Where do you work and what do you do?
I work at Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas. I teach courses on evolution and vertebrate biology, and I lead a lab of undergraduate scientists studying lizard behavior and physiology. We combine approaches from ecology, evolution, and neuroscience to understand how and why lizards behave the way they do.
What aspects of anole biology do you study, and what have you learned?
One of the main areas of my research is the evolution of behavioral mechanisms, and we generally focus on how muscles allow different species to behave in different ways. A surprising result from this work has been that anole species that use a muscle frequently don’t usually have larger muscles than species that use the muscle rarely. Instead, we found that muscles that move bigger structures are bigger than muscles that move smaller structures, no matter how often the muscle is used. This highlights how different lizard muscles seem to be from muscles in mammals and birds.
Another aspect of our work focuses on how a lizard’s social and physical environment affects how it behaves. We’ve studied why green anoles change their body color, how anoles communicate to form a social hierarchy, how anoles respond to artificial light at night, and many other questions.
How and why did you start studying anoles?
In college, I became fascinated with studying evolution on islands, because I thought islands were where the most exciting evolutionary stories were being discovered. I had never studied anoles before graduate school, but since I joined Jonathan Losos’ lab as a PhD student, they’ve been the focus of almost all my research.
What do you love most about studying anoles?
As a behavioral ecologist, my favorite part of studying anoles is watching what they do in the field. I’ve found that observing a single lizard for an hour can often lead to surprising findings, and by combining lots of those observations, we can get a rich understanding of how lizards interact with each other.
What is your favorite anole species?
My favorite anole is Anolis bahorucoensis, a lizard that lives in montane forests in the Dominican Republic. They have tiny dewlaps, but their bodies are so vibrantly colored – green and blue and black and yellow and orange.
Where can people learn more about you and follow you online?
Lab Website: www.johnsonlizardlab.org
Outreach Website: www.lizardsandfriends.org
Twitter: @LizardMichele
- John David Curlis - March 1, 2022
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