Author: Aryeh Miller

A Brown Anole (Anolis sagrei)–the species of focus in the study by Cox et al. (2021)–displays a gorgeous bright-orange dewlap. Credit Wikimedia Commons.

New literature alert!

Reproductive tradeoffs and phenotypic selection change with body condition, but not with predation regime, across island lizard populations

In Journal of Evolutionary Biology

Abstract:

Using a fine-toothed genetic comb, Johnson et al. (2021) investigated the mating system of Anolis cristatellus (pictured above; photo credit Aryeh H. Miller) to better understand both female mate choice and male competition in an explicit spatiotemporal context.

New literature alert!

What Determines Paternity in Wild Lizards? A Spatiotemporal Analysis of Behavior and Morphology

In Integrative and Comparative Biology

Johnson, Kamath, Kirby, Fresquez, Wang, Stehle, Templeton, and Losos

Abstract:

Mating behavior in animals can be understood as a sequence of events that begins with individuals encountering one another and ends with the production of offspring. Behavioral descriptions of animal interactions characterize early elements of this sequence, and genetic descriptions use offspring parentage to characterize the final outcome, with behavioral and physiological assessments of mates and mechanisms of copulation and fertilization comprising intermediate steps. However, behavioral and genetic descriptions of mating systems are often inconsistent with one another, complicating expectations for crucial aspects of mating biology, such as the presence of multiple mating. Here, we use behavioral and genetic data from a wild population of the lizard Anolis cristatellus to characterize female multiple mating and the potential for sexual selection through female mate choice in this species. We find that 48% of sampled females bore offspring sired by multiple males. Moreover, spatiotemporal proximity between males and females was associated with whether a male sired a female’s offspring, and if yes, how many offspring he sired. Additionally, male body size, but not display behavior, was associated with reproductive outcomes for male–female pairs. While much remains to be learned about the mechanisms of mating and targets of sexual selection in A. cristatellus, it is clear that female multiple mating is a substantial component of this species’ mating system in nature.

Anolis gundlachi. Photo by Alejandro Sanchez.

A recent study published in Biotropica by Beard et al. (2020) examines the impact of removing anoles (Anolis gundlachi, specifically) and perhaps the Caribbean’s most iconic frog, the coquí (Eleutherodactylus coqui), on arthropod densities.

Lizard and frog removal increases spider abundance, but does not cascade to increase herbivory.

Beard, K. H., Durham, S. L., Willig, M. R., & Zimmerman, J. K.

Abstract:

Insectivorous vertebrates, especially on islands, can exert top-down control on herbivorous prey, which can transfer through a food chain to reduce herbivory. However, in many systems insectivorous vertebrates feed on more than one trophic level, especially consuming arthropod predators, and this intraguild predation can diminish trophic cascades. Our goal was to determine, using an exclosure experiment, the relative importance of anole lizards and coqui frogs in controlling spider and arthropod abundances as well as herbivory rates in the understory of the Luquillo Experimental Forest, Puerto Rico. We found that exclosures removing both anoles and coquis doubled spider abundance compared to exclosures with anoles and coquis at natural densities. The effect of coquis on spiders was greater and occurred more quickly than that of anoles, potentially because of the higher natural densities of coquis and removal of both vertebrates produced no interactive effects. We found support for the idea that anoles, but not coquis, reduce foliar arthropod abundances on one of the two studied plant species. However, there was also evidence that anole removal decreased herbivory, the opposite of what we would expect if there was a trophic cascade. Potential explanations include that anoles reduced predatory arthropods on foliage more than they reduced herbivorous arthropods. Results highlight that the food web in tabonuco forest is not simple and that there are complex and dynamic relationships among vertebrate insectivores, predatory arthropods, and herbivorous arthropods that do not consistently result in a trophic cascade.

1st place: Two Anolis lineatus by Matthijs van den Burg.

Aryeh Miller and Ansley Petherick

Thank you once again to everyone who participated in this year’s Anole Annals photo contest! We received over 400 total votes from 14 different countries, and now we’re ready to announce the results. First up, the grand prize winner, is the above photo of two Anolis lineatus from Aruba taken by Matthijs van den Burg. The second place winner is below, Anolis polylepis from the Osa Peninsula of Costa Rica, by Anna Thonis. Congratulations!

2nd place: Anolis polylepis by Anna Thonis.

The rest of the winners are below, and their photos can be seen in the 2021 calendar here! Click the link to order your calendar.

Congrats again to all the winners, and happy holidays!

Anolis lineatus, Matthijs van den Burg

Anolis polylepis, Anna Thonis

Anolis evermanni, Anna Thonis

Anolis gundlachi, Anna Thonis

Anolis aquaticus, Lindsey Swierk

Anolis aquaticus, Lindsey Swierk

Anolis aquaticus, Lindsey Swierk

Anolis marmoratus, Kristin Winchell

Anolis princeps, Jhan Salazar

Anolis carolinensis, Delton Howard

Anolis sagrei, Delton Howard

Anolis oculatus, Charles Watson

Aryeh Miller and Ansley Petherick

The Finalists Are In!

Thanks to all who submitted photos for the Anole Annals calendar contest–we received lots of great submissions! We’ve narrowed it down to the top 32, and now it’s time for you to vote! Here’s a slideshow of the finalists:

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Vote Now!

Choose your 6 favorites in the poll below. You can right-click on the thumbnail to view full-size images in the poll, check the box next to your picks. You have 13 days to vote – poll closes on 12/13/20 (a Sunday) at 11:59pm. Spread the word!

George Zug’s machete from one of his undergraduate collecting expeditions to Cuba (June-August 1958) where he accompanied his mentor, Dr. Albert (Al) Schwartz.

In the summer of 1958, Albright College in southeastern Pennsylvania concluded its spring semester. Upon the end of classes, in early June, herpetologist Al Schwartz and his then undergraduate mentee and student—George R. Zug—began the long drive south from Reading, PA to the Florida Keys. In Key West, Schwartz and Zug (now Curator Emeritus at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of Natural History) boarded a car ferry headed for Havana, Cuba. The two were preparing for an expedition lasting more than two months collecting amphibians and reptiles across the western half of the country.

Cyclura nubila nubila from Cayo Largo, Cuba.

After setting up in Havana, Al and George ferried to Isla de la Juventud (formerly Isla de Piños), Cuba’s largest island outside the mainland, where they spent nearly 20 days on the northern half of the island surveying the local herpetofauna. The southern third of the island was inaccessible by car at the time owing to dense swamp, thus leaving a short flight as the only viable option. Al’s dread for flying made traveling to this southern region unappealing, but George, with convincing argument and promise of plentiful reptiles, successfully persuaded Al to board. The two then rented a boat in order to access a handful of remote islands off the southeastern coast, where they would collect a series of Cyclura nubila nubila, which were subsequently deposited at the American Museum of Natural History, along with many other specimens found. Other notable squamates collected included a new subspecies of Tropidophis, T. melanurus ericksoni (Schwartz and Thomas, 1960), which remains known only from Isla de la Juventud.

Cuban Side-blotched Curlytail (Leiocephalus macropus).

In mid-July, the two returned to mainland Cuba and traveled to a farmer friend’s residence in Santa Clara Province, but were quickly advised to get back into their silver van and return to Havana as a militant outpost was reportedly not far at the time. Their remaining days in Cuba were spent in Pinar del Río Province, which yielded many more new exciting contributions to the herpetofaunal diversity of Cuba, such as Tropidophis melanurus dysodes (Schwartz and Thomas, 1960), three new Leiocephalus subspecies (Zug, 1959), and Eleutherodactylus klinikowskii (Schwartz, 1959).

I thank George R. Zug for discussion of the expedition and the research derived from it.

Schwartz, A. 1959. The status of Eleutherodactylus pinarensis and a new species of the genus from western Cuba. Herpetologica 15: 61–69.

Schwartz, A., and Thomas, R. 1960. Four new snakes (Tropidophis, Dromicus, Alsophis) from the Isla de Pinos and Cuba. Herpetologica 16(2): 73-90.

Zug, G. R. 1959. Three new subspecies of the lizard Leiocephalus macropus Cope from Cuba. Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington 72: 139–150.

The hatchling Brown Anole as discovered.

Animals spanning a wide taxonomic breadth often serendipitously appear in households and greenhouses after hitching rides in potted plants being transported (e.g., Perry et al., 2006). In Anolis lizards, this pattern is well-documented, especially in the notoriously successful invader, the Brown Anole (Anolis sagrei). Indeed, A. sagrei populations have been established outside of their native range widely across the globe, from Taiwan (Norval et al., 2002) to Bermuda (Stroud et al., 2017) to Angola (Ceríaco and Bauer, 2020).

The hatchling after plucked out of the pot!

In the northeastern United States, Anolis encounters are less common, but are occasionally reported. For example, most recently in January, a Green Anole (Anolis carolinensis) was reported from Cape Cod. On Monday, I was alerted to a hatchling Anolis sagrei in Anne Arundel County, Maryland that took a ride home from a Lowe’s in a mother-in-law’s tongue (Dracaena trifasciata). Where this individual originated from is unknown, but as Graham Reynolds (University of North Carolina Asheville) previously writes, do lizards in potted plants constitute range extensions? Echoing the sentiment of Graham, established populations in the states that ring the Gulf of Mexico are presumably assisting in leapfrogging expansions of anoles throughout the United States, further propelling the Brown Anole invasion. Where will A. sagrei turn up next?

Ceríaco, L. and Bauer, A. 2020. Geographic Distribution: Anolis sagrei (Brown Anole) in Angola, Africa. Herpetological Review. 51. 271. 

Norval, G., Mao, J. J., Chu, H. P., and Chen, L. C. 2002. A new record of an introduced species, the brown anole (Anolis sagrei) (Duméril & Bibron, 1837), in Taiwan. Zoological Studies, 41(3), 332–335

Perry, G., Powell, R., & Watson, H. 2006. Keeping invasive species off Guana Island, British Virgin Islands. Iguana: Conservation Natural History, and Husbandry of Reptiles, 13, 273-277.

Stroud, J. T., Giery, S. T., and Outerbridge, M. E. 2017. Establishment of Anolis sagrei on Bermuda represents a novel ecological threat to Critically Endangered Bermuda skinks (Plestiodon longirostris). Biological Invasions, 19(6), 1723-1731.

A recent study published in the journal Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology conducted by Levi Storks and Manuel Leal (University of Missouri) investigates problem-solving abilities in the Anolis sagrei of Great Abaco. 

Abstract: 

Despite evidence that organisms are more likely to exhibit their full range of cognitive abilities under conditions found in nature, studies evaluating cognition under such conditions remain rare, particularly in vertebrate species. Here, we conducted an experiment to evaluate problem-solving and motor self-regulation in free-living arboreal lizards, Anolis sagrei, under natural conditions. We presented lizards with a novel detour problem which challenged individuals to circumvent a transparent barrier in order to obtain a food reward. Individuals varied in their ability to solve the detour problem. Furthermore, those that solved the problem were able to improve their performance across trials by modifying the natural response of attempting to strike the reward through the transparent barrier, providing evidence of motor self-regulation. Solving the problem required individuals to modify their typical foraging behavior, as approaching the prey in a single burst of movement that culminated with an attack was an unsuccessful strategy. Contrary to expectations, our findings provide evidence of motor self-regulation in a visually oriented, sit-and-wait predator under natural conditions, suggesting motor self-regulation is not limited by foraging strategy. Our results also underscore the need to evaluate the cognitive abilities of free-living organisms in the wild, particularly for taxa that perform poorly under laboratory conditions.

You can read the full paper here: Storks, L., and Leal, M. 2020. Thinking outside the box: problem-solving in free-living lizards. Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology, 74, 75.