Anoles
Caribbean anole lizards allow evolutionary questions to be tested at the scale of entire islands. Small islands can serve as replicated natural experiments in which researchers introduce lizards, alter ecological interactions, or compare populations exposed to different combinations of predators, competitors, and habitats. Individual lizards can then be followed to measure changes in behaviour, morphology, diet, survival, and reproduction.
Why anoles are a good system for our questionsÂ
Our work uses these experiments to ask how novel ecological interactions affect both immediate behaviour and subsequent evolutionary change. Predators can alter how lizards use their habitat, with consequences for resource partitioning and coexistence among species. Colonization of new islands can also produce rapid changes in DNA methylation associated with local habitat conditions.
Because ecological conditions can be measured and manipulated so directly, anoles provide an unusually strong test of evolutionary prediction. We can use traits and selection measured at the beginning of an experiment to forecast subsequent change, while also determining how behavioural plasticity, environmental variation, and species interactions cause evolution to depart from simple predictions.
Members Involved
Rowan Barrett
Principal Investigator