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Abstract
Habitat specialization is recorded as one of the central factors that make species vulnerable to extinction. Among snakes, there is considerable variation in this trait, as some species are specialists and others are generalists in habitat use. We have quantified habitat specialization in the snakes of the southern Iberian Peninsula, and compared it with their abundance and IUCN categories. All data were combined for a principal components analysis that discriminated two main groups: three generalist species that live in all types of habitat, and five specialist species that ranged from rather scarce to extremely rare and are found only in unaltered habitats. The three generalist snakes are not threatened and their IUCN category is Least Concern. Three out of the five specialist species are categorized as Near Threatened, Vulnerable, and Endangered at regional or national levels. The other two species are currently considered Not Threatened and we discuss whether they are incorrectly classified. The conservation status of snakes is difficult to evaluate because of their secretive habits and low population densities. We suggest that quantifying habitat specialization may be a useful tool for assessing the conservation status of secretive organisms such as snakes.
Acknowledgements
We thank people who kindly helped us in field sampling during these years, including Jesús Caro, Santiago Honrubia, Manuel Moreno, and David Pleguezuelos. This study was partially funded by the research project REN2000‐1376 GLO of the Spanish MCYT, in a grant to the authors M.F. and J.M.P. Xavier Santos is supported by a Beatriu de Pinós postdoctoral grant (BP‐B1 10211) from the Generalitat de Catalunya.
