This study documents patternsof habitat use by reptiles in low and medium height tropical forest in threesuccessional stages: less than 10 years old, between 10 and 25 years old, andmature (>30 years old) forests. The investigation took place between April1997 and January 1998 in the Calakmul Biosphere Reserve, Campeche, Mexico. Samplingtook place throughout one year period to include the three predominant seasonsin the region: dry, wet and nortes. To avoid sampling biases, we usedcomplementary methods: direct search in transects and outside transects, andtrapping. We used multivariate and ordination techniques to identify trendsin habitat use. Once that patterns of habitat use were identified, we used analysisof variance to test differences in abundance. We identified 10 species withhigh abundance, inhabiting at least in five of the six treatments, which wereused to compare differences between preserved and disturbed sites.
