The Green Anole is the quarterly children’s newsletter written for EcoExplorer members of the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center in Austin, Texas.
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Although it may seem paradoxical given their natural history, I often see nocturnal geckos basking during the day. They usually occupy trunks between 1-3m, which is prime trunk-ground and trunk ecomorph territory. In Miami we have two of the former (A. sagrei and A. cristatellus), and one of the latter (A. distichus). Here is a photo fresh from today showing such overlap in habitat use. I have yet to see any interactions between anoles and geckos in Miami, has anyone else observed any here or elsewhere?
Cuban brown anole (Anolis sagrei – left) and gecko (Hemidactylus sp., most likely H. mabouia – right) sharing habitat space
Of note – this was taken 23rd Feb 2014 in south Miami (FL) at roughly 1:30pm. It’s hot and sunny.
And a nice one it is! Seemingly initially created by someone in Puerto Rico. Whomever did it: well done!
What better adornment for an arm than a lovely knight anole? Thanks to Chuck Horne, the proud bearer of this lovely crown giant. We’ve featured anole tattoos before, but there must be others out there? Anyone want to share?
Community ecology is a confusing field, confounded by the interchangeable use of many fundamental terms.
Recently, a group of graduate students and I discussed this strange paradigm and thought we would see what people’s own interpretations were.
If you have a spare 5 minutes while drinking your morning coffee, please could you fill out this short (4 question!) poll asking you to give your definition for; ‘community’, ‘assemblage’, ‘guild’ and ‘ensemble’. It will be cool to see how people’s opinions differ!
Many thanks
James
Lyriocephalus scutatus. Photograph by Ruchira Somaweera, National Geographic
We at Anole Annals love horned lizards, and so were delighted to read about new research on Sri Lankan hornies, reported on the National Geographic Society’s webpage. Check out the article, which details recent research by Ruchira Somaweera of Sydney University.
Certatophora stoddartii. Photograph by Ruchira Somaweera, National Geographic
There was a lot of discussion last month about the fabulous anole goings-on at the SICB meetings. However, there were other conferences sporting important anole work over the holidays. One of them was International Plant and Animal Genome XXII, described as “the largest AG-genomics meeting in the world” and held in San Diego in early January. Perhaps not a venue at which you’d expect anole work to be discussed, but there was Poster #720:
Mining the Most Species-Rich Amniote Genus: de novo Sequencing of Three Anole Lizards for Comparative Genomic Analysis #P720
Date: Monday, January 13
10:00 am – 11:30 am
Description:
Presenters: Marc Tollis Arizona State University, Elizabeth D. Hutchins Arizona State University, Walter L. Eckalbar Arizona State University, Michael R. Crusoe Arizona State University, Catherine M. May Arizona State University, Jessica Stapley Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Elise Kulik Arizona State University, Matt J. Huentelman Translational Genomics Research Institute, Rebecca E. Fisher University of Arizona, Kenro Kusumi Arizona State University
P720 – Mining the Most Species-Rich Amniote Genus: de novo Sequencing of Three Anole Lizards for Comparative Genomic Analysis
The repeated evolution of morphological adaptations to specific ecological niches makes Anolis lizards a spectacular example of adaptive radiation in vertebrates, and an ideal model for comparative genomics. The complete genome of the green anole (A. carolinensis) has already provided insights to the evolution of genomic and phenotypic variation in vertebrates. A multi-species comparison within the Anolis genus would increase the power of studies seeking to understand the genomic bases of species diversification. We carried out de novo whole genome sequencing and draft assembly of three species, the grass anole (A. auratus), the bridled anole (A. frenatus), and the slender anole (A. apletophallus). Here we report some of our preliminary comparative genomic findings. Analysis of the abundance and diversity of transposable elements within these genomes has revealed repetitive landscapes typical of non-mammalian vertebrates, yet variation between Anolis species is greater than what is observed across most mammals. This may have provided a genomic environment amenable to key adaptations during the Anolis radiation. Using well-defined models such as mouse and chicken, we identified orthologous genes integral to myogenesis and limb development, and are beginning to catalogue interspecific variation in protein-coding genes and cis-regulatory motifs. Functional anatomical and histological studies are being performed to quantify the tail and hindlimb muscle groups of these species compared to A. carolinensis. Our ultimate goal is to identify the divergent alleles associated with ecological speciation, thus bridging the genotype-phenotype gap.
A recent trip to the Everglades with Palm botanist Sara Edelman was meant to provide a welcome break from studying for qualifying exams, and give her the opportunity to further educate me on all things palm (which was previously limited to determining which lizards in Miami appear to live on them).
After spending the morning locating individuals of her study species, the native and state-threatened Paurotis palm (Acoelorrhaphe wrightii), we had received very little wildlife luck (which was the true reason for me volunteering to ‘help’). From past visits, I had found brown anoles (Anolis sagrei) at every car park along the Everglades National Park road down to Flamingo, likely hitch-hiking unwittingly on visitors cars, but to my knowledge they had yet to disperse convincingly out from these. On our second to last survey of the day, to this tree island off the main road just south of Mahogany Hammock, while searching for native green anoles (Anolis carolinensis) which I had yet to see, I heard some rustling in the bushes – lo and behold, sitting there as bold as day signalling straight at me was a male brown anole!
Everglades tree island characterised by Paurotis palm (Acoelorrhaphe wrightii), Saw palmetto (Serenoa repens), Buttonwood (Conocarpus sp.) and Pine (Pinus sp.), with [inset] brown anole (Anolis sagrei) observed inside
So ruling out human-mediated release or dropping by a clumsy predator, we could assume that this chap arrived there all by himself. This would suggest that brown anoles have no problems in traversing through sawgrass, although temporal factors may be important (i.e. dispersing during the dry season when water levels are low or absent).
The implications for the expansion of this species through the Everglades remain unclear, although their relationship with green anoles leads to a predictable outcome (discussed extensively on AA [1, 2, 3). Just how much effect is a highly fecund, hyper-dense, extremely competitive and resilient insectivore going to have on these small ‘island’ ecosystems?
Read all about it in this post on Deadspin.
Update March 13, 2014: Here’s a less happy story on the same theme.