Challenges in alpine lizard conservation: evaluating monitoring methods for cryptic alpine geckos
Long-term monitoring is pivotal to understanding population trends in threatened species and quantifying the impact of conservation interventions. Effective monitoring methods are generally underdeveloped or absent for taxa inhabiting the alpine zone. In Aotearoa | New Zealand (NZ), the alpine zone covers c. 11% of the land mass and supports a diverse fauna of at least 34 native lizard species.