Despite Sri Lanka’s rich biodiversity and being one of the world’s hotspots, no detailed studies have been yet done here.

To investigate the potential impacts of global climate change on the island species, including lizards is of paramount importance, says a leading young herpetologist –one who specializes on amphibians and reptiles- Ruchira Somaweera.

However, he says several observable distribution shifts had taken place in the recent past as certain lizards which were previously rare in the hills, citing examples like Varanus bengalensis –land monitors- are now more or less frequently met in the wet hills.

According to Ruchira, a silent threat especially in the tropical moist montane forests of the Knuckles and Horton Plains National Park is the large scale forest dieback –a condition in trees or woody plants in which peripheral parts are killed- which could be the result of rain and cloud water acidification.

He terms it because Knuckles and Horton Plains occupy an extreme climatic niche; tropical montane lizards are also at risk from climate change especially warming.

Former Chief Economist to the World Bank, Sir Nicholas Stern, recently said if countries especially the developed nations don’t take action against climate change, then in the next 50 years, 40 per cent of wild species could become extinct.

Coming back to Ruchira, he said long term data from Nuwara Eliya show that average temperature has increased by almost 1.5 centigrade in the course of the past 120 years, while rainfall has decreased by more than 20 per cent.

The 28-year old Ruchira is the only herpetologist in Sri Lanka to have photographed all 98 snake species including the 15 sea snakes here.

He believes that a network among the herpetologists of Sri Lanka is of paramount importance. "This network will make us more results oriented and enable us to work with other countries especially nighbouring India."

Needles to say there are several difficulties faced by local taxonomists, such as lack of comparative material in the National Museum as well as in zoology museums of universities throughout the country and lack of properly preserved collections in the National Museum.

Most of the relict species are highly moisture dependent, hence the catastrophic mass mortalities of Cophotis ceylanica which took place in the Nuwara Eliya district in early 1992 and from 1994 to 1995 were probably results of prolonged drought and temperature increases.

Ruchira and his wife Nilusha, both Zoology Honours graduates of the University of Peradeniya recently released the much need book `Lizards of Sri Lanka,’ a colour guide of 303 pages with field keys.

Ruchira, an academic staff member of the University of Peradeniya is also the author of Sri Lankawe Sarpayi –the Snakes of Sri Lanka- and the creator of Sri Lanka Reptile.com.

He is a member of several herpetological organizations including the World Conservation Union-IUCN- SSC Crocodile Specialists Group. Ruchira is currently reading for his PhD, studying the Australian freshwater crocodiles at Lake Argyle, under the supervision of Professor Rick Shine at University of Sydney.

Nilusha, a relatively new comer to the field, was studying medical entomology at the University of Peradeniya, and is currently a Research Associate at the University of Sydney Tropical Ecology Research Facility in Darwin. She is currently assisting an array of herpetological projects on the impact of cane toads in Australia.

Speaking exclusively to The Island, Ruchira said: "Our objective has been to provide a window for students and herp enthusiasts from Sri Lanka and abroad to have a closer and more scientific look at the island’s rich lizard fauna and produce more and more reptile enthusiasts appreciating wildlife of Sri Lanka."

Of the 96 lizard species in Sri Lanka, 70 are endemic –found nowhere else in the world. Sri Lanka is home to 18 Agamidae -lizard- species of which 15 are endemic, one Chamaeleonidae –chameleon- species, 42 Gekkonidae –gecko- species of which 31 are endemic, two Lacertidae –terrestrial lizard- , 31 Scincidae –skinks- of which 24 are endemic and two Varanidae species.

Endemic species can be defined as those species which are confined only to a particular locality. Such organisms are very important from the point of view of conservation as their disappearance means extinction of the species as they are not found anywhere else.

No doubt endemism represents a unique feature in the process of evolution which could be perpetuated and sustained only in the locality concerned by imperfectly understood attributes of environmental quality.

World renowned herpetologist Indraneil Das terms the work of Somaweeras a first for the region- showing thumb nail images for the benefit of non technical users of the guide.

According to Das, the Somaweeras had set a high standard for field guides to an important component of the herpetofauna. He hopes this example would be emulated regionally and globally.