Getting your feet wet: Responses of the endangered pygmy bluetongue lizard (Tiliqua adelaidensis) to rain induced burrow flooding

The pygmy bluetongue lizard, Tiliqua adelaidensis, is an endangered Australian skink. It refuges in narrow vertical burrows with single entrances, constructed by lycosid and mygalomorph spiders. Lizards spend most of their time associated with their burrows. Following heavy rainfall events we observed that some burrows failed to drain rapidly, but that lizards remained in those burrows immersed in water. The two impacts most likely to have negative effects on lizard populations were that at least one lizard was seen to become trapped in wet clay, and that some burrows, usually unoccupied ones, were degraded as debris and soil were washed into them. Burrow destruction was more prevalent in an area without grass cover, implying a detrimental impact of heavy grazing.