German-Vietnamese team examines the effects of climate change on threatened reptile species
As a result of the change in the global climate, the optimal distribution of terrestrial organisms is shifting, which has particularly serious consequences for species with only a small distribution area. Lichtenfelder’s tiger gecko (Goniurosaurus lichtenfelderi) only occurs in a few forested areas in the Vietnamese-Chinese border area. The species is listed as Vulnerable according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).
The team around Prof. Dr. Truong Quang Nguyen from Vietnam’s IEBR, Hanoi, and Prof. Dr. Thomas Ziegler from Cologne Zoo and the modeling specialist Dr. Dennis Rödder from the Museum Koenig in Bonn, both Germany, examined the potential distribution under different climatic conditions. Tiger gecko researcher Hai Ngoc Ngo, who is writing his doctoral thesis in Cologne University / Cologne Zoo, Germany, and the Cologne master’s student Laurenz Gewiss essentially contributed to the study as well.
The models have just been published in the journal Frontiers of Biogeography: the analyses showed that the distribution could shift to the north in the near future and shrink considerably or that the species could disappear completely by 2070 due to a lack of suitable habitats.
Lichtenfelder’s tiger gecko was only recently included in the CITES appendices due to the research results and the input of the German-Vietnamese cooperation team. In order to counteract complete extinction, this threatened gecko is also cared for and successfully reproduced in the North Vietnamese Melinh Station for Biodiversity and in the Cologne Zoo, Germany, as part of conservation breeding.
The current study also shows which forests in the previously unprotected Chinese-Vietnamese border area are given the highest priority as a retreat for this species and that cross-border conservation projects and protected areas need to be set up there.
Ngo, H. N., H. Q. Nguyen, T. Q. Phan, T. Q. Nguyen, L. R. Gewiss, D. Rödder and T. Ziegler (2022): Modeling the environmental refugia of the endangered Lichtenfelder’s Tiger Gecko (Goniurosaurus lichtenfelderi) towards implementation of transboundary conservation. – Frontiers of Biogeography 2022, 14.1, e51167. doi:10.21425/F5FBG51167 (PDF)
Photo credit: Prof. Dr. T. Ziegler