Many thanks to Luke, Melissa and everyone else involved in organizing this interesting and valuable blog. I have just learned about it, and am stimulated to offer some comments that seem extensive enough to merit a separate posting.
To begin, I discuss Jonathan Losos’ comparison of the Galapagos finch radiation with the Antillean anole radiation, as reported in his post of Dec. 19. In the book chapter he refers to, Jonathan offers a beautifully written summary of the biology of these radiations. On p. 325 he concludes that “Overall, adaptive radiation in Darwin’s finches and Greater Antillean anoles has occurred in very much the same way. Interspecific competition appears to have been the driving force leading to resource partitioning and subsequently adaptation to different niches, and speciation is probably primarily allopatric and may be promoted as an incidental consequence of adaptation to different environments. Differences exist as well, such as the extent of hybridization and of independent evolution on different islands; many of these differences probably result because the radiations differ in age and aspects of natural history.” While I tend to agree with this conclusion, I would develop a alternative list of differences and similarities between Galapagos finches and Caribbean anoles.
