Press Release 2/2/14 Qatar ----The
state of Qatar occupies a
small peninsula of 11,500 km2 within the Arabian Peninsula .
Both Qatar 's
population and economy have increased rapidly during the last decades, thus
putting a strong pressure on native species. The commitment of the Qatari
government towards sustainable development has triggered a variety of studies
of its dwindling biodiversity.
A recent lizard inventory project has confirmed the
occurrence of 21 lizard species, two of them being the first records to the
fauna of Qatar ,
the Persian leaf-toed gecko and the Gulf sand gecko. The Qatari lizards belong
to eight different families, but the most abundant family is Gekkonidae with
nine species of nocturnal Geckos.
The authors of this study have found that while some
lizard species are widespread, others are only present in few locations. In
fact, lizard species richness varied between one and eleven species per grid
square of 10x10 km. The most abundant lizard species are associated with
artificial habitats made by human activities, and some of these are probably
introduced. Other lizard species appear to be rare and would require urgent
conservation measures. Despite the small size and flat relief of the country,
some areas are not easily accessible and were under sampled. The study was
published in the open access journal ZooKeys.
The authors believe that additional lizard species
might be present. "Additional efforts and funds are needed for future
field surveys including all protected areas and private farms in order to
complete the inventory of lizards of Qatar.", explains one of the authors
Dr. Cogalniceanu. "The complete distribution database will be valuable to
identify and plan adequate conservation measures for lizards. The data will
also allow for species distribution modelling and predicting shifts in species
range under different climate change scenarios and human impact factors."
This study was possible thanks to the
efforts and close collaboration of a large international team from Qatar (Ministry of
Environment, Qatar Foundation and Qatar University) and several European
institutions from Spain (University of
Zaragoza, Aranzadi Society of
Sciences, Forest Sciences Centre of
Catalonia-CTFC, Spanish
National Research Council-CSIC) and Romania (University Ovidius Constanţa).
Original Source
Cogălniceanu D, Castilla AM, Valdeón A, Gosá A,
Al-Jaidah N, Alkuwary A, Saifelnasr EOH, Mas-Peinado P, Richer R, Al-Hemaidi
AAM (2014) A preliminary report on the distribution of lizards in Qatar .
ZooKeys 373: 67. doi: 10.3897/zookeys.373.5994
Contact person
Dr Essam OH Saifelnasr Qatar Biodiversity Expert
Ministry of Environment (MOE)
E-mail: esnasr@moe.gov.qa
Phone, office 00974 44261208
Fax 00974 44763676
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