More from Janson Jones on the invasion of Valdosta, Georgia by brown anoles. He previously reported their appearance earlier this summer, but now there’s an unexpected new twist.
Author: Jonathan Losos Page 94 of 130
Professor of Biology and Director of the Living Earth Collaborative at Washington University in Saint Louis. I've spent my entire professional career studying anoles and have discovered that the more I learn about anoles, the more I realize I don't know.
After a slow start (believe it? An anole-less first day), the anole talks begin today. There were a couple of omissions and changed times in the previous list, so hopefully all talks and posters are included and correctly listed here. Notably, Dave Steinberg’s talk on head-bobbing was not included in the previous list; he talks today at 1630. I’ve rearranged the talks into chronological order. Two observations become apparent: first, the conference organizers have cleverly backloaded the schedule to keep people from leaving the conference early. There are 9 anole talks on Monday, as opposed to 4 today, 1 on Saturday and 2 on Sunday. Second, some tough decisions are going to have to be made, as there are four occasions in which two talks are scheduled at the same time. Bummer. Here they are:
Stuart, Yoel – Session 35 Friday 14:45, “A real-time test of a classic hypothesis: rapid, replicated character displacement in Anolis carolinensis following invasion by a congeneric competitor”
Bienentreu, Joe-Felix – Session 42, Friday 15:45 “Taxonomy and phylogeography of the Anolis pachypus complex (Squamata: Iguania: Dactyloidae)”
Warner, Daniel – Session 35 Friday 16:45, “Spatial and temporal variation in phenotypic selection after experimental introduction in the lizard Anolis sagrei”
Kolbe, Jason – Session 35 Friday 16:45, “Adaptation and plasticity during Anolis lizard introductions”
Losos, Jonathan – Session 58 Saturday 9:15, “Natural History of the Little-Known Horned Anole of Ecuador, Anolis proboscis, and its equally little-known relative, Phenacosaurus orcesii”
Mahler, D. Luke – Session 89 Sunday 11:30, “Discovery of a short-limbed giant Anolis from Hispaniola supports a deterministic model of island evolution and community assembly”
Wollenberg Valero, Katharina – Session 98 Sunday 15:30, “Diversification within adaptive radiations: the case of Hispaniolan trunk-ground anoles”
Ingram, Travis – Session 130 Monday 14:00, “A new comparative method that does not require pre-assigned ecomorph categories confirms exceptional morphological convergence in Caribbean”
Castañeda, Maria del Rosario – Session 130 Monday 14:15, “Multivariate analysis of the morphological component of ecomorphology in mainland Anolis lizards (Dactyloa clade)”
Powell, Brian – Session 130 Monday 14:30, “Brain Evolution Across the Puerto Rican Anole Radiation”
Crawford, Nicholas – Session 132 Monday 14:45, “The genetics of colorful pigmentation in Anolis lizards”
Harrison, Alexis – Session 130 Monday 14:45, “Correlated evolution of microhabitat, morphology, and behavior in West Indian Anolis lizards: A test of the ecomorph hypothesis”
Schneider, Christopher – Session 130 Monday 15:45, “The genetic basis of phenotypic variation and divergence in Anolis marmoratus”
Leal, Manuel – Session 129 Monday 15:45 “Behavioral flexibility and problem‐solving in lizards”
Steinberg, David – Session 39 Friday 1630 “Heads‐up: signal modulation and receiver distance in anoline lizards”
Sherratt, Emma – Session 130 Monday 16:45, “The deep history of Anolis habitat specialists”
Friday Posters: Castañeda, Maria del Rosario – Poster board 171, “Anolis lizards in the Encyclopedia of Life”
Gubler, Jenny – Poster board 176, “Investigation of the Evolutionary Relationships Among Species of the Anolis cupreus Complex”
Saturday Posters: Otero, Luisa – Poster board 132, “Habitat influence on annual reproductive cycle of Anolis cristatellus in Puerto Rico”
Cantwell, Lisa – Poster board 108, “Response of Anolis sagrei to Acoustic Calls from Predatory and Non-predatory Birds”
Sunday Posters: Mahler, D. Luke – Poster board 336, “A new organization dedicated to the conservation of Anolis lizards: The Anoline Lizard Specialist Group”
Rubio-Rocha, Laura C. – Poster board 396, “Continuous reproduction under a bimodal precipitation regime in a high elevation anole (Anolis mariarum) from Antioquia, Colombia”
Rubio-Rocha, Laura C. – Poster board 397, “Geographic variation in the lower temperature tolerance in the invasive brown anole, Anolis sagrei and the native green anole, Anolis carolinensis”
Vega, Sondra – Poster board 402, “Omnivory in Puerto Rican Anolis lizards“
The Dutch Caribbean Natural Alliance has put up a nice webpage on the endemic anole of Saba, Anolis sabanus. The page is full of information and points out that the species is quite common on Saba, contrary to rumors swirling around the internet that it is rare–rumors started, I think, by breeders trying to increase the value of their stock.
The ribbon cutting for WCH7 in Vancouver is hours away, and it promises to be a grand occasion. The best and the brightest of herpetology will be there–a month ago, registration already topped 1600. Needless to say, the highlight of the meeting will be the talks and posters on anoles, 24 in all. In June, Emma Sherratt provided the list, but it’s worth re-posting, with the addition of one newly discovered talk (which didn’t use the words “anole” or “Anolis” in the title, and thus was missed). And, to whet your appetite, we provide links to previous AA posts on some of these talks. Don’t miss all the action, either live in Vancouver, or virtually here in AA‘s pages:
“You haven’t lived ’til you’ve seen little girls in tiaras & sashes racing their anole lizards & screeeaming.” A tweet like that demands attention, so Anole Annals looked into it. Turns out that as part of the Louisiana Corn Festival, held every year in Bunkie, Louisiana, there is a lizard race featuring anoles. Anole Annals learned of this yearly event in early June and sure enough, a quick look at thetowntalk.com confirmed that the event was on again this year: “Be sure to be on hand for the lizard races at 2:30 (bring your own lizard); and stick around for live music and street dancing.”
So, Anole Annals settled back and waited for the news reports and Youtube postings. The appointed day came and went. And…nothing. No googleable photos. No newspaper accounts. Not a single video. Surely there must be a record of this wonderful event somewhere. We’ll keep looking.
Brad Lister and Andres Garcia report from Guanica, Puerto Rico:
Most likely, every researcher working in the field with anoles has had the same questions that we’ve wondered about for many years. How much time do resident species spend in the canopy where they are hidden from our view? What is the home range of males and females? On average, how far do individuals move per day? On days when most of the lizards in a given habitat seem to disappear, where do they go? We tried to answer these and related questions by conducting hundreds of hours of observation on Anolis nebulosus in the Chamela dry forest in Jalisco, Mexico. Anolis nebulosus is very rare in this area and we spent more time finding lizards (2-3 hrs/individual) than actually making observations. Often, after hours of searching, the focal individual would disappear from view within minutes.
Obviously the ability to easily find and track small anoles using radio telemetry would be a major asset in our efforts to understand their behavior and ecology. Previously, transmitter size limited radio tracking to relatively larger lizards such as Sceloporus, Phrynosoma, and Ameiva. Recently, however, Advanced Telemetry Systems has developed 0.2 and 0.5 gram transmitters that make tracking even 3-4 gram female anoles feasible. We are currently in Puerto Rico continuing with our research on climate change and Anolis ecology, and decided to use the ATS transmitters to track A. gundlachi, A. cooki, and A. cristatellus.
The photo to the left illustrates the ATS equipment we are using in the Luquiilo rainforest and the Guanica tropical dry forest.
John Rahn regaled us with tales of the Big Kahuna, his big backyard sagrei (a must read, if you don’t recall it). Here’s some more. First, he’s seen BK stand like this for quite a while. I have also seen anoles do the same. I wonder what’s up. Maybe they’re into yoga? A new pose–Sideways Lizard?
And here’s another photo. John writes: “I’ve noticed that when they catch/eat something, they rub their faces(?), or their catch on the concrete, like he’s doing here. What’s that all about?” Indeed, what is that all about? I’ve seen it, too. Are they using the ground as their own personal napkin? But then why do it to prey items, too? Thoughts?
Editor’s note: check out this video, referred to in the comment below by reader Beachton
[vimeo https://vimeo.com/1986146]
What can a kitty cam tell us about the secret lives of anoles? Photo from http://blogs.inlandsocal.com/pets/4501cat.jpg
The 97th annual meeting of the Ecological Society of America begins Sunday in Portland. These meetings are truly enormous, and given the great amount of ecological research, past and present, on anoles, it’s surprising that there are not more anole talks scheduled. Nonetheless, there are three, and they look to be good ones. On Tuesday, Sean Giery will talk about studies on the ecosystem role of anoles in Miami. Basically, by examining stomach contents and measuring stable isotopes, he determined the extent to which terrestrial resources enter arboreal ecosystems. For A. equestris and A. distichus, the route is terrestrial insects walking up trees and being eaten, whereas for A. sagrei, it results from foraging on the ground. Also on Tuesday, Jason Kolbe talks on an experimental study of founder events in the Bahamas. We’ve already reported on this study, but Jason will be providing at least a few snippets of new data from this year’s field season. Finally, on Thursday, Kerrie Anne Lloyd will talk about a study looking at predation rates by domestic cats in Georgia, as determined by placing Kitty Cams on housecats. Turns out that a favorite prey item is, alas, green anoles.
Check out the abstracts for these talks below the fold, and if any AA readers attend the talks, please file a report.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2xXPcYUnKRM
At least according to some. AA emailed the production team asking for the back story, but we still await a response.
And while we’re on the topic of anole flicks, here’s a video of an emaciated but alert and active female green anole slowing changing color.
Spoiler Alert: I’m about to discuss the central plot of Spiderman. I assume most readers are by now familiar with the movie’s central conceit, namely that a noble scientist valiantly strives to create a race of super-lizards with extraordinary powers to benefit all of humanity, but tragically is stymied by the movie’s villian, a pajama-clad arachnophile with psychological baggage that produces an unreasonable antipathy to all things reptilian.
I won’t go into the particulars, but suffice to say that until its tragic denouement, the work is a herpetological marvel, as well as an inspiration to what may be accomplished by the miracles of genomics. Particularly impressive was the scene in which the oversized saurian regenerates its tail–quite graphically and accurately–in real time. Admittedly, the CGI lizards (of which I can’t find any photos online) were not quite up to par, but not a bad effort. Moreover, the best character in the movie is the chief scientist, Curt Connors, who immediately upon entrance introduces himself as the world’s foremost authority on herpetology and, as if to prove it, has an office replete with herpetological items (ok, two that I noticed: a stuffed turtle and a sea turtle skull).
Dr. Curt Connors, the world’s foremost herpetologist.
But, you may be thinking, a movie featuring lizards is great in all, but what’s the connection to anoles? Admittedly, there was no lizard or superhero in the movie who could be identified as anoline (incidentally, Time magazine has a nice discussion of what actual lizards may have been the basis for these creatures). However, and you may consider this a stretch, there was one link to the anole world: Connors, the scientist, was a dead ringer* for Jonathan Roughgarden (vintage 20 years ago), a resemblance enhanced by Collins’ obvious theoretical brilliance. Now, of course, it was disappointing when Connors transformed himself into a Komodo-sized saurian that bore no resemblance to Anolis gingivinus or any other Lesser Antillean anole, or even any anole at all, but perhaps we can save that for the sequel (Spiderman II: The Anole Strikes Back), when Connor triumphantly re-emerges to vanquish the spider-people and save humanity.
*by “dead ringer” I mean “bore a slight resemblance, at least in my mind’s eye”
Scary? Try adding a dewlap and toepads!