PLATE 9
Interior of rainforest at Toocog. Notice less dense vegetation as compared with Pl. 8.
PLATE 10
Fig. 1. Rainforest along Río San Román, 16 kilometers north-northwest of Chinajá.
Fig. 2. Rain pond in forest at Toocog. This was a breeding site for six species of frogs.
[Ecology of the Herpetofauna]
Our two visits to Chinajá and Toocog afforded the opportunity to gather data on the ecology of the rainforests of southern El Petén and to study the relationships between the environment and members of the herpetofauna. Tropical rainforests present the optimum conditions for life, and it is in this environment that life reaches its greatest diversity. Here, too, biological inter-relationships are most complex. This complexity is illustrated by the presence of many species of some genera, all of which are found together in the same geographic region. In the rainforests of southern El Petén there are six species of Anolis, five of Hyla, four of Bothrops, and three of Coniophanes. Obviously, the diversity of ecological niches in the rainforest is sufficient to support a variety of related species. Of the examples mentioned above, fairly adequate ecological data were obtained for most of the species of Anolis, which will be used to show the ecological diversity and vertical stratification of sympatric species in the rainforests.