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Comparing the herpetofaunas of Portugal, Greece and South Africa makes evident the important role they play in food webs in all these three areas.
The Mediterranean habitats as it was expected bear many similarities. Even in South Africa, where there is higher diversity, the functions of the Herpetofauna in food webs are more or less the same; as it sustains the food web by being prey for top level predators and controlling the number of insects and arthropods. There are also differences between these areas as in South Africa there are big reptiles that act as top predators and the function of pollinators which are absent in Mediterranean habitats. Herpetofauna plays a key role in energy flow, nutrient cycling, pollination, seed dispersion and ecosystem engineering .
The benefits for humans are also huge, therefore special actions should be planned in order to lessen the pressure from climatic change, pollution and the loss of habitat.

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Herpetofauna in South Africa s extremely rich: over 350 species of reptiles, including snakes, lizards, crocodiles, tortoises, turtles and chameleons, and 43 endemic species of amphibians! Such a wealth can be explained if we take into account the variety of ecosystems encountered in South Africa.
Reptiles are usually intermediate consumers in South African food webs, feeding on amphibians, small mammals and small birds, while they serve as prey for large predatory birds. However, in the savanna, crocodiles are the top predators.
Amphibians on the other hand, living biphasic lives (in the water and on land), fill many ecosystem niches and thus appear in more than one places in the food web. Hatchlings feed on algae or decomposing organic matter such as leaves, while adults are predators of small prey, especially invertebrates, like beetles, spiders, caterpillars and earthworms.
It has been shown that in protected areas, reptiles and possibly amphibians as well, fare better (Wasiolka 2011), so it is of great importance to continue their protection to ensure ecosystem stability.
Reptiles as Gene Transporters
Pollination and seed dispersal are two fundamental aspects of plant biology in which animal involvement can both increase genetic diversity, and reduce mortality (Vranckx et al., 2012). Reptiles can act as seed dispersers (González-Castro et al., 2015), especially because of their tendency s to gulp fruits whole, which provides little opportunity for seed damage.In Africa, the huge and widely-distributed leopard tortoise (Stigmochelys pardalis), and spurred tortoise (Centrochelys sulcata) are both potential seed dispersers (Milton, 1992). Some smaller African reptiles, such as spiny tailed lizards (Uromastyx aegyptia), are seed dispersers in desert environments (Wilms and Wagner, 2009),
Reptiles as Ecosystem Engineers
An ecosystem engineer is any organism that creates or significantly modifies habitat structure, and as a result is important for maintaining the biodiversity of the environment in which it lives (Samson and Knopf, 1996). One way is via their burrows, which can provide shelter for other species. Spurred tortoises in Africa can dig burrows that are both extensive and complex, and whose effects on other species may be important (Kinlaw and Grasmueck, 2012). Crocodiles can act as providers of shelter, digging extensive burrow systems in those areas of  Africa where avoiding seasonal harshness requires aestivation (Whitaker et al., 2007; Brito et al., 2011). While such burrows may include galleries several meters deep, their use by other species is not fully known yet.

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In Greece, there are 64 species of reptiles, including 12 species classified as endangered or vulnerable, and 22 species of amphibians. Their role in ecosystems is analyzed below

Protect crops and they exempt  them of insect populations.

Snakes at early age, lizards, frogs, are fed with arthropods (like insects), which reduces significantly the number of arthropod affecting the fields, such as crickets and grasshoppers.

Protect public health against disease propagation.

Due to their eating habits, reptiles and amphibians protect us from rodents such as mice and rats, as well as arthropods such as cockroaches and ticks, all of which are often carriers of diseases that can affect humans.

Act as trophic agents through the exertion of top-down pressure on prey or vegetation, and by acting as prey themselves.

In most Greek ecosystems, reptiles and amphibians act as medium scale predators playing a crucial role in the structure of the food webs in these environments. Firstly, they have the potential to regulate prey populations, as well as modulate their access to key resources. For example, snakes moderate the populations of a great variety of prey ranging from birds and small mammals to amphibians and other reptiles. Another example is that of toads that regulate the population size of many species of insects, snails and earthworms. Secondly, they act as food for higher level predators playing a crucial part in the energy flow from lower to higher levels.  Lizards for example sustain a great range of predators such as carnivorous mammals (fox, badger, etc.), birds of prey (eagle, hawk, etc.) and of course larger lizards and snakes.

Act as nutrient transporters.

While biogeochemical cycles determine the limits of nutrient flows from terrestrial to aquatic ecosystems, the movements of some organisms can partially reverse this trend (Helfield and Naiman, 2001). Reptiles and amphibians can act as nutrient transporters in two main ways: (a) through reproduction, when aquatic reptiles lay eggs in terrestrial environments (Bouchard and Bjorndal, 2000), and (b) through predation, when aquatic reptiles and amphibians are killed and dragged onto land by terrestrial predators (Veríssimo et al., 2012). Due to reproduction being a risky phase of aquatic reptile life history, during which predation is common, those processes are not necessarily separate. Reproduction-based nutrient transport can be demonstrated in the worldwide phenomena of turtles nesting on sandy beaches (Bouchard and Bjorndal, 2000). These annual events result in the terrestrial transfer of enormous volumes of nutrients originally gathered by sea turtles on aquatic feeding grounds.Nesting sea turtles in Greece may not be as many in number as in the southern hemisphere but their eggs are nevertheless a really important food source for local species, transferring a part of aquatic nutrients on land. Moreover, aquatic reptiles and amphibians such as sea snakes and frogs can transfer nutrients from aquatic ecosystems to terrestrial ones through prey they catch in the water to land predators.

Act as ecosystem engineers

Some herbivorous reptiles and amphibians can have a profound effect on vegetation and an example of of habitat engineering is known from marine ecosystems in Greece. The Green turtle (Chelonia mydas) and the Loggerhead turtle (Caretta caretta) feed over seagrass meadows and as a result, the seagrass productivity and composition is crucially affected by these turtles' grazing (Moran and Bjorndal, 2005). Moreover, tadpoles are known to be major ecosystem engineers.  Most tadpoles are herbivorous, subsisting on algae and plants, affecting the whole composition of their ecosystem.

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A food web of the area around Mountain Giouhtas, at the south of Heraklion, Greece.

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A food web of the area around Mountain Giouhtas, at the south of Heraklion, Greece.

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In this food web it is obvious the important role of the herpetofauna in my area; it sustains top level consumers and helps controlling the number of insects and arthropods which may be even harmful to farmers and humans in general.
More specifically, The Turtles  mostly eat plant materia, anisopteran larvae and Rana bedriagae tadpoles, amphibian larvae and eggs , The Lizards eat insects (eg.insects attracted to lights). and arthropods, other invertebrates (eg snails), even smaller lizards and snakes (The Balkan Green Lizard (scient. Lacerta trilineata)·, The frogs eat insects, And the snakes eat reptiles, large insects, small mammals and, occasionally, young birds.
This animals are eaten by (a) egg predators,  (b) predators of young, including birds (crows, ravens, etc.), and mammals (some carnivores;  (c) and predators of adults such as birds (hawks) and mammals (some carnivores).

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Anyelet Valencia-Aguilar, Angela M. Cortés-Gómez & César Augusto Ruiz-Agudelo (2013). Ecosystem services provided by amphibians and reptiles in Neotropical ecosystems, International Journal of Biodiversity Science, Ecosystem Services & Management, 9:3, 257-272.

Bouchard, S. S., and Bjorndal, K. A. (2000). Sea turtle as biological transportes of nutrients and energy from marine to terrestrial ecosystems. Ecology 81, 2305–2313. doi: 10.1890/0012-9658(2000)081[2305:STABTO]2.0.CO;2

Brito, J. C., Martínez-Freiría, F., Sierra, P., Sillero, N., and Tarroso, P. (2011). Crocodiles in the Sahara desert: an update of distribution, habitats and population status for conservation planning in Mauritania. PLoS ONE 6:e14734. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0014734

González-Castro, A., Calviño-Cancela, M., and Nogales, M. (2015). Comparing seed dispersal effectiveness by frugivores at the community level. Ecology 96, 808–818. doi: 10.1890/14-0655.1

Helfield, J. M., and Naiman, R. J. (2001). Effects of salmon-derived nitrogen on riparian forest growth adn implications for stream productivity. Ecology 82, 2403–2409. doi: 10.1890/0012-9658(2001)082[2403:EOSDNO]2.0.CO;2

Kinlaw, A., and Grasmueck, M. (2012). Evidence for and geomorphologic consequences of a reptilian ecosystem engineer: the burrowing cascade initiated by the Gopher Tortoise. Geomorphology 157–158, 108–121. doi: 10.1016/j.geomorph.2011.06.030.

Loureiro, A., Ferrand de Almeida, N., Carretero, M. A., & Paulo, O. S. (2008). Atlas dos anfíbios e répteis de Portugal. Instituto da Conservação da Natureza e da Biodiversidade, Lisboa.

Milton, S. (1992). Plants eaten and dispersed by adult leopard tortoises Geochelone pardalis (Reptilia: Chelonii) in the southern Karoo. S. Afr. J. Zool. 27, 45–49. doi: 10.1080/02541858.1992.11448261

Moran, K. L., and Bjorndal, K. A. (2005). Simulated green turtle grazing affects structure and productivity of seagrass pastures. Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser. 305, 235–247. doi: 10.3354/meps305235

Samson, F. B., and Knopf, F. L. (1996). Ecosystem Management. New York, NY: Springer

Valencia-Aguilar, A, Cortés-Gómez, AM and Ruiz-Agudelo, CA. (2012). Reflexiones sobre el Capital Natural de Colombia No 2. ‘Servicios ecosistémicos brindados por los anfibios y reptiles del Neotrópico: una visión general’, Conservation Leadership Programme and Conservación Internacional Colombia.

Veríssimo, D., Jones, D., Chaverri, R., and Meyer, S. (2012). Jaguar Panthera onca predation of marine turtles: conflict between flagship species in Tortuguero, Costa Rica. Oryx 46, 340–347. doi: 10.1017/S0030605311001487

Vranckx, G., Jacquemyn, H., Muys, B., and Honnay, O. (2012). Meta-analysis of susceptibility of woody plants to loss of genetic diversity through habitat fragmentation. Conserv. Biol. 26, 228–237. doi: 10.1111/j.1523-1739.2011.01778.x

Wasiolka et al (2011), Comparing biodiversity between protected savanna and adjacent non-protected farmland in the southern Kalahari, Journal of Arid Environments, Volume 75, Issue 9, Pages 836-841

Wilms, T., and Wagner, P. (2009). Activity profiles, habitat selection and seasonality of body weight in a population of Arabian Spiny-tailed Lizards (Uromastyx aegyptia microlepis Blanford, 1875; Sauria: Agamidae) in Saudi Arabia. Bonner Zool. 56, 25

https://www.teachervision.com/food-web/food-webs-reptiles-amphibians

http://www.herpetofauna.gr/index.php?module=narticle&page=read&id=24

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Researchers often develop diagrams or models to help them explain the relationships among creatures in a community. A common example is a food chain, which provides a model of the feeding relationships among the many creatures living in an area. In this model, plants are at the beginning and predators are at the end. Indeed, a food chain is a useful way to think about predator-prey relationships and the transfer of food energy in a community. The concept of a food chain is a bit limited, however, in that it tends to simplify the rather complex associations among organisms.

In reality, the way in which food resources are distributed and consumed in an ecosystem is more complex than a food chain. It is better described as a food web, with multiple linkages among the different animals and plants.

Amphibians and reptiles represent a great diversity of species that are widely distributed across the globe and carry out a variety of functions in the Earth's ecosystems (Valencia-Aguilar et al. 2012). In many ecosystems, these groups play a key role in energy flow and nutrient cycling in both aquatic and terrestrial environments, in addition to helping control pest populations and potentially acting as pollinators and seed dispersers (Valencia et al. unpublished results).
Herpetofauna has a very special role in ecosystems and is very crucial for food grids. What's more, they play an important part in human life.

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Title: The role of herpetofauna in the ecosystem's food web.

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Title: The role of herpetofauna in the ecosystem's food web.

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Authors and affiliation:
Luís Santos - University of Porto
Magdalini Zafeiriadou - University of Ioannina
Kandyla Olympia- school-teacher
Niki Chondrelli - University of Ioannina
Alexander Ntzouvaras - University of Athens

Date: 31/03/2019

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Analyse the role of the herpetofauna in your HerpetoArea’s food web. You may use data from scientific and/or governmental resources, and/or make your own observations.

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In this report we examine the role of herpetofauna in the food webs of three different countries: Greece, Portugal and South Africa. The results of each ecosystem are thoroughly explained and then they are compared to each other helping us extract valuable conclusions about the similarities and differences of functions of the herpetofauna in different ecosystems.

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Portugal has an abundant Herpetofauna: 30 species of terrestrial reptiles (including lizards, snakes, tortoises, geckos, chameleons, and even legless lizards and amphisbaenians), 17 species of amphibians, and 5 species of sea turtles.
Amphibians are placed in the middle of the food chain. They feed on insects and other arthropods while also being prey to many species of vertebrates. Their tadpoles are particularly important since they are usually found in abundance and serve as a food source for many species, from invertebrates to snakes and birds.
Reptiles such as snakes and large lizards share a similar spot in the food web, but they also feed on mice, controlling their population.
Because of this, these two groups of animals have a key role in Portuguese ecosystems, and the reduction of their numbers can have serious consequences in the trophic chain.