dramatic and rapid anthropogenic change in global climate humans have broken the life support systems are likely to so again and are in the future 2009) — of spaceship Earth When by over three The high specific heat by have added a foot since mm per year (Kemp 900 et al of water has helped to mod- some extent, resulting world’s oceans warming by nearly a frill degree erate this increased heat load to coupled with massive habitat amphibian-reptile-conservation.org rising reactors, in the 003 August 2012 | Volume | Number | e49 Can humans share spaceship Varanus baritji (above) and V earth? doreanus (below) Photos by JeffLemm (above) and Robert Sprackland (below) amphibian-reptile-conservation.org 004 August 2012 | Volume | Number | e49 Pianka The oceans also abforming carbonic acid, which leads Celsius over the past half century insane, but sorb carbon dioxide, even and the bleaching of coral to acidification reefs some is sort of hoax, the vast majority of experts are convinced that it is be at least 1-2 ther out humans were hunter many fewer of us existed Food supplies lead Until the advent of agriculture, mond 1987) because it challenges we to political unrest that technology has only led us far- think that the solution to the energy crisis more energy, but is that will only exacerbate the rate of global wann- six years old in the mid- 1940s, our and accelerate the ing been called “the human race” (Dia- Why lizards? When I allowed us to increase in popu- it was about (Catton 1982) family drove east from our hometown, in far northern could never have reached seven billion without fos- California, across the U.S to visit our paternal grandpar- to the present sil many of the all ice planet’s heat load tend to increase to the level to face yet, population pressures clearly to our rescue, but so far on t hin access to lation density to unsustainable levels, ultimately leading We come will Many worst mistake in the history of the And and climate change Some are convinced °C warmer by 2050 that foods will allow Agriculture has Not wanting from energy and food shortages face, reversible — population—populations exist underlie and drive almost (IPPC 2007, NOAA 2012) Moreover, the rate of climate change seems to be ever increasing and appears to be ir- gatherers has become politically incorrect people are locked in denial that such a problem could even a real and enduring threat If current trends con- tinue, the planet will it to allude to overpopulation reality, Despite frequent outcries that global warming somehow day overpopulation crisis of bird and bat guano began fuels Just as supplies Without is Germany was (later —moreover, hu- by food supplies at much Basically, humans exploited just many first grass prairies of North America ultimately into masses of humanity fossil fuels, We cattle, course, without could never have built alone developed our civilization and knowledge However, in more than we Of many ways our wishing intensely that I was holding it instead of its tail later back in California, I my caught which I tried to keep as a pet Alas, it soon escaped Then in the third grade, I discovered that the classroom next door had a captive baby alligator I was transfixed by that alligator and stood by its aquarium for hours on end, reveling in its eveiy move As a little boy, I was obviously destined to become a biologist, long before I had any inkling about what science was Years into fields of corn and wheat and replaced bison herds with this stood there, looking up at the sassy tailless About a year of Earth’s natural ecosystems and turn them into arable land and crops to feed increasing numbers of people determined that I its tail I lizard, limited these one-time fossil energy reserves to demolish cities, let first lizard, “advance,” neither lower population densities and my fertilizer mans would have been agriculture saw road- at a an explosive as well as a nor Japan could ever have gone to war tall I stopped must have been an Anolis carolinensis ) climbing around in some vines We did our utmost to catch that lizard, but all we were able to get this technological turned the we a gorgeous, green, sleek, long-tailed arboreal creature 2001, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haber_ which process), 66, side park for a picnic lunch There Haber-Bosch process rescued agriculture by using methane to fix atmospheric nitrogen and produce virtually unlimited amounts of ammonium to be exhausted, the nitrate (Smil Somewhere along Route ents human garter snake, later, in graduate school, discovered the rich layers of I the biological cake (Figure cities are little to earn a Ph.D., and, later, giant but fragile feed lots supporting unsus- 1), and eventually my D Sc I went on as an ecologist tainably dense aggregations of people Without a steady inflow of food, water, and of garbage and sewage, power and a continual outflow cities will collapse We missed our chance to live in a sustainable world Human populations have grown exponentially over the past century, doubling each generation Our eco- nomic system, based on runaway greed and the principle of a chain letter growth, growth, and more growth, is fundamentally flawed Ponzi schemes like this only work briefly, until the cost of recruiting resources needed to sustain them exceeds the value they represent We are — far overextended and approaching in terms of local resource bases already, limits in things transported from afar, such as quality timber, larger fishes and some minerals As transport costs rise, bulky Figure and heavy items (such as based sciences metal ores) will become regionally scarce, until eventu- neither becomes a limiting factor The prevalent no limits exist in a finite world is obviously ally transport attitude that amphibian-reptile-conservation.org Biological is “cake” showing the intersection of taxon- (slices) complete without the on just one taxonomic between organisms and 005 and concept-based sciences (layers) other Rather than specialize unit, ecologists study the interactions their environments across August 2012 | Volume | all taxa Number | e49 Can humans share spaceship Varanus glauerti (above) and V keithornei (below) Photos by Stephen Zozaya amphibian-reptile-conservation.org 006 earth? (above) and JeffLemm August 2012 (below) | Volume | Number | e49 Pianka me why Lor many lizard species, habitat loss and climate Or worse, some say “what good are lizards?” to which I respond with “what good are YOU?” Those who would think, let alone ask, such a narrow-minded question seem People sometimes ask to I me to be hopelessly anthropocentric study lizards change are the two major factors respect and care have had strong negative impacts and both will almost certainly continue to increase well into the foreseeable future Lizards are spec- Habitat destruction and species loss: tacular and beautiful fellow Earthlings that deserve our full that They were here long before us and Modern day fossils deserve to exist on this spaceship, too When my co-author Laurie Vitt and I When I first began studying desert lizards just half a cen- received the advance copy of our coffee-table book “Lizards: Win- dows Evolution of Diversity,” to the thumbing through its we American deserts were largely unfenced and pristine Permits were not required to conduct field research, and lizards were very abundant at a dozen study areas I worked from southern Idaho to Sonora I have tury ago, North sat side-by-side pages Laurie said “if there’s a copy of this 50 years from now, people will be looking at these photos and saying ‘were these things really here?’” Lor us, and for many others, a world without would lizards not be a world worth living on That said, let since returned to several of these former study sites only to find that they no longer support any part of the city of us explore lizards: one Mojave, California, another is now Twen- at future prospects for all lizards including monitors Gib- tynine Palms has been developed, and a third outside bons et al tiles, comparing Casa Grande, Arizona, is now a trailer park Two sites in northern Mexico have succumbed to agriculture (Google Earth) Specimens collected a mere 50 years ago, safely ensconced in major museums, now represent fossil records of what was once there before humans usurped the habitat (Pianka 1994) Human populations have more They frogs loss (2000) reviewed the global decline of all repit to the loss of amphibians, especially many threats, including habitat identified and degradation, introduced invasive species, poland of course lution, disease, unsustainable land use, global climate change —we already than doubled during the past half century Minimum Viable Populations and Extinction use over half of the planet’s land surface and more than Our voracious half of its freshwater Vortices and appetite for land other resources continually encroaches on the habitats of Conservation biologists have formulated concepts of “minimum all Many people embrace the anthropocentric attitude that viable population size” and “extinction vor- tices.” Together, these and inexorably drive can capture an endangered species its Earth and all its human resources exist solely for benefit and consumption Organized religions teach mastery of population to extinction (Gilpin and Soule 1986; Pianka 2006; our fellow Earthlings, including lizards nature and by setting people above Traill et al 2007), as fol- many of the worst all else, they have led lows Habitat destruction, degradation, and fragmenta- to tion lead to reduced population density or even rarity, Bible says “be becomes precarious Small populations lose genetic variation, which limits their ability to adapt to changing environments They ion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the at which stage a also experience species’ survival elevated demographic (Genesis I, 28), but it also says the earth” “and replenish the earth.” vastly, and have raped and pillaged the planet for anything and ev- species erything it can Millions of other denizens of space- offer we ship Earth evolved here just as Because they are aquatic and long-lived, pollution and did and are integral functional components of natural ecosystems All disease are important threats to crocodilians and turtles, Earth requires space to live but these two agents are less likely to impact most much ards moveth upon that air, we have overfished the world’s oceans and decimated many birds, but we have not abided by the latter command Instead we to extinction by invasive species, a threatened target can become doomed to extinction and multiply, and have domin- Our numbers have increased stochasticity, predation fruitful, and over every living thing by a random walk process if deaths exceed births When exposed to added insults of climate change, pollution, disease, and competition and which can lead ecological abuses For example, the liz- However, studies of pollutant contamination of to — life on other organisms have as on this planet as people We need embrace bioethics and we must learn to share right to exist aquatic African nile monitors living near abandoned Climate change chemical stockpiles in West Africa showed that pesticide and heavy metal contamination levels in tissues between the sexes, but are not high enough ticeable detrimental effects (Ciliberti et al to differ At have no- present, because of the effects of elevated levels of greenhouse gasses, Earth cannot even dissipate the 2011, 2012) receives from the Nevertheless, Campbell and Campbell (2005) suggest dent solar radiation that lizards could to stay in thermal balance be useful as sentinel species to detect it (Hansen Sun et al fast inci- enough 2005) Climate and monitor low levels of pollution through bioaccumu- change includes not only temperature but also has dra- lation matic effects on the amount and periodicity of precipi- amphibian-reptile-conservation.org 007 August 2012 | Volume | Number | e49 Can humans share spaceship Australian liurcau earth? Gwtnmtnl 50.0 DfltklEWDlnp 40.0 30.0 20.0 15.0 10.0 5.0 0.0 -5.0 10.0 - -150 - 20.0 -30.0 -40.0 -50.0 Trend in Annual Total Rainfall 1970-2011 (mm/lOyrs) S CiKiiiin^nin^l'i Of ftj&YriJiu Figure LS'ltl fVAtmliiiii Trends in annual i EVmhul itf Miilai^ufagp issued wihi ii^is over the past four decades (Reprinted with permission from the Australian total rainfall in Australia Bureau of Meteorology) tation, producing both droughts and floods atmosphere and oceans are must be shared by locally commons (Hardin 1968) that but sadly they have been all, Lizard thermal biology and behavior The Lizards are often described as “cold blooded,” how- much ever, this loose abused humans had gone would be able a confusing misnomer body temperatures —many as high as to persist long after mammals and nearly as high as those of birds Whereas birds and mammals are endothenns that generate body am no lon- heat metabolically to maintain their thermal optima, used to think that Australian desert including varanids, is lizards maintain active Because of the vastness and isolation of the Australian deserts, I term extinct (Pianka 1986), but ger so sanguine Global climate change is I lizards, lizards are ectotherms that rely having a mas- mainly on the external sive impact environment to regulate their body temperature via be- the upon the Australian continent A map from Australian Meteorological Bureau (Figure 2) shows havioral adjustments Nocturnal lizards including most long-term trends in rainfall over the past four decades geckos are passive thermoconfonners, maintaining body much temperatures close to external ambient temperatures The eastern 2/3 drier, whereas rds of the continent has become rainfall westernmost top end and Historically, when has increased dramatically in the interior interior active at night In contrast, are heliothenns that regulate their of Western Australia haviorally Western Australia had a low by choosing to many diurnal lizards body temperature be- be active during times when mm and environmental temperatures are most favorable and by might thus be particularly vulnerable to the 20-30% per selecting appropriate microhabitats such as basking sites decade increase in precipitation After being away from During early morning hours, when environmental tem- my long-term study site for only five years, peratures are cold, these lizards bask in and stochastic annual past it is of about 150-250 I drove right because the vegetation has changed so didn’t even recognize nifex rainfall declining it These much Shrubs are encroaching and floral I spots and achieve body temperatures well above ambi- As the day progresses and temperatures ent conditions spi- climb, they then exploit a narrow thennal changes are having an im- pact on the fauna, including insects and other arthropods, which they can move around and abundances and diversity of along with other daily activities (Figure and lizards, their predators, birds day, as air have declined amphibian-reptile-conservation.org warmer sunnier 008 window during freely, foraging, and substrate temperatures August 2012 | 3) Later in the above thermal rise Volume and mating | Number | e49 Pianka Table Critically Endangered lizards by families, genus, number of species, and localities Family Genus Agamidae Cophotis Sri Agamidae Phrynocephalus Turkmenistan; Armenia; Azerbaijan; Turkey Anguidae Abronia El Salvador, Honduras Anguidae Celestus Hispaniola (Haiti and Dominican Republic) Anguidae Diploglossus Montserrat Carphodactylidae Phyllurus Queensland, Australia Chamaeleonidae Brookesia Madagascar Chamaeleonidae Calumma Madagascar Chamaeleonidae Furcifer Madagascar Diplodactylidae Eurydactyloides New Caledonia Gekkonidae Cnemaspis Western Ghats, India Gekkonidae Dierogekko New Caledonia Gekkonidae Hemidactylus Socotra Island, Gekkonidae Lygodactylus Madagascar Gekkonidae Manoatoa Madagascar Gekkonidae Oedodera New Caledonia Gekkonidae Paroedura Madagascar Geldconidae Phelsuma Madagascar Iguanidae Brachylophus Fiji Iguanidae Cyclura No species Localities Lanka Yemen Bahamas; Jamaica, Cayman Islands, Virgin Islands, Dominican Republic Iguanidae Ctenosaura Oaxaca, Mexico, Honduras Lacertidae Acanthodactylus Israel, Lacertidae Darevskia Georgia; Turkey Lacertidae Eremias Armenia, Azerbaijan, Iran and Turkey Lacertidae Gallotia Canary Lacertidae Iberolacerta Sierra de Francia, Salamanca, Spain Lacertidae Philochortus Egypt; Libya Lacertidae Podarcis Vulcano Phrynosomatidae Sceloporus Pena Blanca, Queretaro, Mexico Polychrotidae Anolis Cuba; Culebra, Puerto Rico Pygopodidae Aprasia Victoria, Australia Scincidae Afroablepharus Annobon Scincidae Brachymeles Cebu Scincidae Chalcides Morocco Scincidae Emoia Christmas Island Scincidae Geoscincus New Caledonia Scincidae Lerista Queensland, Australia Scincidae Lioscincus New Caledonia Scincidae Marmorosphax New Caledonia Scincidae Nannoscincus New Caledonia Scincidae Paracontias Madagascar Scincidae Plestiodon Bermuda Scincidae Psendoacontias Madagascar Sphaeroddactylidae Gonatodes Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Sphaeroddactylidae Sphaerodactylus Haiti Teiidae Ameiva Saint Croix; Tropiduridae Stenocercus Provincia Bolivar, Ecuador amphibian-reptile-conservation.org Oil Turkey, Tunisia, Algeria Islands, Spain Island, Italy Island, Equatorial Guinea Island, Philippines Cochabamba, Bolivia August 2012 | Volume | Number | e49 Can humans share spaceship Varanus salvadorii (above) and V doreanus amphibian-reptile-conservation.org earth? (below) Photos by JeffLemm 012 August 2012 | Volume | Number | e49 Pianka extinction due to invasive species increasing competi- and seems tion or predation, almost total vegetation clearance, or to formed the islands of extinct species were teiids (Ameiva ) from is Guadeloupe and Martinique Two others were tropidurids in the genus Leiocephalus (one known last to its habitat being trans- places where lizards have been hardest hit the large island of Madagascar Deforestation there has been extensive Some 220 + species occur there, and almost half of these (105 species in 21 genera belong- only from Martinique has not been seen since the 1830s and the other was have succumbed into pine plantations One of the over-harvesting Two of the to ing to four families) are classified by the seen around 1900) The Navassa Critically Endangered (14 IUCN as either Endangered (42 speIn Madagascar nature species), rhinoceros iguana, Cyclura onchiopsis, once found only cies), or Vulnerable (49 species) on Navassa Island off Puerto Rico, has not been seen th since the middle of the 19 century The New Zealand endemic diplodactyline gecko, Hoplodactylus delcourti, th also went extinct in the mid 19 Century Last recorded in reserves, 21% of lizards have gone extinct (Sinervo 1840, the Giant galliwasp, an anguid, Celestus occiduus, Calumma, and Furcifer) from Jamaica, was probably driven extinct by introduced herpetoculture trade mongoose predators The known 2010) Madagascar allows massive exports of ismatic and highly sought after lizards, and The IUCN Red only from Mauritius, went extinct around 1600 The Cape Verde ant skink, Macroscincus coctei , died out early in the as “Critically th its gas, The Giant day gecko, Phelsuma gi- island habitats known only from Rodrigues, around the end of the 19 th Mauritius, disappeared century The Tonga ground thought to have gone ex- skink, Tachygyia microlepis, is tinct in 1994 Tetradactylus eastwoodae, a small limb- reduced gerrhosaurid known only from two specimens collected at the type locality not been seen since Figure it was are especially marketable in the List of Threatened Species includes Endangered” (Table 1) Ten species of habitat-specialized arboreal anguids in the genus Abronia from montane cloud forests that have been extensively deforested by humans for agriculture and cattle ranching in Mexico and central America are on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species One species Abronia montecristoi listed as “Critically Endangered” has not been seen in El Salvador for half a Century (Campbell and Frost 1993) but may still occur on a couple of isolated mountains in Copan Honduras (J R McCranie, pers comm.) Six Mexican Abronia species century due to hunting pressures and prolonged drought on , 75 lizard species in 47 genera from 15 families classified gi- 20 geckos {Phelsuma and Uroplatus ) and chameleons (Brookesia skink, Leiolopisma mauritiana, also due to introduction of predators char- its its et al Limpopo, South Africa, has originally described in 1913 A prime candidate for imminent extinction, the very rare Guatemalan A bronia frosti Photo courtesy ofJonathan Camp- bell amphibian-reptile-conservation.org 013 August 2012 | Volume | Number | e49 Can humans share spaceship Figure The rare Earless monitor lizard, Lanthanotus borneensis, are Endangered, earth? from Borneo Photo by Alain Compost The region with and three are Vulnerable Three highly Vulnerable Guatemalan species are A frosti A mel- species edona, and A campbelli diversity Sister to , A Campbell, pers comm.) (J Because of their small population sizes and limited geo- graphic ranges in areas heavily overpopulated with hu- mans, many Abronia are essentially “dead the highest density of threatened Southeast Asia, a recognized hot spot of bio- is monitor known only from Sarawak on Borneo, species: this elusive rare lizard may also Lanthanotus, is threatened oc- a man walking” cur in West Kalimantan, also on Borneo (Iskandar and (Camp- Erdelen 2006) Only about 100 Lanthanotus have ever species that will go extinct during our lifetimes and Frost 1993; J A Campbell, pers comm.) Sadly, some species of Abronia likely went extinct in southern been collected and Guatemala and adjacent El Salvador due to habitat destruction even before they were officially described by 2004a) Lanthanotus bell biologists monitor lizards, the Earless virtually nothing is known about the natural history or biology of this living fossil (Pianka CITES but it is not listed by either the IUCN or should be considered potentially threatened (Campbell and Frost 1993) Rare and endan- gered species of Abronia are also threatened by Monitor lizards illegal collection for the pet trade Eight species of Sceloporus are on the one is Critically Endangered (S exsnl, Of all the lizard families, monitor lizards (Varanidae) are among the most endangered Monitor lizards have long been greatly admired by their many aficionados Accord- IUCN Red List: Mexico), three are Endangered, and four are Vulnerable The Dunes sage- sandy habitats, occurring in localized populations chiefly them the “proudest, best-proportioned, mightiest and most intel- New Mexico and ligent” of lizards Monitors appear curious, can count, brush lizard, S arenicolus, on the Mescalero Sands the Monahan is endemic in southeastern to small areas ing to Mertens (1942), Werner (1904) called of have memories, have shown Sandhills in adjacent Texas Large-scale map knowledge, and plan and ahead (Sweet and Pianka 2003) They have greater aer- gas extraction constitute the major threat to the continued obic capacity, metabolic scope, and stamina than other habitat destruction existence of S and activities associated with oil lizards arenicolus Widespread use of herbicide Because of their size, some large monitors can fragmentation results in increased probability of extinc- body heat in their nocturnal retreats allowing them to emerge the next morning with body temperatures well above ambient air temperatures Their mass thus confers a sort of “inertial homeothenny” on them (McNab and tion of individual populations Other activities, including Auffenberg 1976) for control of Shinnery tions in Sand dune oak is lizard populations ment of unsuitable grassland retain causing significant reduc- due to develop- habitat Increased habitat off road vehicle use, livestock grazing, and fire may Many also monitors are top predators that live in a wide mangrove swamps contribute to habitat destruction (L A Fitzgerald, pers variety of habitats, ranging from comm.) dense forests to savannas to arid deserts amphibian-reptile-conservation.org 014 August 2012 | Volume Some | to species Number | e49 Pianka are aquatic, still some the Indonesian island of Flores and a semi-aquatic, others terrestrial, while others are saxicolous or semi-arboreal or truly arbo- real The varanid body plan lizard thus versatile and is has been exceedingly successful as Komodos were offshore islands few nearby smaller first successfully bred Zoo in captivity at the Smithsonian National in Wash- has been around ington, D.C in 1992, and they have since been bred in since the late Cretaceous, 80-90 million years ago, but several other major zoos Juveniles have been sold to now, many are threatened due many to it human activities ards have Varanus are morphologically conservative, but vary widely in size, and 8-20 g in mass, Pianka total length largest living varanid, the Indonesian ( cm brevicauda (about 17-20 et al 2004) Komodo dragons m by switching to survive to smaller prey closely-related a lizard, CITES under Appendix gigantic tinction, but known cies is may become The IUCN m cently described (Hecht 1975; Auffenberg 1981) Endangered (Welton two of the three Philippine frugivorous species, V mabitang and V olivaceus, as Endangered and Vulnerable, respectively (IUCN 2011) The third, re- , now thought to have added kill pigs (recently introduced by humans) in this Komodo et al 2010) All three of these Phil- humans, and should be to the CITES Appendix I list In 1997, the Europe- nesia of live animals and their products for four species extinct, that Varanus komodoensis routinely teeth bitatawa, should also be considered an Union wisely imposed import restrictions from Indo- were relatives of wombats and koalas) Being contemporary with aboriginal humans in Australia, Megalania very likely ate Homo sapiens as well Its teeth were over two cm long, curved, with the rear edge serrated for cutting and tearing the skin and flesh of its prey as these powerful predators pulled back on their bite Many other species of Varanus also possess such V in areas with high densities of been large diprotodont marsupials (rhinoceros-sized beasts, lists ippine species have restricted geographic ranges and live for- midable as modem-day saltwater crocodiles The major is so unless trade in such spe- subject to strict regulation to avoid utilization Megalania prisca originally placed in the genus Varanus Megalania is a Pleistocene fossil (19,000-26,000 years BP) from Australia, estimated to have reached six in total length and to have weighed as much as 600 kg prey of these gigantic monitor lizards immediate ex- incompatible with survival of the species in the wild.” varanid, These spectacular creatures must have been as by loosely defined as “species II, that are not necessarily threatened with able However, these big lizards are themselves dwarfed by the largest terrestrial All other species of monitor lizards are classified when these Komodo dragons were Resulting studies have doc- genetics should be useful in conservation efforts elephants are thought to have been their major prey small elephants went extinct, of to sponsor studies umented low population sizes and reduced genetic variation and suggest that genetic bottlenecks have occurred (Ciofi 2002; Ciofi et al 2002) These data on population and weights of 150 kg During the Pleistocene, pygmy (Auffenberg 1981) Luckily for varanophiles, were earmarked sales liz- centerpieces of reptile exhibits Funds Komodo dragons in the wild in to the Varanus komodoensis), which attain lengths of three become from these ranging from the diminutive Australian pygmy monitor Varanus other zoos around the world where these giant of monitor and V lizards, V dumerilii, V jobiensis, V beccarri, salvadorii (Engler and Parry-Jones 2007) Island endemic species, such as the handsome Yellow monitor V deer and melinus (also —one monitor actually eviscerated a water buffalo as the Asia are much sought after herpetoculture trade V be added way known to Quince monitor) from SE and bring high prices in the melinus has been proposed to CITES Appendix However, I mature to declare V melinus cupies an area on Mangole and Taliabu it may be as Threatened because pre- oc- it Long as large as (Auffenberg 1981) Varanus komodoensis and Megala- Island and this species thrives in coconut plantations and nia prisca are/were ecological equivalents of large saber- second growth toothed cats (Akersten 1985; Auffenberg 1981) beccarri from the large, impenetrable and uninhabited — Aru Endangered varanids a similar argument can be made for V Islands (S S Sweet, pers comm.) Hunting pressures on some species of varanids for the two skin trade are extremely high with estimates of over Many of Earth’s 70-odd described species of monitor liz- million being killed annually (De Buffrenil and ards (Varanidae) are potentially Endangered Five vara- 2007; Jenkins and Broad 1994; V bengalensis , V.fla- numbers of African V V nebulosus, are officially listed ly using baited treble hooks Shine et nid species, Varanus komodoensis vescens, V under the griseus and , CITES (Convention on , International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora) on Appendix I protected sources/trade.shtml), sified as Hemery Pemetta 2009) Huge list Threatened with extinction al inhumane- (1996, 1998) claim that populations of some monitor lizards, espe- their cially (http://www.cites.org/eng/re- which means these species niloticus are captured Asian V salvator, intensive pressure by and high reproductive Komodo dragons are harvesting rates target ductive animals, they (IUCN few thousand Varanus komodoensis now able to withstand such virtue of their ecological flexibility are clas- considered Vulnerable by the International Union for the may be However, because these high pre-reproductive and early repro- rate may well prove to be unsustainable Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources over the long term (De Buffrenil and 2011) Only a Pemetta (2009), based on a review of CITES records over the 30-year period from 1975 and exist in the wild, and these populations are amphibian-reptile-conservation.org According restricted to 015 Hemery 2007) to August 2012 | Volume | Number | e49 Can humans share spaceship earth? Juvenile Varanus salvator Photo by JeffLemm amphibian-reptile-conservation.org 016 August 2012 | Volume | Number | e49 Pianka 2005, over varanids representing 1.3 million live some 42 species were harvested worldwide during these three decades Over one million (90.6% of the total) of these V belong to just three heavily exploited species: V exan- Over a million live specimens of these three species were exported from Benin, Ghana, and Togo, mostly to the USA According thematicus, to CITES V niloticus, and salvator records, proportions of lizards reported as wild caught have fallen since 1996-98, as putatively “ranched and fanned” animals have risen cus ) and 2005 75% (V As of 2005, as wild caught niloticus) all For to of the 50% exanthematitaken in total harvest V salvator were all ( V being reported still remaining varanid species, num- bers reported as “ranched and fanned” or captive bred have increased steadily since 1998, totaling over Number of species of living varanids traded over the 30 year period from 1975 to 2005, based on CITES data (from Figure 50% by 2005 Pemetta 2009) Commercial trade in live monitor lizards of other species is dwarfed by the vast numbers killed for their skins over the decade from 1995 to 2005, about 20 million lizards were bmtally killed for their skins During the same decade, annual numbers of live lizards traded fluctuated around 80,000 to 90,000 and peaked with of over 120,000 in 2002 Almost 100,000 live monitors of 39 other much less abundant smaller species were exported from Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Tanzania, and Thailand Legal exports from Thailand and the Philippines were stopped in 1992 and 1994, respectively However, uncommon endemic species are still being exported from Indonesia and Malaysia Smuggling and ille- tat et al 2005; destruction in semiarid African and Asian habitats has been extensive Desertification has claimed much of the Sahara and is spreading southwards in the Sahel much of the landscape in Australia remains In contrast, comparatively semi-pristine Although native aboriginals hunt monitor tors cannot lizards for food, most Australian moni- be considered threatened Australia has never The large clade of includes many pygmy Some of these, much tristis have leaked out of Australia V fus, V mertensi, and and available for demand Almost half of the 70 known species of monitor lizards are found in Australia, whereas species richness is considerably lower in Africa and mainland Asia Varanid diversity is also high in tropical SE Asia, where many island endemics occur African and mainland Asian monitors are large and include terrestrial and aquatic species Small size has evolved independently twice: Once in a clade of monitor lizards from the humid tropics of SE Asia east of Wallace’s Line and again in Australia, which its own V sale and and are sale V now Several gouldii flaviru- V varius are also bred in captivity Captive breeding programs reduce for wild caught lizards, servation acanthur- storri, being bred in captivity and are available for and Australia compared V illegally larger Australian monitors, including hosts sought after by including us, V gilleni, V glauerti, V pilbarensis , Yuwono zoos monitors (subgenus Odatria) charismatic species herpetoculturists 1998) Africa, Asia, among permitted legal exports of its fauna, except gal trade continues along with legal exportation (Christy 2008; Pemetta 2009; Schlaepfer However, an animal hence promoting con- in a cage is out of context and can never substitute for a wild one living in its natu- where it evolved, to which it is adapted, and where it makes profound ecological sense (Pianka 2006) ral habitat Unfortunately, captive animals in zoos will never replace those living in the wild because habitat destruction typically irreversible, so re-introduction of captives into natural habitats is is back unlikely large clade of pygmy monitors in the sub- Cane toads and varanids genus Odatria (Pianka 2004b) Because human population densities are much higher in Africa and Asia than in Australia, African, South American cane toads, Bufo marinus, were and Asian duced as a biological control agent monitor lizards face greater threats from humans than those in Australia ily Among the monitor species most heav- in V exanthematicus and aquatic V 1935 (Ujvari and Madsen 2009) These 2012) Cane toads have niloticus) while become an Australian ecoca- tastrophe, recently expanding their range northwards most exploited species is the widespread aquatic SE Asian species V salvator Populations of three other terrestrial Asian species ( V bengalensis, V flavescens, and V nebulosus) have been decimated and all three are listed as Endangered on the CITES Appendix I list Habithe third amphibian-reptile-conservation.org in into sugar cane fields toads are toxic, even as eggs or tiny tadpoles (Shine exploited for the skin trade, two are African (the ter- restrial Queensland intro- and westwards, where they have reached Arnhem Land and the Kimberley during the 2007) tors, 017 last decade (Urban Many invertebrates, some marsupials, freshwater crocodiles, turtles, August 2012 | et al crows, rap- snakes, and lizards Volume | Number | e49 Can humans share spaceship Figure The arboreal Australian pygmy monitor Varanus gilleni Photo by Eric including at least eight species of monitor lizards nus acanthurus, V glauerti, V glebopalma, mitchelli, V mertensi, V panoptes, and ( gouldii, V 70% Vara- Cane toads have been negatively monitor V semiremex V semiremex) that back mortality due to toad invasion (Holland 2004) In a plain, at least 90% V panoptes were of adult male killed by toad ingestion (Ujvari and Madsen 2009) Evidence is overwhelming that invasion of Cane toads has had serious impacts on many Australian varanid populations affected in captivity for release R Pianka second radio-tracking study on the Adelaide River flood- V (Doody et al 2006, 2007, 2009; Shine 2012; Ujvari and Madsen 2009) An effort has been made to breed the Mangrove eat earth? into the wild (S Irwin, pers comm.) Monitors have been Invasive species of lizards (and snakes) found dead with Cane toads in their mouths and/or stomachs Limited anecdotal evidence suggests that some An monitors have adapted to Cane toads either by refusing them or not unfortunate species exists: eating their toxic parts flip side to Some threatened and endangered lizard species have invaded habitats Over a 6-7 where they not belong, sometimes with adverse effects on native species Being tropical, Florida is particularly prone to invasions and hosts a long list of introduced exotics, most by way of the pet trade (Krysko et al 2011) At least eight year period before and after toad invasion, large declines species of Anolis (A chlorocyanus, A cristatellus, A cy- of three species of monitors, Vara- botes, A distichus, A equestris, A garmani, A porcatus, to eat Shine (2010) reviewed the impact of Cane toads on Australia’s native fauna, including monitor lizard populations Varanid populations declined in Cape York follow- ing the arrival of Cane toads (Burnett in population densities nus panoptes (83-96%), V 1997) mertensi (87-93%), and V and A sagrei ) have been introduced (71-97%) were reported by Doody et al (2009) Following toad arrival in the Darwin area, occupancy of mitchelli where A sagrei appears al native A carolinensis 95% to 14% over an 18-month period (Griffiths and McKay 2007) In Kakadu National Park, radio-tracked V panoptes suffered 50water holes by V mertensi fell to from in southern Florida, be displacing the more arbore- Both species coexist in other ar- eas with greater vegetation structure Basilisks and iguanas, both Curly Ctenosaura and Iguana have also invaded The tail lizard, , Leiocephalus carinatus, native to the Bahamas, was introduced to Florida in the 1940s to combat sugar cane pests The Hispaniolan curly tail L schreibersii has invaded more recently Texas homed lizards ( Phrynosoma cornutum ) have long had well-established populations in Florida ironically, these lizards have gone extinct over large parts of their original geographic range in Texas Three exotic species of agamids {Agama agama, Calotes versicolor, and Leiolepis belliana) and three teiids {Ameiva ameiva, Aspidocelis sexlineatus, and Cnemidophorus lemniscatus) have populations in — Florida Mediterranean geckos (Hemidactylus turcicus ) Figure have been introduced Spread of cane toads across Australia into many southern states, includ- ing Florida, Louisiana, and Texas Four other species amphibian-reptile-conservation.org 018 August 2012 | Volume | Number | e49 Pianka of Hemidactylus ( H Veiled chameleons lay very large clutches of eggs and frenatus, H garnoti, H mabouia, on leaves, and H platyurus ) are also found in south Florida and the are primarily insectivorous but they also feed The gecko, Sphaerodactylus elegans has established itself in the Florida Keys The large Asian tokay gecko, Gekko gecko, and Madagascar day geckos Phelsuma grandis, also have established populations in flowers, and buds, as well as an occasional bird or small Florida Keys , mammal Concerned about Hawaiian The Brown Phrynosoma cornutum, Hemidactylus and H garnoti) have also managed to establish , V species has successfully invaded been introduced niloticus has have failed and other native wildlife (Enge and V niloticus appear to Future prospects? Maintenance of the existing diversity of varanids, as well lizards one now human constrictors escalating rates make major changes Sadly, “wildlife Python molurus) (http://www cis management” farce: our one and only spaceship planet Earth Conservation and muralis and the green lacertid (Lacerta viridis) have surgery is in the in Cincinnati, Ohio United Kingdom Lacerta Podarcis sicula was also introduced to Long Island, New York, about 1966-67 Lacerta melisellensis fiumana was reported from Philadephia in 93 and was still ex- tant in 1959 Three exotic lizards have been introduced on the man-made emergency discipline rather like to physiology or war is in political science a Wild animals could and would flourish if people could manage to share the planet and leave them large enough undisturbed areas of habitat However, even if we could somehow designate and maintain large nature reserves, the menace of irreversible global warming seems destined to take a heavy toll on all Earthlings Hopefully, with new approaches and increased global efforts, liz- viridis has been introduced in Kansas The Italian wall lizard is- land of Mauritius, the Asian agamid, Calotes versicolor, ards, including varanids, will Madagascar panther chameleon, Furcifer pardalis, and the Madagascar day gecko, Phelsuma grandis Jackson’s chameleons ( Chamaeleo jacksonii), natives of Kenya and Tanzania, were released in the Hawaiian Islands in 1972 and have spread to several islands where this current the now somewhat of a Podarcis muralis thrive in Garden City, lacertids is they are is — biology first our resource use altered the ecology of over half of the land surface of this New New York, been introduced to Currently Podar- Island, have World Populations of the Euro- themselves in the Long will have established Four species of Old World lizard in we we are failing to adequately conserve species or habitats we humans not even have the will to limit our own population! Humans have now dramatically ( wired.com/wiredscience/2009/ 0/giant- snakes/) pean wall They also contribute to of climate change To address anthropo- genic habitat loss and climate change, es- and two species of pythons, the largest being Burmese pythons populations are unsustainable and are direct and indirect causes of habitat loss tablished breeding populations in Florida These include Boa share belea- guered spaceship Earth Current and expanding levels of of legless Three species of large constrictors have manage and increasingly on our ability to et al be expand- (albeit rather successful) clade depend as clade diversity of all other extant lizards, will ing their geographic range in Florida Snakes, of course, are merely 1987; United States Department of De- around into the wild 2004) Efforts to eradicate this invasive monitor population New Guinea, was acciisland of Guam in the 1950s and Papua fense 2008 ) Cape Coral region, where a feral breeding population has become established These voracious predators are preying on many native North American species, including waterbirds, Burrowing owls {Athene cunicularia), turtles, (Pimm species the eggs of sea movements with disastrous effects on native endemic lizard and bird southwestern Florida The large African aquatic monitor to restrict snake {Boiga irregularis), a native of dentally introduced on the themselves in South Carolina and Georgia Even one varanid tree Australia, Indonesia, sagrei, turcicus have attempted of chameleons between islands Florida Several of these Florida invasive lizard species (Anolis officials these invasive chameleons, Laurie young and feed largely on native insects and snails, at least one of which is itself endangered Males sport three rhinoceros like horns on their snouts and can reach total lengths of nearly 25 cm about half of which consists tail Many people like these prove are Vitt, all this effort my own of — whom suggested Of course, all many ways im- to opinions expressed herein and none of these people are responsible for any of them Thanks us to use his Campbell for allowing photograph of Abronia frosti, Stephen Zoto Jonathan zaya for allowing us to use his photograph of Varanus at- which are exported from Hawaii to the mainland USA where they are sold as pets More recently, the much larger (up to two feet long) Veiled chameleon {Chamaeleo calyptratus ), native to Yemen and Saudi Arabia, has been illegally introduced to Hawaii tractive chameleons, amphibian-reptile-conservation.org massive anthropogenic extinction event Acknowledgments I thank Craig Hassapakis for inviting me to write this essay I am grateful to Robert Browne, Ray Huey, Mitchell Leslie, Sam Sweet, and well established They give birth to living of a strongly prehensile be among the survivors of glauerti, and to Jeff Lemm who generously shared his outstanding photographs of varanids ‘United States Department of Defense 2008 Report to the Congress Control of the 019 Brown Tree August 2012 | Snake Volume | Number | e49 Can humans share spaceship earth? Varanus semiremex Photo by JeffLemm amphibian-reptile-conservation.org 020 August 2012 | Volume | Number | e49 Pianka Convention on International Trade Cites 2012 Literature cited En- in dangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora [Online] MB, Araujo W, Pearson RG 2006 Climate Thuiller warming and the decline of amphibians and Available: reptiles in shtml [Accessed: 27 February 2012] Europe Journal of Biogeography 33(10): 1712-1728 De Auffenberg W 1981 The Behavioral Ecology of the Komodo Monitor University of Florida Press, Gainesville, Florida, the Nile 1: ella 16:181-194 JA 1999 The Banggai Island Diamond J 1987 The worst mistake in the history of the human race Discover magazine (May 1 987):64-66 Doody JS, Green B, Sims R, Rliind D, West P, Steer D , Varanus melinus Vivarium 10:38-40 1997 Colonizing cane toads cause population S Hemery G 2007 Harvest of Impact of intensive harvest on local stocks Mertensi- monitor: Notes on distribution, ecology, and diet of Burnett Buffrenil V, monitor, Varanus niloticus, in Sahelian Africa Part USA MK, Adragna Bayless http://www.cites.org/eng/resources/trade 2006 Indirect impacts of invasive Cane toads {Bufo declines in native predators: reliable anecdotal infor- marinus) on nest predation mation and management implications Pacific Conservation Biology 3(l):65-67 tochelys insulpta) Wildlife Research 33(5):349-354 Doody Boulding KE 1966 The economics of the coming spaceship Earth In: Environmental Quality in a Growing ( status of the world’s reptiles A prelimi- Bufo marinus) on three species of varanid lizards in Australia Mertensiella 16:218-227 Doody Green B, Castellano C, Rliind D 2009 Population-level declines in Australian predators caused by an invasive species Animal Conservation 12(1):46- land, co-authors) 2012 Green B, Sims R, Rhind D 2007 nary assessment of the impacts of invasive cane toads Economy Editor, Jarrett H Resources for the Future/ Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, Mary- USA 3-14 Bohm M et al (217 JS, Pig-nosed turtles ( Caret in The conservation Biological Conserva- JS, 53 of the ge- Enge KM, Krysko KL, Hankins KR, Campbell TS, King FW 2004 Status of the Nile Monitor ( Varanus niloti- nus Abronia Revisionaiy notes, descriptions of four cus) in Southwestern Florida Southeastern Naturalist new 3(4):571-582 tion (In press) Campbell JA, Frost DR 1993 Anguid lizards : tin species, a phylogenetic analysis, and key Bulle- of the American Museum ofNatural History 216:1- 121 Engler feasibility of us- ing introduced lizards as indicators of environmental Evans contamination Applied Herpetology 2(2): 149-159 Catton WR Champaign, Illinois, V USA Changed and York, ( Varanus niloticus ; 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Proceedings fire III 55(4):345-350 of the National Academy of Sciences 106(1 0):3647- Mertens R 1942 Die Familie der Warane (Varanidae) Abhandlungen der Senckenbergischen Naturforschen- 3648 Huey RB, Losos JB, Moritz C 2010 Are lizards toast? den Gesellschaft 462, 466, 467:1-391 Molnar RE 2004 The long and honorable history of Science 328(5980):832-833 IPPC 2007 Contribution of Working Group monitors and their kin Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Varanoid Lizards of the World Editors, Pianka ER, King DR Indiana Univer- Panel on Climate Change, 2007 Editors, Solomon S, sity Press, I to the USA Available: [Online] Bloomington, Indiana, USA 10-67 Murphy JB, Ciofi C, De La Panouse C, Walsh T (Editors) 2002 Komodo Dragons: Biology and Conservation Smithsonian Institute Press, Washington, D.C., USA Qin D, Manning M, Chen Z, Marquis M, Averyt KB, Tignor M, Miller HL Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, United Kingdom and New York, New York, In: > NOAA http://www.ipcc 2012 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Green B 2002 Biology, ecology, and evolution (Chapter 2) In: Komodo Dragons: Biology and Conservation Editors, Murphy JB, Ciofi C, De La Panouse C, Walsh T Smithsonian Institute amphibian-reptile-conservation.org Varanoid Lizards of the World Edi- Bloomington, Indiana, malia: Felidae: Machairodontinae) Natural History Museum of Los Angeles 535-538 Pianka ER 2004b E volution of body size and reproduc- sea-level rise (North Carolina, United States) Geol- Kersten Vara- In: noid Lizards of the World Editors, Pianka ER, King DR Indiana University Press, Bloomington, Indiana, 2009 Timing and magnitude of recent accelerated ogy* New Jersey, USA eton, for behavioral thermoregulation to buffer “cold- blooded” WR, Biawak 3(2):37-45 munity Structure Princeton University Press, Princ- Kearney M, ShinecR, Porter WP 2009 The potential Plassche O, Gehrels spp.) Cnemidophorus tigris in different parts of its geographic range Ecology 51:703-720 Pianka ER 986 Ecology and Natural History ofDesert Lizards: Analyses of the Ecological Niche and Com- A Review and Analysis of the Main Consumer Markets, Using the trade: Pianka ER 1970 Comparative autecology of the lizard [Online] Available: www.iucnredlist.org M, Broad March 2012, 05 database to examine the global trade in live monitor lizards ( Varanus of Threatened Species Ver- [Accessed: 28 February 2012] Jenkins [Accessed: 13:11:17 EST] 87 IUCN http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/oa/climate/ globalwarming.html phibians and reptiles in Indonesia: Issues and prob- Data Center [Online] http://www.zo.utexas.edu/courses/THOC/Vanishing- Book.html [Accessed: 28 February 2012] Pianka ER, Vitt LJ 2003 Lizards: Windows lution 022 to the Evo- of Diversity University of California Press, August 2012 | Volume | Number | e49 Pianka Berkeley, California, Steadman DW 2006 Extinction and Biogeographv of Tropical Pacific Birds The University of Chicago USA Pianka ER, King DR, King AR (Editors) 2004 Vara- noid Lizards of the World Indiana University Press, Bloomington, Indiana, USA Pimm Guam Trends SL 1987 The snake that ate Press, Chicago, Illinois, Sweet SS, Pianka ER 2003 The lizard kings Sweet SS, Pianka ER 2007 Monitors, mammals and Wallace’s Line Third multidisciplinary world confer- http:// Alexander Koenig Museum, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quaternary_extinction_event ence on monitor [Accessed: 28 February 2012] Bonn, Germany.Mertensiella 16:79-99 Reptile database 2012 [Online] Available: http://www reptile-database.org/db-info/SpeciesStat.html Traill [Ac- March 2012] Ruddiman WF 2003 The anthropogenic greenhouse era began thousands of years ago Climatic Change Ujvari, B, New toads MA, Hoover C, Dodd Jr KD 2005 Chal- lenges in evaluating the impact of the trade in am- phibians and reptiles on wild populations Bioscience Bufo marinus) in Australia Quarterly Review of Biology 85(3):253-291 P, A biological per- Wildlife Sinervo B, Yuwono FB in northern Sumatra sia In: (with 25 co-authors) 2010 Erosion of lizard diversity 1998 The trade of live reptiles in Indone- by climate change and and Sustainable Use of Indonesia Editor, Erdelen W Conservation, Trade Lizards and Snakes in Research 25(4):437-447 et al Siler Terrarienkunde 5:84-87, 99-101 of commercially harvested water , (Bi- Werner E 1904 Die Warane Blatter fur Aquarien und Shine R, Ambariyanto, Harlow PS, Mumpuni 1998 Varanus salvator B 658 Mertensiella 9:61-68 traits Bufo marinus) Herpetological Conservation hidden biogeographic boundary and a novel flagship species for conservation Biology Letters 6(5): 654- on the commercial harvesting of Indonesian monitors, 2009 Increased mortality of naive A spectacular new Philippine monitor lizard reveals a Ambariyanto, Boeadi, Mumpuni, Ke- Monitoring monitors: ( Welton LJ, ( Ecological T CD, Bennett D, Diesmos A, Duya MR, Dugay R, Rico ELB, VAN Weerd M, Brown, R 2010 Shine R 2010 The ecological impact of invasive cane reptiles Madsen range model Proceedings of the Royal Society ological Sciences) 274(1616): 1413-1419 55(3):256-264 spective Conservation Biological and Biology 4(2):248-25 Urban M, Phillips BL, Skelly DK, S hin er R 2007 The cane toad’s ( Chaunus marinus) increasing ability to invade Australia is revealed by a dynamically updated Jersey, USA JS 1996 estimates meta-analysis of 30 years varandid lizards after the invasion of non-native cane Princeton University Press, Princeton, ogh A 139(2007):159-166 Ruddiman WF 2005 Plows, Plagues, and Petroleum Shine R, Harlow LW, Bradshaw CJA, Brook BW 2007 Minimum of published 61(3):261-293 toads lizards viable population size: cessed: 19 Schlaepfer Natural History 112(9):40-45 in Ecology and Evolution 2(10):293-295 Quaternary extinction event [Online] Available: USA Mertensiella 9:9-15 altered thermal Received: 05 March 2012 Accepted: 09 May 2012 niches Science 328(5980):894-899 Smil V 2001 Enriching the Earth: Fritz Haber, Carl Bosch and the Transformation of World Food Production The MIT Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts, Published: 08 August 2012 USA ERIC R PIANKA earned a B.A from Carleton College in 1960, a Ph.D from the University of Wash- ington in Seattle in 1965, and the D.Sc degree on his collected works in 1990 from the University of He was MacArthur at Princeton University during 1966-68 He is currently the Denton A Cooley Centennial Professor of Zoology at the University of Texas in Austin, where he has taught evolutionary ecology since 1968 Pianka has presented hundreds of invited lectures at most of the world’s major academic institutions as well as several important plenary Western Australia a postdoctoral student with Robert H During his 45 year academic career, Eric Pianka sponsored 20 graduate students and published well over a hundred scientific papers, four of which became “Citation Classics,” as well as dozens of lectures invited articles, ary Ecology , book chapters, and first books including an autobiography His classic textbook Evolution- published in 1974 went through seven editions, and has been translated into Greek, Japanese, Polish, Russian, and Spanish, and amphibian-reptile-conservation.org 023 is now available as an eBook August 2012 | Volume | Number | e49 Can humans share spaceship Varanus jobiensis (above) and V melinus amphibian-reptile-conservation.org earth? (below) Photos by Robert Sprackland 024 August 2012 | Volume | Number | e49 CONTENTS Administration, journal information (Instructions to Authors), and copyright notice — Can humans share spaceship Eric R Pianka earth? Back cover Table of Contents VOLUME Inside front cover 2013 NUMBER ... Montserrat Carphodactylidae Phyllurus Queensland, Australia Chamaeleonidae Brookesia Madagascar Chamaeleonidae Calumma Madagascar Chamaeleonidae Furcifer Madagascar Diplodactylidae Eurydactyloides... Gekkonidae Oedodera New Caledonia Gekkonidae Paroedura Madagascar Geldconidae Phelsuma Madagascar Iguanidae Brachylophus Fiji Iguanidae Cyclura No species Localities Lanka Yemen Bahamas; Jamaica, Cayman... Armenia, Azerbaijan, Iran and Turkey Lacertidae Gallotia Canary Lacertidae Iberolacerta Sierra de Francia, Salamanca, Spain Lacertidae Philochortus Egypt; Libya Lacertidae Podarcis Vulcano Phrynosomatidae