The effect of effect of environmental seasonality and habitat structure on the spatial and temporal patterns of the reptile and amphibian communities in Chamela, Jalisco, Mexico was evaluated. Three complementary sampling techniques (plots, visual transects and sampling arrays with drift fences and pitfall traps) were used in three sites during the wet and dry seasons using a block design to sample the seasonally dry tropical forest (SDTF) and its adjacent arroyo forest (VA). Thirty-four species were recorded (25 of reptiles and 9 of amphibians). The species accumulation curves and richness predictors suggested sampling effort was appropriated. Highest values of species richness, diversity and relative abundance were recorded in the VA when compared with the SDTF. Seasonal fluctuations were marker in the amphibian community and in the SDTF than in reptiles and the VA respectively. There is a marked species turn over both spatially (along the VA and SDTF) and temporally (across the seasons) more especially evident in amphibians. Arroyo forest is important for the maintenance of species diversity, especially for amphibians, because in this vegetation environmental seasonality is less marked, and both productivity and vegetation structure is higher. The response of amphibians to changes in vegetation structure was more marked than those recorded in reptiles.
