Analysis of The Coast Horned Lizards Depopulation
Today, I would like to talk about how the county can help the Coast Horned Lizard (Phrynosoma coronatum) survive. This species has experienced a decline in the past months and years. The reason I am bringing this up, as well as this species, is because I have always liked reptiles, and as I was learning about biodiversity in science class.
I am writing to you since there was a decline in the Coast Horned Lizards population and it's still going down. Their population is going down because much of the Coast Horned Lizards ;habitat has been turned into residential housing and business forcing them to move into new homes. That's only one of the many reasons why the Coast Horned Lizards population is going down. It isn't just the Coast Horned Lizard being forced out, there are many other species that have to be forced out of their own habitat. Their food is not always going to move with the Coast Horned Lizard so they might experience hunger, which might be one of the reasons they are declining in population. For example, if the Native ants go to a different habitat then the Coast Horned Lizard would not have their main food source. There is also an invasive species of ants eating the main food source of the Coast horned Lizards.
What can you do to help? Here are some ways you can contribute to the decrease of the Coast Horned Lizards population. You can help by first saving their habitat by decreasing the construction in areas of the Coast Horned Lizard. This would benefit by having a bigger and better space where the Coast Horned Lizards can thrive without being harmed by humans and construction. In addition to that, the protection of the Coast Horned Lizard should be a bigger priority in helping our local ecosystem.
As you know, every plant and animal species is necessary to keep our ecosystems balanced. By dedicating natural land to be protected, you protect the Coast Horned Lizard as well the stability of its predator population. Another way you can help is if you keep the invasive ant species controlled by sending naturalists to monitor their population. All of these things as well as other funds and educational resources can help keep our ecosystem afloat (“Blainville's Horned Lizard - Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area (US National Park Service).
Where does the Coast Horned Lizard live? The Coast horned lizard, which is widespread in coastal and cismontane California, traverses to the east side of the Baja Peninsula, making contact with it near Baha de Los Angeles. Along the east coast, they have lived for a long time until humanity has tooken over their habitat.
According to recent research on the decline of the coast horned lizard there has been some reasons for what has happened as to why they have lost their habitat and their species has decreased due to habitat destruction, pesticides and introduced fire ants (Burton). Also by different species eating their main meal having to adjust.
Here are some facts on the Coast Horned Lizard that can keep you safe and what they eat to help preserve their main meal. What should you do to help preserve the Coast Horned Lizards if you live in coastal or in cismontane California? You probably won’t need to look out for their prey because they are pretty small and are not that harmful. Here are some of their diets that you might need to look out for: they eat mostly Ants which might not be as harmful, but they also eat some invertebrates like spiders, grasshoppers, and beetles. If they were to go extinct the harvester ants wouldn't be able to be under control. The Coast Horned Lizard usually hunts on a flat rocky open area to keep an eye on their prey but still keeps in hiding and using its tongue to catch them (Wikipedia).
The Coast Horned Lizard needs to adapt a lot of times due to construction which makes it hard for the Coast Horned Lizard to stay in one place. All through the Coast Horned Lizard has some unique adaptations when fighting its predators. The lizard has a spiny shell around their body to protect them from any predators grabbing them. If the predator exceeds when grabbing the lizard it can inflate into a big spiky balloon making it harder for the predators, such as hawks, roadrunners, snakes, lizards, dogs, wolves, and coyotes to swallow (Pianka and Hodges). The reason why Coast horned lizards are having trouble going back to repopulating is because the current construction and more buildings coming up into different habitats of the Coast Horned Lizard.
If the Coast Horned Lizard would have gone extinct the population of harvester ants would not be under control.So helping this species to come back would help a lot on keeping homes not as infested with ants and keeping the harvest ant population controlled.
