Author: Martha Muñoz Page 6 of 8

Anolis cristatellus from Puerto Rico. Photo taken by Liam Revell

Anolis lizards are a model system for studies of evolutionary ecology because they are remarkably adaptable creatures. We know from long-term studies conducted by Jonathan Losos, Dave Spiller, Tom Schoener, and others that anoles can rapidly adapt their behavior and morphology over ecological timescales. For example, the presence of a ground-dwelling predator (Leiocephalus carinatus) forged a strong selective gradient in favor of A. sagrei with longer hindlimbs within a single generation. Interestingly, in a follow-up study the long-term effect of this predator is that A. sagrei evolves shorter hindlimbs, as they will tend to perch higher off the ground, where the perch diameter is narrower than near the ground. These studies of rapid morphological evolution puts anoles in the a very exclusive club with the likes of stickleback fishes, Peromyscus beach mice, guppies from Trinidad, Galapagos finches, and few others, as vertebrate systems in which evolutionary change on ecological timescales has been confidently demonstrated.

A notable exception to Anolis ‘evolvability,’ however, is thermal physiology. The thermal physiology of reptiles is generally evolutionarily conserved – taxa separated by millions of years and found in very different thermal environments will often share similar physiological patterns. But recent research has suggested that some physiological metrics may not be as static as previously thought, and that Anolis invasions provide an excellent opportunity to see how labile physiology actually is.

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Annual conferences are a major way for scientists to get their research out to a broad audience and to find out what is new and emerging in different fields. For those of us who study Anolis lizards, there are two annual conferences that are a major draw for our community – the Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology (SICB) meeting in January and the SSE/SSB Evolution meeting in June. There are other conferences, as well, that meet less often, such as the World Congress of Herpetology and the Anolis Symposium, which are also important gatherings for our growing community.

Last year, we were pleased to report that Anolis research was prominently featured throughout the SICB conference in Charleston, South Carolina. In addition to more than a dozen talks and posters, there was also an open forum on the Anolis genome and evo-devo research, in light of the publication of the A. carolinensis genome. The online schedule for SICB 2013 has just been published and a preliminary search using the keyword Anolis returns a list of 18 talks and posters. There is a great diversity of topics explored this year, including phylogenetic frameworks for evolutionary convergence, aggressive behavior, locomotion, thermal ecology, and parasitism, among others.

One of the cool things we did last year was blog live from SICB in Charleston (1, 2, 3). Because the conference was hosted in South Carolina, Marc Tollis shared some pictures of actual anoles at the conference center. We plan to blog live from the conference in San Francisco and provide you with information about all the interesting research being done on anoles. Stay tuned for more!

Here on the Anole Annals we like to talk food. Although anoles are predominantly insectivorous creatures, we have documented some of their stranger eating habits on this blog. For example, through recent research we have learned that they are more frugivorous than previously thought. They also include other vertebrates into their diets, such as frogs. Chamaeleolis anoles, we have learned, have specialized molars to aid in crunching mollusks.

Sadly, however, anoles are often also on the receiving side of predation. Anoles are important prey items for many different animals. Sometimes, even plants get their fill on anoles.

In her recently published undergraduate thesis, Dr. Yudisleidy López Ricardo from the University of La Habana, Cuba discusses the diet of the barn owl (Tyto alba furcata) in several localities in Villa Clara and Ciego de Ávila. Dr. López Ricardo examined nearly 300 owl pellets (regurgitated bits that contain food remains) and found 69 different prey types. As expected, small mammals such as the house mouse and black rat were common prey items. A novel finding of this study, however, is that large species of anoles, namely A. equestris, A. porcatus, and even Chamaeleolis sp. lizards were found in the owl pellets. Smaller anoles, including A. jubar, A. sagrei, and A. lucius were also found in the diets of the barn owl. The authors also found that a different herp, the Cuban tree frog, Osteopilus septentrionalis, was not uncommonly found in owl pellets, but this species is nocturnal.

The finding that anoles are a small, but important, component of this species’ diet is quite interesting in light of the fact that Tyto alba, like most owls, is nocturnal. The main question for me is how they are finding and catching anoles. Owls rely heavily on sensitive hearing to locate moving prey at even great distances. But anoles are predominantly diurnal creatures, and are typically asleep and quite still by nightfall. Owls also have great vision and may be spotting anoles during crepuscular hours. Or are they opportunistically feeding on anoles? Perhaps a different predator scares an anole out of its sleeping site and owls are snatching up fleeing anoles.

Any thoughts from the Anolis community on this interesting finding?

A male Anolis cristatellus dewlaps on a tree in Miami, Florida. Picture reproduced with permission from Kolbe et al. (2012).

Anoles are remarkably adaptable creatures. You can find anoles in hostile environments, such as the tops of mountains in the Dominican Republic, in near-desert environments, and in places with over-winter freezing. Anoles are also a model system for rapid evolution; in response to strong selective pressure, an equally strong evolutionary response occurs within a few generations. It is perhaps unsurprising, then, that anoles are also one of the most invasive reptiles in the World. Although they are endemic to the tropical and subtropical regions of the New World, today anoles can also be found in such remote places as Guam, Hawaii, Taiwan, and Hong Kong.

One of the major questions surrounding anole invasions is how the organisms will respond to the challenges of a new environment. When anoles invade new environments they inevitably encounter new thermal and hydric conditions – how do these anoles adapt to a different environment? Jason Kolbe has spent many years exploring the ecology and genetics of Anolis invasions, and has focused especially on invasions in Florida (1, 2, 3). The Puerto Rican trunk-ground, A. cristatellus, has been found in Key Biscayne and South Miami since the mid-1970s. Ambient temperature is important for A. cristatellus and other anoles have been documented to acclimate to low temperatures. In this study Jason Kolbe and colleagues addressed two questions: (1) To what extent does the thermal environment change from Puerto Rico to Florida? and (2) Is there a phenotypic response in tolerance to cold?

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