The Epigenetic Signature of Colonizing New Environments in Anolis Lizards
Juntao HuArash M AskaryTimothy J. ThurmanDave A SpillerTodd M. PalmerRobert M. PringleRowan D. H. Barrett
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Anolis
Signature (topology)
Parathelandros anolis Chitwood, 1934, Pharyngodon anolis (Chitwood, 1934) sensu Acholonu (1976), and Spauligodon caymanensis Bursey and Goldberg, 1995 have been reexamined from Anolis lizards (Polychrotidae) of the Caribbean. Study of the male caudal structures and of the egg demonstrate that these names represent a single species. The specimens are assigned to Spauligodon anolis (Chitwood, 1934) n. comb. Spauligodon caymanensis is considered a junior subjective synonym of S. anolis.
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Iguanidae
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Abstract Introduced species can have a variety of effects on the behavior and ecology of native species. We compared display behavior and habitat use of introduced Anolis sagrei and native Anolis carolinensis lizards across three sites in Southern Louisiana. The chosen sites were similar in that they were all located in urban settings with clumped vegetation. The first site contained only A. sagrei , the second supported sympatric A. sagrei and A. carolinensis populations, and the third site harbored only A. carolinensis . We found that (1) A. carolinensis perched significantly higher when A. sagrei was present, consistent with previous studies, whereas perch height of A. sagrei was not altered by the presence of A. carolinensis ; (2) A. carolinensis in single and mixed sites exhibited different proportions of display types, with individuals at the mixed Tulane site performing significantly more C displays than those at the single site; and (3) Anolis sagrei at the Tulane mixed site exhibited less push‐ups than those in the site with A. sagrei alone. These data suggest that the arrival of congeners can affect display behavior of anoles, although such effects are different for the natives and the invaders.
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Iguanidae
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Anolis
Agonistic behaviour
Iguanidae
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Animals are known to engage in different behaviors in different parts of their home range, and the overall habitat occupied by an individual influences where it engages in particular behaviors. However, few studies have investigated how changes in habitat use alter the partitioning of an animal's behaviors into different microhabitats. In eastern Florida, the native lizard Anolis carolinensis is known to change its habitat use in the presence of invasive Anolis sagrei by perching higher in the canopy. We assessed behavioral partitioning in island populations of A. carolinensis that are sympatric with A. sagrei compared with islands where A. carolinensis is allopatric. We found that individuals of A. carolinensis exhibited behavioral partitioning, feeding relatively lower and displaying relatively higher than their initial perch height in both the presence and absence of A. sagrei. However, the relative locations chosen for feeding and displaying were not affected by the presence of A. sagrei, suggesting that habitat changes need not affect behavioral partitioning.
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Negative interactions between species can generate divergent selection that causes character displacement. However, other processes cause similar divergence. We use spatial and temporal replication across island populations of Anolis lizards to assess the importance of negative interactions in driving trait shifts. Previous work showed that the establishment of Anolis sagrei on islands drove resident Anolis carolinensis to perch higher and evolve larger toepads. To further test the interaction's causality and predictability, we resurveyed a subset of islands nine years later. Anolis sagrei had established on one island between surveys. We found that A. carolinensis on this island now perch higher and have larger toepads. However, toepad morphology change on this island was not distinct from shifts on six other islands whose Anolis community composition had not changed. Thus, the presence of A. sagrei only partly explains A. carolinensis trait variation across space and time. We also found that A. carolinensis on islands with previously established A. sagrei now perch higher than a decade ago, and that current A. carolinensis perch height is correlated with A. sagrei density. Our results suggest that character displacement likely interacts with other evolutionary processes in this system, and that temporal data are key to detecting such interactions.
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Iguanidae
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An important goal in evolutionary ecology is to understand how and why coexisting closely related species partition habitat among themselves. Although studies of interspecific interactions typically focus on males, interactions between females may also play an important role in shaping habitat use within multi-species communities. The green anole (Anolis carolinensis) exhibits a wide range of habitat use in south-eastern Louisiana, but its observed habitat use is restricted and altered in areas where it occurs with the introduced Anolis sagrei. We staged interactions between these two species in the laboratory to test the hypothesis that A. sagrei dominate A. carolinensis in contests over shared habitat. We examined whether species identity, bite force, dewlap size, and body size affected the outcome of interspecific interactions between both males and females, and tested the prediction that bite force and size would be the most important determinants of interaction outcomes in both sexes. In male interspecific interactions, we found that individuals with relatively larger dewlaps tended to score higher on aggressive behaviours regardless of species identity, and that interactions consisted of signalling and rarely escalated to physical combat. However, we found that A. sagrei females achieved higher aggressive scores than A. carolinensis females in almost all cases, lending support to the notion that female interspecific behaviour is probably more important than male behaviour in driving changes in habitat use.
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While the conspicuous visual displays of anoles have been studied in great depth, the possibility that these lizards may also interact through chemical signalling has received hardly any consideration. In this study, we observed the behaviour of male brown anoles (Anolis sagrei) when introduced into an environment previously inhabited by female conspecifics, and compared it to when they were introduced into an untreated environment. The males in our tests exhibited significantly more elaborate display behaviour (i.e., greater number of dewlap extensions and head-nods) and a significantly greater number of tongue extrusions while in the cage formerly occupied by females than when placed in the untreated, control cage. The absolute numbers of tongue extrusions, however, were relatively low in comparison to average tongue-flick rates of 'true' chemically-oriented lizards. Our results strongly suggest that the males were capable of detecting chemical cues left behind by the females. These observations provide the first evidence of intersexual chemo-sensation in an anole lizard.
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We describe a new species of Anolis from a high-elevation locality in the Department of Cusco, Peru. This species is similar to Anolis boettgeri but differs in characters of scalation and coloration. We reanalyze Anolis albimaculatus and find this species to be a synonym of A. boettgeri. We describe variation in A. boettgeri based on topotypical material, including the first described males of the species. Phylogenetic analysis of the new form places it within the Dactyloa/latifrons clade of South American “Alpha” Anolis.
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