Haematology and Ectoparasite Data for Australian Sleepy Lizards

Aggregating physiological and parasitological measurements from 119 wild Australian sleepy lizards (Tiliqua rugosa) sampled in 2010. Data includes body size, white blood cell counts, and ectoparasite loads from two populations in southern Australia's cereal croplands. It was collected through a collaborative study between wildlife ecologists and veterinary scientists.

Use Cases

• Compare Linear Body Size Index (LBSI) and haematological parameters like Absolute Heterophil Count between lizards from intensively managed cropping and less intensively managed grazing environments.
• Analyze the relationship between Snout-Vent Length (mm) and Total No. Ectoparasites per Animal across different Age Class and Habitat Type categories.
• Investigate H:L Ratio (Absolute) and % Lymphocytes as potential indicators of physiological health in response to landscape modification, using the Connectivity Class and Landscape No. variables.
• Model ectoparasite load (Total No. Ectoparasites per Animal) as a function of host health metrics like % Polychromasia and Total White Blood Cell Count.

Strengths

• Data was collected from 119 individually microchipped animals, providing a substantial sample size for a wildlife study.
• The study design explicitly compares two distinct populations (cropping vs. grazing) and includes multiple landscape-scale sites across a large 571,200-hectare area.
• Haematological processing was validated through a collaboration between wildlife ecologists and veterinary scientists.

Limitations

• The dataset is relatively small (119 rows) for training complex machine learning models without careful feature engineering or augmentation.
• Data is from a single year (2010), limiting analysis of temporal trends or long-term ecological changes.
• Geographic scope is limited to specific sites in southern Australia's Murray Mallee region, which may limit generalizability to other lizard populations.

Provenance

Source

Terrestrial Ecosystem Research Network's Data Discovery

Collection Method

Field collection of blood samples and ectoparasites from captured lizards using a multivariate, nested PERMANCOVA design across baseline and modified landscape sites.

Time Range

2010

Freshness

Data was collected in 2010, though the record was last updated in March 2026.

Geography

South Australian Murray Mallee cereal croplands in southern Australia, covering an area of 68 km × 84 km (571,200 ha).