Site Fidelity of Gekko japonicus to Artificially Lit Environments

Abstract

Several reptiles and amphibians frequently occur in environments exposed to artificial lights and appear to effectively hunt prey animals attracted to the light. Therefore, it would be beneficial for them to use such a habitat to survive in urban areas. In this paper, we examined site fidelity of a nocturnal gecko, Gekko japonicus, to a particular artificial light environment in the field. We observed short-term dependence on the same light environment by individual geckos for four to nine consecutive nights and also examined long-term site fidelity once every 10 days from March to November. The same individual frequently came to the particular light for several consecutive nights, but day and time of appearance varied among individuals. Over several months, 20% of marked individuals were repeatedly sighted at the same place although the number of their re-sightings was low (1–5 times). These results suggest that each G. japonicus may settle down in a certain artificially lit environment and use it repeatedly, but the dependence on lights not be so strong.