What Do 9,000+ Habitat Use Observations Tell Us about Padbearing Lizard Ecology?

Phelsuma laticauda steals the reptilian spotlight on Anole Annals today. This Day Gecko, alongside Anolis carolinensis and A. sagrei, are the focus of a recently conducted comparative study by Wright et al. (2021) examining the linkage between morphology, performance, and ecology relative to the usage of adhesive digital toepads. Credit Wikimedia Commons.

New literature alert!

A new study by Wright et al. (2021) published in Functional Ecology presents the results of an ambitious and exciting experimental study comprising greater than 9,000 habitat use observations to compare how clinging performance interacts with ecology in Anolis lizards and the iconic Phelsuma laticauda (Day Gecko). The two anoles–A. carolinensis and A. sagrei–along with P. laticauda, have invaded the once squamate-free community of Hawaiʻi, providing the substrate for Wright et al. to examine the interaction between performance, morphology, and ecology.

Clinging performance on natural substrates predicts habitat use in anoles and geckos

In Functional Ecology

Wright, Kennedy-Gold, Naylor, Screen, Piantoni, and Higham,

Abstract:

1) For arboreal lizards, the ability to cling or adhere to the substrate is critical for locomotion during prey capture, predator escape, thermoregulation, and social interactions. Thus, selection on traits related to clinging is likely strong.

2) Correlations between morphology, performance, and habitat use have been documented in arboreal lizards, providing a framework for using functional traits to predict habitat use in the field.

3) We tested the hypothesis that clinging performance predicts habitat use in an actively assembling community of introduced lizards in Hawaiʻi comprised of anoles (Anolis carolinensis, A. sagrei) and day geckos (Phelsuma laticauda).

4) We measured morphological traits (toepad area and lamellae number) and tested clinging performance on two artificial and eight natural substrates in the lab. We measured habitat use in 10 m x 10 m outdoor enclosures where habitat availability was controlled and the lizard species assemblage was manipulated to reflect all species combinations. The enclosure experiment generated more than 9,000 habitat use observations from 360 lizards.

5) Morphological traits that predict performance in Anolis were not predictive in Phelsuma, indicating that direct measures of performance are necessary for comparisons between the genera.

6) Measuring clinging performance on multiple substrates provided key insights into patterns of habitat use. While all three species performed best on an artificial smooth substrate (acrylic), performance on natural substrates predicted which texture (rough vs. smooth) was most often used by each species.

7) Performance predicted perch height use: species with the greatest clinging performance (A. carolinensis and P. laticauda) across substrates perched twice as high as A. sagrei.

8) We did not observe habitat shifts in the height or texture of perches used by any species in response to experimental manipulation of the lizard species assemblage.

9) Our results highlight the inextricable link between ecology, morphology, and performance, the importance of measuring functional traits in ecologically-relevant ways, and the potential for resource partitioning to be influenced by differences in the ability to attach to different substrates.