Storm surge impacts on a coastal lizard community: a case study on how climate change may affect endemic species

Climate change threatens many species, and Aotearoa | New Zealand’s lizards may be particularly vulnerable due to their limited dispersal ability and exacerbating threats such as invasive predators. In April 2020, a storm surge on the Wellington south coast inundated habitats occupied by northern grass skinks (Oligosoma polychroma) and Raukawa geckos (Woodworthia maculata). We compared pre-and post-inundation abundance, body size, and spatial distribution at inundated and unaffected sites. Inundation did not significantly affect the relative abundance of either species. However, inundation appeared to decrease O. polychroma body sizes on average in the populations and cause lizard distributions within study sites to contract. The lack of significant effects on abundance suggests that these populations had a degree of natural resilience to an acute flooding event. However, the frequency of significant storm surges is likely to increase within the next decades and it is unknown whether lizard populations are resilient to repeated disturbance.