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    Ecological and behavioural traits of the Sri Lankan water monitor (Varanus salvator) in an urban landscape of Western Province, Sri Lanka

    Access Status
    Fulltext not available
    Authors
    Karunarathna, S.
    Surasinghe, T.
    Madawala, M.
    Somaweera, Ruchira
    Amarasinghe, A.
    Date
    2017
    Type
    Journal Article
    
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    Citation
    Karunarathna, S. and Surasinghe, T. and Madawala, M. and Somaweera, R. and Amarasinghe, A. 2017. Ecological and behavioural traits of the Sri Lankan water monitor (Varanus salvator) in an urban landscape of Western Province, Sri Lanka. Marine and Freshwater Research. 68 (12): pp. 2242-2252.
    Source Title
    Marine and Freshwater Research
    DOI
    10.1071/MF17038
    ISSN
    1323-1650
    School
    School of Molecular and Life Sciences (MLS)
    URI
    http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/71046
    Collection
    • Curtin Research Publications
    Abstract

    The Asian water monitor Varanus salvator is one of the largest species of lizard in the world and is widespread on the island of Sri Lanka. In the present study, we conducted a 7-month survey within a 5-km stretch in the urbanised Attanagalu-Oya river area to study habitat associations, mesohabitat use and behaviour of V. salvator in urban landscapes. The greatest number of monitor sightings was made in aquatic habitats, followed by terrestrial and arboreal habitats within the riparian zone. Sightings of different life history stages of V. salvator across major habitat types varied significantly. The adults and subadults associated mostly with aquatic and terrestrial habitats, whereas hatchlings and juveniles associated mostly with aquatic and arboreal habitats. Given variable sighting frequencies of distinct life history stages across different major habitat types, it is likely that there is substantial age-structured niche partitioning in V. salvator. The urban population of V. salvator studied seemed to be fairly abundant, and resilient to anthropogenic stressors and adversity of urbanisation. In species-depauperate urban environments, ecosystem functions provisioned by V. salvator as generalist predators as well as scavengers are arguably significant and deserve further investigation. No direct anthropogenic threats were observed during the study.

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