e-Digest Statistics about: Wildlife
Amphibians and reptiles
Table 13 summarises information on the UK's six native amphibians and seven native reptiles in a national and global context [15]. The total number of breeding adults and number of UK populations were estimated for each species using information from a variety of sources. Estimates for most species, with the exception of natterjack toad, sand lizard and smooth snake, were made by extrapolation from small sample sizes with little data available on variations in habitat size or changes in species distribution and population sizes. The estimates for most species must therefore be treated with caution.
Data on international distribution were combined with the personal comments of national experts to provide an estimate of the global "range area" for each species. The dataset incorporates over one million recent records of the UK species across their world ranges, representing over 25,000 map entries. The area of species occurrence in the UK has been estimated and expressed as a percentage of the entire world range. UK populations represent a small but significant section of each entire taxon, particularly the natterjack toad and the common frog, for which the UK makes up over 5 per cent of both their world ranges. Current estimates of the palmate newt, Great crested newt and Western grass snake suggest that the importance of the UK for these species may have been underestimated previously, with these data showing the UK containing approximately 4 per cent of these species' world ranges. Table 13 also summarises species' status and the countries in which each species is found in the UK. This latter information should also be treated with some caution; for example, the status of the common lizard in Northern Ireland is not adequately known and the sand lizard may be present in Wales.
In Detail:
Further Information:
- Source:
- JNCC
- Sustainable Development Indicators:
- Scarce and threatened native species
Data Tables:
| Table
No. |
Title | Download
file type |
| 13 | Estimated populations and geographic distribution of native amphibians and reptiles: 1995 |
- References, further reading and links to other resources:
- [15] Langton, T.E.S. and Beckett, C.L., (1996). Reptiles and amphibians in the UK: a review of their status and international significance. JNCC, Peterborough.
- Internet Links:
- Joint Nature Conservation Committee (JNCC)
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Page last modified: 16 September 2003
Page published: 10 September 2003