Authors: Tan, Nicholas Wei Cheng; Herrel, Anthony;Roedder, Dennis;

Habitat change and fragmentation is the primary cause of biodiversity loss worldwide. Recent decades have seen a surge of funding, published papers and citations in the field as current threats to biodiversity continue to rise. However, how research directions and agenda are evolving in this field is still poorly understood. In this study, we examined the current state of research on the most threatened groups of vertebrates, reptiles and amphibians. We did so by conducting a global scale review of geographical and taxonomical trends regarding habitat change and the associated sampling methods and response variables. We reveal a number of biases, in particular that existing research efforts are characterised by distinct continents (e.g. North America) and study groups and a surplus of studies measuring species richness and abundance with seemingly contradictory results. However, we found a recent shift in research agenda towards studies utilising technological advancements including genetic and spatial data analyses. Our results suggest important associations between sampling methods and the response variables measured which are commonly used in explaining effects of different types of habitat change. Increased research investment with appropriate sampling techniques is crucial in biodiversity hotpots such as the tropics where unprecedented threats to herpetofauna exist.