Distribution and Life Histories of Amphibians and Reptiles

Abstract

Amphibians and reptiles are significant components of many tropical communities. They usually occur in relatively high population densities, which often exceed the biomass of other vertebrates (Vitt 1990). This makes them important predators and thus regulators of the arthropod fauna. Their high biomass provides a prey base in many habitats as well. Besides this central position in the food web of many ecosystems, amphibians and reptiles are functionally important as biological indicators of environmental degradation owing to their specific habitat requirements and their limited ways to disperse. With the ever-increasing devastation of tropical rainforest, the selection of protected areas, which represent pristine ecosystems, becomes more and more urgent. Active conservation of such ecosystems with their specific species and their interactions is exclusively possible if this conservation is based on an extensive knowledge of the ecosystem concerned.