Category: Education and Anoles Page 1 of 4

Anoles Are Powerful Educators, Use ’em!

On March 31, 2022

In All Posts, Anole Videos, Education and Anoles

Did you ever read those choose-your-own-adventure books as a kid? I had a whole collection. What if lectures were like that too? Check this one out on anoles (above).

This lecture came about from the need to update a lecture on ecological competition for a second year undergraduate course. In the past, someone might have handed me a textbook and I would have quickly shelved it, never having opened its cover. As a student I hated textbooks and things really haven’t changed for me now as an educator. The real challenge isn’t the content, it’s presenting that content effectively. We’re now on the other side of “the great digital shift of 2020,” but this challenge of engagement remains the same, if not more so. Does this choose-your-own-adventure lecture offer the solution?

Let’s step back for a moment so I can first make the case for anoles…

Anoles first came into view for me way back in my first year of graduate school. Not in real life, of course — there were no anoles at any of my field sites in Sydney. Instead, I happened across a remarkable paper appearing in one of the weekly tabloids. It recounted how researchers had returned to some tiny islands in the Bahamas where a bunch of lizards had been introduced a decade or so before. I couldn’t make head nor tail of the PCA plots or Tables. But the scatterplot later in the paper was clear to even a dunce like me. These lizards had adapted their limbs over a matter of years (years!) to cope with living on spindly bushes. Evolution happening in real-time? Holy cow, this was revolutionary for me. Why am I only seeing this now?

I’d never really thought about adaptation outside of centuries or millions of years. But then my undergraduate experience was the usual, tired textbook fodder of ecology and evolution that never came to life, regardless of how glossy the graphics might have been. My undergraduate experience was mostly about memorising facts and figures, and there was a great mental chasm between those and the real world around me. What I actually saw in nature were animals doing weird and crazy things, so I ultimately gravitated towards animal behaviour for my PhD. But when I discovered this paper, I had just finished reading Richard Dawkin’s “selfish gene” and Dan Dennett’s “Darwin’s dangerous idea,” and I was now fascinated by evolution.

And here was some character named Jonathan Losos, along with his mates Ken Warheit and Tom Schoener, reporting in a glossy magazine called ‘Nature’ years before (in 1997 no less) that evolution happens now, not in the past… Now! If only I had been exposed to this and other stuff like it as an undergraduate. [NB: Jonathan gives a great backstory in his book about how this study almost never left the bottom drawer].

These days I am towards the other end of the student-teacher continuum and I make a point of not teaching from a textbook. First, they are WAY too expensive for students. Second, they are out of date by the time they are published. Third, if classic works are covered (like those on anoles), the format of a textbook makes even the most exciting example remote and dull. My approach has always been to go directly to the source. And anoles offer such a rich collection of content for educators.

But what of this new “choose-your-own-adventure” style format? What is really being achieved here? My sales pitch to you is that it prompts student engagement at strategic points. By doing so, it maintains an active connection between the student and the content. In other words, it should stop students cognitively dropping out while writing copious amounts of notes that they will only ever read just before the exam and promptly forget soon afterwards. By forcing students to direct their own learning experience, they are being subtly pushed to reflect on the content explicitly and intuitively, and they might not even realise it. The hope is they not only grasp the concepts being presented more effectively, but retain (and apply) that comprehension outside the bounds of the course and into the future. And it’s fun too.

Convinced?

The danger is the format could just be a gimmick that’s great as a one-off, but quickly becomes annoying or distracting. The analogy I think of here is the transition from slides to powerpoint in my early conference days at the start of the 2000s. For the ancients among you who remember that time, you might recall having to sit through a plague of animated slide transitions with cheesy swirly sounds as presenters explored the seemingly infinite number of options on offer. Oh, the liberation of going digital! Then most of us eventually realised how annoying and distracting it all was and went back to simpler presentations. Perhaps “choose-your-own-adventure” lectures are the same? Would you have an entire course with choose-your-own-adventure lectures?

Huge thanks to Mike Kasumovic and Arludo for both the hideous yellow shirt and putting the lecture together for me. I use a lot of Arludo’s interactive digital games in my teaching as well – they’re free, the students love them, and they have clear educational outcomes. Evolution, ecology or behaviour, whatever you need, they’ll have something you can engage your students with. Do check them out.

Shape Variation of the Pectoral Girdle of Anolis Ecomorphs

By Alex Tinius

On March 16, 2022

In Education and Anoles, Research Methods

The first three paragraphs of Jane Peterson’s contribution to the Second Anolis Newsletter.

Jane Peterson’s contribution to The Second Anolis Newsletter remains one of the most comprehensive exemplars of functional-morphological research of the anoline appendicular girdles. In just a few short paragraphs Peterson (1974) outlined the key differences in pectoral girdle morphology between the Anolis ecomorphs, drawing information from both field observations and anatomical dissections of anoles from all four Greater Antillean islands. The outlined study could have formed a major contribution to our understanding of ecomorphology, had these brief observations ever been expanded into a scientific publication. Sadly, they remained as notes, confined to a brief communique on an informal basis (that continues to be formally cited). Several intriguing studies hence have examined anole appendicular morphology, but rarely allowed for implications that reach across multiple island radiations (e.g. Anzai et al. 2014, Herrel et al. 2018).

With my 2016 Ph.D. thesis, I set out to quantify what Jane Peterson had observed forty years prior, and must confess that I still fall short of reproducing the multitude of implications that Peterson’s (1974) brief descriptions alluded to. Instead of combining video-recorded movement cycles with morphological descriptions, my comparisons are solely based on three-dimensional shape analysis of the skeletal elements that comprise the breast-shoulder apparatus (BSA): the clavicle, interclavicle, presternum, and scapulocoracoid (Fig. 1). Employing the power of computed tomography scanning, and geometric morphometric analysis, I quantified the shapes of the central elements of the pectoral girdle, and compared these across anole radiations.

As with earlier work, I focused on the Jamaican ecomorph representatives, and sought out their ecomorph counterparts from Hispaniola and Puerto Rico, particularly targeting those species that are the most and least similar to the Jamaican forms. That last line of thought did not reveal any straightforward answers, as the complex structural shape of the BSA allows these anoles to be relatively distinct in some aspects, while being quite similar in others. For example, the general shape of the presternum and interclavicle are quite similar between the two trunk-ground anoles Anolis lineatopus (Jamaica) and A. gundlachi (Puerto Rico), while that of the scapulocoracoid differs quite remarkably between the two. These complex associations will take a more detailed analysis than what is warranted here, so I’ll focus on the bigger picture instead.

Fig. 1: CT-rendition of the skeletal components of the breast-shoulder apparatus of Anolis baleatus in lateromedial view, depicting all anatomical features described in the text. The gray arrow denotes anterior.

Skeletal elements of the BSA in isolation

Previous analysis of the scapulocoracoid in isolation revealed that its shape differs between Anolis habitat specialists, and resembles a particularly dorsoventrally tall shape in twig anoles (Tinius et al. 2020). The other ecomorph groups (trunk-ground, trunk-crown, and crown-giant) show obvious tendencies towards a particular structural organization, but in none of these does the scapulocoracoid resemble a truly characteristic shape.

Anole Online Learning Resources

By Kristin Winchell

On April 13, 2020

In All Posts, Education and Anoles

The days of self-isolation and quarantine are dragging on as COVID-19 continues its worldwide rampage. We may all be a little less productive than we had thought we would be as we tend to unruly kids and rogue parents who won’t stay indoors. Here at Anole Annals, we’ve scoured our past posts and brainstormed some of our favorite learn-at-home resources to help keep you entertained at home while learning about your favorite lizards! Whether you’re a seasoned researcher looking for a break, a teacher in search of remote learning activities, or a parent at home with kids in need of educational activities, we hope you find the following resources useful.

HHMI BioInteractive

HHMI produced several fantastic videos and learning modules perfect for learning about anoles, ecology, and evolution in the classroom and at home! Each of the activities also comes with handy educator materials to make sure your newly homeschooled students gets the most out of these resources.

The Origin of Species: Lizards in an Evolutionary Tree — This short video (~17 minutes) covers the concepts of adaptation, islands as natural laboratories, speciation, and convergent evolution. Pair the video with the associated interactive activities and discussion prompts to get the most out of this resource. Start with this one, since all of the other activities produced by HHMI relate back to the concepts covered here.

Lizard Evolution Virtual Lab — This all inclusive four part learning module involves videos and an interactive web application (also available for IOS) to learn about ecomorphs, phylogenies, experimental data, and dewlaps. Students will collect and analyze data as they learn about the scientific process and anole themed concepts. The modules also have embedded mini quizzes to make sure your student is understanding the information, and educator materials to help you guide your students as they learn.

The Lone Anole — This activity is a short conversation starter based on a photo of the Plymouth anole (Anolis lividus) to use with students to discuss ideas of adaptation and natural selection.

One of the sample cards for students to “collect data” from in the HHMI selection by predation activity.

Look Who’s Coming for Dinner: Selection by Predation — In this interactive activity, students are walked through the scientific process to learn how to develop a hypothesis, collect data, and analyze results with plotting and basic statistics. This activity is based on the study: Rapid temporal reversal in predator-driven natural selection (Losos et al. 2006). Everything you need to complete the virtual experiment is included!

Effects of Predation on the Niche of Lizards — This short activity guides students through interpreting a scientific figure from the study: Predation on a common Anolis lizard: can the food- web effects of a devastating predator be reversed? (Schoener, Spiller, and Losos, 2002).

How Lizards Find Their Way Home — This short video (8 minutes) is based on the research of Manuel Leal. Watch a real scientist design an experiment to answer a question and carry out fieldwork radio tracking lizards! Produced by Day’s Edge Productions.

Lizards in the Cold — This short activity based on the study Winter storms drive rapid phenotypic, regulatory, and genomic shifts in the green anole lizard (Campbell-Staton et al. 2017) teaches students how to interpret a scientific figure and is a good conversation starter for discussing natural selection and climate change.

Lizards in Hurricanes — Another short activity based on a study by Donihue et al. (2018): Hurricane-induced selection on the morphology of an island lizard. Students are asked to review a figure from the paper and discuss how hurricanes and other extreme weather events can lead to morphological change, and how scientists can experimentally investigate these changes.

Reproductive Isolation and Speciation in Lizards — This short animated video (~2 minutes) discusses the process of speciation and the role of the dewlap in reproductive isolation in anoles.

Using DNA to Explore Lizard Phylogeny — In this interactive activity students learn how to build a phylogeny based on common traits and then by using DNA sequences to explore the concept of convergent evolution. As with the other activities, everything you need to do this experiment at home is provided digitally.

Lizards in the Classroom: Learning about Evolution in Action

By Inbar Maayan

On December 27, 2019

In All Posts, Education and Anoles

We are all familiar with the great insights that lizards offer researchers working on evolution– and they’re also great teaching tools! Timna Brown and Jessie Dorman, two fantastic science teachers at New Albany High School in Ohio, developed a lizard-based activity to teach their students about the different mechanisms driving evolution. Brown has posted about this activity on Instagram, and I was lucky enough to get the details from her:

“Getting students excited to learn about complex scientific concepts is not always easy, but this evolution activity is robust, challenging, and brings the concepts of evolution to a level which students can understand and apply. We call it ‘Don’t be a Lazy Lizard!’

Students use straws, scoops and spoons to “feed” at different types of resource stations.

With the goal of helping students understand the complexities and misconceptions surrounding evolution, this simulation teaches students about a multitude of concepts. Focusing on the mechanisms of evolution, these topics include: natural selection, drift, inheritance, mutation effects on a population, predator-prey relationships, environmental pressures, ecological niches, speciation, meiosis, hybridization, reproductive and geographic isolation, genotype, phenotype, dominant, recessive, biomagnification, importance of energy to reproduction, and energy’s role in evolution. Each of these real-world factors are introduced to the students in a tangible way: for instance, a trait might be adaptive in one environment, but costly in another.

In this simulation, students act as lizards with different traits such as body coloration (brown and green) and mouth type (straw, spoon, scoopy) which play an integral part in their ecology, behavior, and interactions. Through dozens of generations, the students compete with one another for access to nectar (water) at a variety of feeding sources (trees, reservoirs, lakes, and troughs). As they try to survive and thrive in their environment, they ‘reproduce’ with one another and exchange genetic information, demonstrating the roles of genotypes, phenotypes, dominant traits, and recessive traits. As lizards in the simulation, they deal with changing food supplies, introduction of predators and food sources, and interspecific competition. With each passing generation, the phenotypic and genotypic frequencies change, and students are able to see populations change over time: EVOLUTION! Things can get pretty heated when these lizards compete, so don’t be a lazy lizard!

Once they were done with the simulation, students graphed their data to understand how populations change over time.

Following the activity, students work on applying the knowledge they gained by answering questions from real-life scenarios of evolution in nature. Taking the data from the simulation, students graph the changes of different phenotypes over time, and connect these changes to various selective pressures. They also work on Hardy-Weinberg problems to investigate how scientists track changes in genotype frequencies related to various traits. Students also develop storyboards to show how their understanding of evolution changed over time as they participated in a population subject to various selective pressures. This activity takes a week or so, but it’s very worthwhile and has been shown to help students understand the critical concepts of evolution.”

Timna Brown and Jessie Dorman, evolution educators extraordinaire.

Activity Adapted from Lazy Lizards, by Jessica Dorman. For the activity guide, contact Jessie Dorman (dorman.1@napls.us) or Timna Brown (brown.76@napls.us).

Evolution 2018: Dominica Anoles Change Up Their Displays when Faced with New Competition

By Winter Beckles

On August 25, 2018

In Education and Anoles, Introduced Anoles, New Research, Research Methods

Claire Dufour, Postdoctoral Fellow at Harvard University, presents her research at the 2018 Joint Congress on Evolutionary Biology in Montpellier, France.

In another excellent study exploring the effects of anthropogenic activity on evolution in anoles, Postdoctoral Fellow Claire Dufour is investigating how the recent introduction of Anolis cristatellus from Puerto Rico to the island of Dominica may be driving changes in the display behavior of Anolis oculatus, a Dominica native. Specifically, Dufour is asking whether interactions between the A. cristatellus and A. oculatus are consistent with patterns of Agonistic Character Displacement, in which interference competition between the newly sympatric species results in shifts in traits affecting the rate, intensity, and outcome of interspecific aggression.

To begin, Dufour and colleagues constructed a pair of robots that mimicked the typical look and display behavior of a male A. oculatus and A. cristatellus. She then traveled across Dominica and presented over 130 wild male A. oculatus with one of the two robots, and recorded the display behavior exhibited in response. Beyond measuring the duration of the response display, Dufour also tracked the proportion of time spent by the A. oculatus engaging in any of nine specific display behaviors, such as dewlap extensions, push ups, nuchal crest presentations, and others. By repeating this experiment among populations of A. oculatus existing sympatrically with A. cristatellus, as well as populations not yet invaded by A. cristatellus, Dufour was then able to ask whether variation in display time or composition among the native anoles could be attributed to the presence of A. cristatellus. Indeed, this turned out to be the case.

Anolis oculatus living in allopatry from the introduced A. cristatellus were found to engage in longer display bouts when presented with the conspecific robot, and shorter display bouts when presented with the unfamiliar A. cristatellus robot. Alternatively, A. oculatus occupying habitats already intruded by the A. cristatellus increased the duration of time spent displaying, regardless of which robot was presented. In addition, A. oculatus were also found to alter the behavioral composition of their displays when occupying habitats shared by the introduced A. cristatellus.

Dufour and colleagues capitalized on a rare opportunity to document the very early stages of a species invasion, and in turn improve our understanding of how human-mediated species introductions can promote evolutionary change. As changes in behavior are often the first response to novel competition, these results are consistent with the criteria of Agonistic Character Displacement, and support the claim that the introduction of crested anoles in Dominica has indeed driven a shift in the behavior of native anole communities. While the consequences of these shifts on the outcome of interspecific competition are still unclear, it will be interesting to see how differences in display behavior develop over time, and further, whether these initial changes in display behavior could lead to additional shifts in behavior or morphology among these newly interacting species.

Evolution 2018: Speed Is Key for Anoles in the City

By Winter Beckles

On August 25, 2018

In Education and Anoles, New Research, Research Methods

Dr. Kristin Winchell at the 2018 Joint Congress on Evolutionary Biology

Human activity is well recognized as having evolutionary consequences, and studies on the prolific Anolis genus continue to show us just how adaptable these lizards can be. Dr. Kristin Winchell, a Postdoctoral Research Associate at Washington University in St. Louis, MO, is investigating the relationship between human activity and evolution in Puerto Rican crested anoles, with a current focus on how selection across urban habitats might be driving changes in morphology and behavior among the lizards.

In an elegantly designed study, Winchell and colleagues collected over 120 male crested anoles (Anolis cristatellus) from forests and urban areas across the island. The team then assessed the ability of these anoles to perform a series of tasks representing normal daily activities, such as sprinting and clinging. By comparing anole performance on natural substrates like wood to their performance on more urban substrates such as concrete and metal, the team determined that the lizards consistently performed better on natural substrates, yet decreased their velocity when perches were inclined. Specifically, the crested anoles sprinted at less then half of their maximum speed on painted concrete, up to 32% slower on metal compared to wood bark tracks, and as much as 34% slower when surfaces were steeply inclined.

Winchell and colleagues measured differences in limb length and toe pad morphology among urban-caught and forest-caught anoles.

In addition to performance assessments, detailed scans of toe pad and skeletal morphology were collected and analyzed, allowing Winchell to identify differences in morphological traits underlying any variation in performance. Upon comparison, the pattern was clear: lizards living in cities had significantly longer limbs, more lamellae on their front toe pads, and larger overall rear toe pads. Longer hindlimbs in particular were found to positively influence velocity across substrate types, surely a selective advantage for anoles tasked with sprinting between the amply spaced urban perches. However, the urban phenotype is not without cost, as longer forelimbs were found to negatively influence velocity on more steeply inclined surfaces, as well as increasing the lizard’s likelihood of slipping. As all urban populations measured shared these phenotypic traits, however, the advantage of increased speed seems to be worth the costs.

As rates of urbanization continue to increase, further studies examining the response of taxa adapting to urban environments will be imperative. With Winchell’s plan to explore performance and morphological differences in other anole species living across the urban-forest continuum, it will be exciting to learn how these traits are affected within species originating from other territorial and arboreal microhabitats.

Student-Produced Short Film on a Day in the Life of an Anologist

By Lindsey Swierk

On July 11, 2018

In Anole Videos, Education and Anoles

Water anole (Anolis aquaticus), photo by Lindsey Swierk

For three years now, my students and I have studied the fantastic water anole (Anolis aquaticus) at Las Cruces Biological Station in Costa Rica. Each summer, I work with aspiring undergraduate scientists of minority backgrounds on their independent research projects on this quirky anole species. This year, my students had the opportunity to participate in a science filmmaking workshop while in the field. Specifically, they wanted to show everyone what it’s like to be an anole field researcher! In their own words:

“In the last two days, we had the amazing opportunity to be part of a science communication workshop led by Nate and Kori from Day’s Edge Productions to learn more about making science films and all the behind-the-scenes action that happens behind the camera. In groups of four, we were given the challenge to plan, shoot, and edit a short film in less than 24 hours (more like 12).” – Diana Lopera (University of Hawaii)

“We decided to try to capture a day in a life of a field biologist to showcase the hard work that happens behind the scenes of research. I am super happy with what our group was able to come up with and hope to really show our appreciation for those film artists and scientists alike working hard to understand these difficult questions.” – Maegan Delfin (University of Guam)

Special thanks to my colleague, Bree Putman, and her students Austin Carriere and Andrea Fondren for being brilliant water anole collaborators and inspirations in the field. Aside from providing an interview, Bree and I had no involvement with the filming or storyboarding, so the video represents our students’ perspective on field research – and is all the better for it!

“At the end of each day, we come out of the forest with more than just data. We come out with a greater appreciation for the hard work scientists do to find the answers to better understanding the natural world.” – Diana

Also special thanks to Day’s Edge Productions for a great workshop that inspired all of our students in this REU program to become enthusiastic science communicators.

Enjoy the peek into the daily grind of an anologist!

SICB 2018: Anoles and Undergrads: A New Kind of Science Lab

By mjohnson216

On January 11, 2018

In Education and Anoles

This post was written by Brittney Ivanov, research technician in the Johnson Lab.

PhD candidate, Abby Beatty, from Auburn University presented a poster entitled Integrating research into the classroom: causal effects of IGF1 and IGF2 on growth in the brown anole. The poster focused on an enhanced method of teaching science, particularly labs. The program, called C.U.R.E (Course-based Undergraduate Research Experience), allows students to experience teaching labs in a way that is more authentic and typical of the research experiences of graduate students. In most science labs, students are provided with different protocols and methods as well as a predetermined set of goals and results that explains how the experiment should turn out. The teaching method Abby proposed gives students the opportunity to learn from their failed attempts, before receiving the correct answers. Here we can draw a parallel with the approach used by the chemistry tutor.

The course lasted for 2 semesters, consisted of undergraduate and graduate students, and began with a pre-survey that assessed student’s current knowledge as well as their ability in certain cognitive skills: analyzing, applying, creativity, evaluating, understanding, and memory. The students then chose a topic (related to Abby’s dissertation work) to be the focus of the labs. From this, they were able to develop methods and design their labs.

Specifically, the first semester class cloned and expressed IGF1 and IGF2 (insulin-like growth factors) using a bacterial vector. Similarly, the second semester class cloned IGFBP2. Abby then used these proteins to optimize methods for studying the growth rate of eggs and hatchling brown anoles. Hatchlings were monitored for 10 weeks following an injection with either IGF1, IGF2, or vehicle (NaCl + 15% Gelatin). Two trials were performed on the hatchlings and one on the eggs. In the first hatchling trial, IGF1 and IGF2 treatments had significantly higher death rates than control groups, but there was no association with body size. In the second trial, which used refined and updated methods, there was no significant effect on survival or body size, when compared to control groups. Finally, egg treatment did not correlate with survival or body size.

As the class completed each step in this process, they reviewed their work and if their methods were unsuccessful, discussed a better approach. Following completion of the course, the students received a post-survey assessing the same skills and knowledge as the pre-survey.

Abby found the class gained significantly in these skills, particularly receiving higher survey scores in the areas of creativity and understanding. She also found that the average score on the knowledge assessment was higher in the classes post-assessment survey than in the pre-assessment, indicating that the students may be gaining from this method of teaching. Control surveys from a class taught using a typical lab curriculum are not available, but there are plans to include this over the course of coming school semester.

These data, while still preliminary, highlight the benefit of implementing this kind of teaching strategy. When students are able to explore the process of asking and answering questions they generally become more engaged in their work and better prepared for more authentic research experiences.

ESA 2016: Using Citizen Science to Learn about Invasive Anoles

By Kristin Winchell

On August 10, 2016

In Education and Anoles

In one of the few anole talks here at the annual Ecology meeting in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, James Stroud presented on a project he conducted with the Fairchild Tropical Botanical Garden, Jason Kolbe, and others. Together, they organized a large citizen science project engaging middle-school aged students to collect distribution and abundance data about anoles in the Southern Miami region in a program they call “Lizards on the Loose.”

In this outreach project, James and colleagues had 101 schools participate in collecting data. Armed with a handy anole ID guide created by Jason Kolbe and a video by James explaining anole biology and species differences, students and teachers set out to conduct 15 minute visual surveys. On these surveys, they recorded how many animals they encountered, the species ID, and the approximate body size using a provided standardized collection protocol and entering data into a Google forms site.

The results were overwhelming: more than 1,000 students conducted a total of 1,356 surveys resulting in 12,000+ lizard observations! This project produced massive amounts of data on very short time frames. In general, distribution patterns fell as they were expected to, although some records certainly hint at some mis-identification (e.g. some A. cristatellus locations). Unsurprisingly, the least abundant lizards were those that were hardest to detect: the species typically found high in trees.

While the resulting dataset is impressively large, James admits that there are data quality issues with collecting data in this manner and asked for input on how to improve data collection. Specifically, he suggested that in the future they would like to incorporate photographic and smartphone GPS information, perhaps via an app. Does anyone have any suggestions for James on implementing such an app or otherwise improving the design?

James emphasized that providing meaningful natural experiences with wildlife for kids is good for conservation, fosters an appreciation for nature and helps inspire the next generation of scientists. Many of our readers may find inspiration from the success of this program and we would love to hear about it if you implement similar types of citizen science projects with anoles!

Seeking Input for a Child-Friendly Research Project

By Mark Eastburn

On June 3, 2016

In All Posts, Education and Anoles, Research Methods

In my science lab with my little green friend. This photo will actually be on the back cover of my upcoming book!

As a regular reader of Anole Annals and a subscriber to the Twitter feed, I am honored to have the opportunity to write this post. For those who might remember, I am the elementary school science teacher in Princeton, NJ who made international news (and a mention on Anole Annals) when one of my kindergarten students brought me a juvenile Anolis carolinensis that her mother found in a bundle of salad greens. I am happy to report that “Green Fruit Loop” is still doing well in a spacious terrarium, and I have considered the logistics of returning her to the wild once she’s fully grown. Of course, from what I’ve been reading about her place of origin (south Florida), I’ll have to make sure I find a spot with tall trees, to make sure she has refuge from Anolis sagrei.

I’ve gotten into the habit of referring to Green Fruit Loop as a “she,” but perhaps an anole specialist could make an accurate determination?

My students continue to be enthralled with our surprise classroom companion, and I have been considering ways to include these children in a scientific investigation on color change. We have a second terrarium of adopted Anolis carolinensis (my momentary fame made me a magnet for unwanted pets), and even though I have told my students that anoles don’t assume specific colors to blend in with their backgrounds, this group was almost exclusively green when housed with plants, but since a fungal disease eliminated all vegetation over the winter, these anoles now remain perpetually brown among the rocks and woodwork.

Green Fruit Loop definitely doesn’t look green here!

These observations, which my students have used as evidence that Carolina anoles do, in fact, change color to camouflage (contrary to what their teacher tells them), have prompted me to consider a long-term study, in which several basking platforms will be painted different colors and anoles that use them will be photographed at multiple intervals per day. For example, one platform might be green, one brown, one white, and one black, and a camera on a timer will take photographs of each platform hourly. We could then compare these photographs over time, determine which individuals are exhibiting certain colors on certain platforms, and possibly draw conclusions from what we observe. I recently obtained a grant from the American Society of Plant Biologists to build two large habitats for tropical plants, so this would be an ideal location to house additional groups of anoles for this experiment to proceed.

If anybody has suggestions for the colors and materials that we might use for basking platforms (I am planning on four per habitat, each under its own light), as well as any possible modifications to this experiment for greater scientific merit, please feel free to comment on this post or write to me at memarkeastburn@gmail.com. Of course, animal welfare is always the highest priority in any of my educational projects, and my group of adopted anoles will never be housed with any field-collected specimens (like Green Fruit Loop) to minimize possible spread of parasites and disease.

Once this experiment gets going, please check in and see what my students are learning on Twitter @markeastburn or at my website http://www.teacherturtles.com. Thank you for reading!