Akademik Veri Yönetim Sistemi
ZOOLOGY IN THE MIDDLE EAST, 2026 (SCI-Expanded, Scopus)
The present study aimed to evaluate the ecological niche characteristics, habitat preferences and potential lineage differentiation of Anatololacerta ibrahimi occurring west of the G & ouml;ksu River and Anatololacerta danfordi distributed east of the river. By integrating ecological niche modelling, niche overlap analyses and habitat connectivity assessments, ecological niche models based on bioclimatic variables yielded high predictive performance, with area under the curve (AUC) values of 0.960 (TSS = 0.952) for A. ibrahimi and 0.986 (TSS = 0.979) for A. danfordi. Similarly, models incorporating topographic predictors showed very high accuracy, with AUC values of 0.992 (TSS = 0.985) and 0.977 (TSS = 0.976), respectively. Niche overlap analyses revealed limited overlap in environmental space, suggesting structured environmental segregation between taxa. Connectivity analyses further indicated that potential ecological corridors between the distributions of A. ibrahimi and A. danfordi exhibit low passage quality and potentially limit dispersal between suitable habitat patches across the G & ouml;ksu River region. Ecological differentiation between the two lineages was primarily associated with seasonal vegetation dynamics, with A. ibrahimi linked to winter-spring productivity (January, February, June NDVI), whereas A. danfordi showed stronger associations with peak summer productivity (July NDVI). Collectively, these results provide ecological evidence consistent with niche differentiation playing a role in the divergence of these taxa.