Anole Annals

Anole biologist and phylogenetic comparative methods wizard Liam Revell has shamelessly used a photo of Anolis evermanni just so we would advertise his three-week field biology course in Puerto Rico to be held next January. And you know what? It worked: the field-based course in tropical biology – focusing on ecology, evolution, and conservation biology – will be offered for the first time in January 2013 during the UMass Boston winter session (and hopefully annually thereafter). More info here.

Another New Book for Comparative Biologists

By Rich Glor

On April 3, 2012

In New Research

The University of Chicago Press has recently published another outstanding new book for comparative biologists. Charles Nunn‘s The Comparative Approach in Evolutionary Anthropology and Biology provides insightful reviews of methods for ancestral character reconstruction, phylogenetic tests for character correlation, phylogenetic diversification analyses, and many other topics. Nunn’s book seems well-suited to a broad range of readers. It seems tractable for novices (the second chapter explains what a phylogenetic tree is), and those with math anxiety won’t be deterred by dense discussions of mathematical or computational algorithms. At the same time, seasoned comparative biologists will likely appreciated Nunn’s fairly comprehensive coverage of alternative methods and their relative strengths and weaknesses. Although most of Nunn’s examples are from anthropology, the general lessons in this book are likely to be of interest to many anole biologists and the examples from anthropology are often insightful and thought provoking. To top it all off, the book is accompanied by really nice webpage called AnthroTree that features tutorials and worked examples.

A Morning Of Territorial Confrontations

By Philip Fortman

On April 2, 2012

In Natural History Observations

As I photographed an A. carolinensis displaying high on a tree trunk, an A. sagrei popped out about 5 feet below and countered with a display. Before he could advance on the green anole male above, another male A. sagrei advanced to challenge. The two A. sagrei got in each other’s faces, but did not actually lock in combat. Suddenly the first A. sagrei broke off and advanced up the tree to confront the male green anole. There was a lot of counter displaying but not as fierce as just performed by the two brown anoles. Eventually the green male retreated further up the trunk, stopped to display once before disappearing around the other side.

New Edition of Paradis’s Book on Phylogenetics in R

By Rich Glor

On April 2, 2012

In New Research

Springer recently published a new and dramatically expanded version of Pardis’s book Analysis of Phylogenetics and Evolution with R. This book is a great way to teach yourself some of the amazing techniques available for phylogeneticists and comparative biologists via the R statistical computing environment. With 386 pages, the new edition is nearly twice as large as the previous version (211 pages). Countless new methods are covered, and many problems with the previous edition are remedied. In spite of the expansion and improvements, the sticker price is actually lower on the new edition ($65) than it was on the old edition ($75). You can pick up a copy for around $50 at places like Amazon.com. This book should be considered required reading for anyone doing modern phylogenetic and comparative analyses. If you need anoles to inspire an interest in learning R, I’ll be posting shortly on some R tutorials that use anoles as case studies.

Island Lizards Need Your Help

By Jonathan Losos

On April 1, 2012

In Anoles in Commerce

This isn’t strictly anole-related, but I think many faithful readers of Anole Annals will be interested in this fascinating project:

UCLA anole biologist and film-maker extraordinarie Neil Losin (whose films about anole research we’ve featured before) is teaming up with University of Miami’s Nathan Dappen, who just earned his Ph.D. studying the Ibiza Wall Lizard, a threatened species that’s only found on the Mediterranean islands of Ibiza and Formentera. They are working on a book: Symbol: Wall Lizards of the Pityusic Archipelago. Both Losin and Dappen are both professional photographers as well as biologists (e.g., here); they want to bring together science and photography in the very first book about these lizards with the goal of captivating the two million tourists that visit these islands every year.

Ibiza Wall Lizards appear in art, sculpture, and even tattoos on people’s bodies, but despite their iconic status, few tourists or locals know much about them, and there’s no place to learn more about this fascinating species. Ibiza Wall Lizards may have the greatest color diversity of any reptile – they range from green, to blue, to orange, to black! The only rival I can think of are Martin Whiting’s flat lizards from South Africa. They’re also play an important ecological role as plant pollinators and seed dispersers, so they’re crucial to the health of this island ecosystem (check out their award-winning short video on these lizards). The Symbol will bring the folklore, biology, and conservation of these lizards to everyone through spectacular photos and easy-to-read text. The book will be available in four languages – Spanish, English, German and Italian – the four most commonly spoken languages of the islands. It will be a perfect souvenir for tourists, and a wonderful gift to the locals.

Losin and Dappen need your help to get the project off the ground! They are raising money for the book on Kickstarter, a popular crowd-funding platform (for those of you unaware of Kickstarter and similar websites, the idea is that people post projects in need of funding and people donate whatever they want; if the goal is reached in the time period allotted, usually several weeks, credit cards are charged and the project is funded; otherwise, no donations are taken). By donating to this project, you can help make lizards an ambassador for nature on these islands and change the way people think about Ibiza’s reptilian icon forever. Plus, contributors earn cool rewards, like acknowledgement in the book, limited edition photographs, and signed copies of the book itself.

Check out Losin and Dappen’s Kickstarter campaign here. All contributions are secure (billed through Amazon’s payment system) and your credit card won’t be charged unless Losin and Dappen reach their funding goal.

Thanks for taking the time to check out this important project!

Full Morphometric Database For Anolis sagrei And Anolis Carolinensis

By Pierre Legreneur

On March 31, 2012

In New Research

Most studies that describe anole locomotion are based on the analysis of kinematic and dynamic data. One of the challenges in biomechanics is to deduce from these data the interarticular forces and moments produced during locomotion. Indeed, evaluation of these dynamic data can inform us about the force production and absorption mechanisms that are crucial in movements for which the musculoskeletal system is in high demand, e.g. running, jumping or landing. These movements are essential in the fitness of individuals in arboreal environment during predator avoidance or prey attack and need to develop very high force levels by the musculoskeletal system, and especially by the hindlimbs during takeoff and forelimbs during landing.

To evaluate these dynamic constraints, the most usual procedure is to use a mathematical method called “inverse dynamics.” It consists in deducing the interarticular forces and moments for the knowledge of the ground reaction force, the linear and angular accelerations of the different segments, and their morphometric characteristics. However, there was no morphometric database to date in anoles.

That’s why we conducted a study to characterize the centers of gravity, moments of inertia, masses and lengths of major segments in Anolis carolinensis and Anolis sagrei (Legreneur et al., 2012). To do this,

Anole At My Door

By Philip Fortman

On March 30, 2012

In Natural History Observations

I have extensively photographed Anole in an urban environment because they are so readily available here in south Florida literally outside my door and frequently indoors too. Despite the lamentations of displacement of the native Anolis carolinensis, they are frequently observed in my immediate area. I will present a few photos showing confrontations between the variety of West Indian Anole and the native green. Knight anole is also present, mostly juvenile as I do not observe fully grown specimens either because of adult movement to other areas or the wide variety of predators, mostly large birds. More about geckoes, basilisks and iguana will be posted in related forums.

The Reproductive Cycle Of The Brown Anole In Taiwan

By Gerrut Norval

On March 30, 2012

In All Posts

: Brown anoles mating.

Most invasive vertebrates have a high reproductive rate, and are able to build up a large population under ideal conditions. A recently published report on the reproductive cycle of the brown anole (Anolis sagrei) in Taiwan highlights this again.

This study demonstrated that the reproductive cycle of the Anolis sagrei population in Taiwan is long and cyclic, and that it is very similar to that of conspecific populations in Belize, Cuba, Florida, and Hawaii.

We found that as in Florida, the females become sexually mature at about 34 mm SVL. As in other studies, we found that Anolis sagrei females produces multiple clutches, consisting of a single egg, throughout most of the year, and that due to sperm storage, are able to produce viable eggs for a few weeks, even in the absence of males.

Unlike in other studies, we found that the males could be sexually mature at a much smaller SVL (ca. 30 mm), and that at least some males with spermatozoa, which could mate, are present throughout the year. The smaller SVL of the males mean a shorter time from hatching to the age at which mating can commence. And even though it is uncertain that such males would be able to compete with larger territorial males, these smaller males would certainly have mating opportunities in the absence of larger males in founder populations.

We found that the hatchlings have a SVL of about 18 mm, and as in other studies, they hatch after a period of about 30 days.

In view of the potential for A. sagrei taking over new territories, to prevent future introductions of this species, we strongly feel that drastic steps are merited.

Dive Duration in Anolis oxylophus

By Katie Boronow

On March 30, 2012

In Natural History Observations

During our recent visit to Veragua, a few of the hardier participants decided to forego ziplining in favor of a hike. While traipsing through a beautiful stream, we encountered several A. oxylophus, one of the so-called aquatic anoles. Despite the moniker, aquatic anoles do not spend most of their time in the water. Rather, they perch on vegetation or rocks along stream edges, close to or above the water. While at least one species of aquatic anole, A. vermiculatus, actively hunts for aquatic prey, the diets of most aquatic species, including A. oxylophus, comprise nonaquatic invertebrates. All aquatic anoles, however, use the water for escape: when threatened by a predator, aquatic anoles dive into the water and either flee, by swimming or running across the water to the opposite bank, or submerge underwater until the threat goes away. Previous reports suggest that A. oxylophus uses the latter two strategies.

How long did this strapping A. oxylophus stay underwater? Photo courtesy of Alexis Harrison.

A Request for Photographs of A. smallwoodi and A. ricordii

By williambaugher

On March 29, 2012

In Ask the Experts

Does anybody have some pictures of wild Anolis smallwoodi or Anolis ricordii that they could send me? If so, please send them to me at wbaugher@nashvillezoo.org. They are for personal use for comparing animals in a collection. Thank you in advance for any help you can give me.