Path to Extinction: Impact of Vegetational Change on Lizard Populations on Arapaho Prairie in the Nebraska Sandhills

Since removal of cattle from Arapaho Prairie in 1977, secondary succession has resulted in increased vegetation cover. Studies of resident lizards on a 150 × 150 meter grid revealed: (1) one lizard species (Holbrookia maculata) has essentially been eliminated in 15 years (from a maximum of 74 residents in 1979 to three residents in 1993); (2) a second lizard population (Sceloporus undulatus) has declined from 56 residents in 1979 to fewer than 30 residents in 1993; and (3) preferred microhabitats occupied by lizards have not changed, but their microgeographic distributions have shifted to areas of blowouts, and home ranges have decreased.