Clinging performance on natural substrates predicts habitat use in anoles and geckos

Abstract

1. For arboreal lizards, the ability to cling or adhere to the substrate is critical for locomotion during prey capture, predator escape, thermoregulation and social interactions. Thus, selection on traits related to clinging is likely strong.2. Correlations between morphology, performance and habitat use have been documented in arboreal lizards, providing a framework for using functional traits to predict habitat use in the field.3. We tested the hypothesis that clinging performance predicts habitat use in an actively assembling community of introduced lizards in Hawaiʻi comprised of anoles (Anolis carolinensis, A. sagrei) and day geckos (Phelsuma laticauda).4. We measured morphological traits (toepad area and lamellae number) and tested clinging performance on two artificial and eight natural substrates in the laboratory. We measured habitat use in 10 m × 10 m outdoor enclosures where habitat availability was controlled and the lizard species assemblage was manipulated to reflect all species combinations. The enclosure experiment generated more than 9,000 habitat use observations from 360 lizards. 5. Morphological traits that predict performance in Anolis were not predictive in Phelsuma, indicating that direct measures of performance are necessary for comparisons between the genera. Measuring clinging performance on multiple substrates provided key insights intopatterns of habitat use. While all three species performed best on an artificial smooth substrate (acrylic), performance on natural substrates predicted which texture (rough vs. smooth) was most often used by each species. 7. Performance predicted perch height use: species with the greatest clinging performance (A. carolinensis and P. laticauda) across substrates perched twice as high as A. sagrei. 8. We did not observe habitat shifts in the height or texture of perches used by any species in response to experimental manipulation of the lizard species assemblage. 9. Our results highlight the inextricable link between ecology, morphology and performance, the importance of measuring functional traits in ecologically relevant ways, and the potential for resource partitioning to be influenced by differences in the ability to attach to different substrates.

Choice of climate data influences current and future global invasion risks for twoPhelsumageckos

“…Both P. grandis and P. laticauda are highly flexible in terms of habitat use (D’Cruze and Kumar 2011; Dubos et al 2014), which raises concerns for native synanthropic species as well as for species dwelling in natural forested habitats. Species at risk include native Phelsuma species (as suggested by the reduction of the P. lineata population in the eastern seaport town of Toamasina), or any other diurnal arboreal reptiles with similar habitat use (e.g., perch height, substrate; Augros et al 2018; Wright et al 2021), such as the Critically Endangered brown red-bellied anole Anolis koopmani from Haiti, the Endangered black-throated stout anole Anolis armouri from Haiti and the Dominican Republic, or the Critically Endangered Finca Ceres anole Anolis juangundlachi from Cuba. Given the broad range of habitat types occupied by our study species, conservation concern should also be given to all smaller species for which distribution matches the areas at risk (e.g., Bavaya spp.…”

“…The coexistence of Phelsuma spp. (or other reptiles sharing similar habitats such as anoles) may cause shifts in habitat use through competition (Harmon et al 2007; Porcel et al 2021; Wright et al 2021) that might be detrimental to the more specialised native species. In Mauritius, the introduction P. grandis was associated with the extirpation of four populations of endemic Phelsuma species (Buckland et al 2014).…”

“…Both P. grandis and P. laticauda are highly flexible in terms of habitat use (D'Cruze and Kumar 2011;Dubos et al 2014), which raises concerns for native synanthropic species as well as for species dwelling in natural forested habitats. Species at risk include native Phelsuma species (as suggested by the reduction of the P. lineata population in the eastern seaport town of Toamasina), or any other diurnal arboreal reptiles with similar habitat use (e.g., perch height, substrate;Augros et al 2018;Wright et al 2021), such as the Critically Endangered brown red-bellied anole Anolis koopmani from Haiti, the Endangered blackthroated stout anole are diurnal, but can also be active at night due to artificial light(Dubos et al 2020;Baxter-Gilbert et al 2021), highlighting the risk of competition with nocturnal species living near anthropogenic structures such as the Critically Endangered Barbados leaf-toed gecko Phyllodactylus pulcher…”

Rapid morphological shifts in a co-invaded assemblage of lizards

“…On the basis or prior research, we speculate that these may re ect outcomes of species-and sex-speci c selection pressures and/or adaptation, some of which result from interactions among the co-invading species. Testing of these possibilities now awaits detailed eld and/or experimental studies (e.g., Wright et al 2021) that will be essential in advancing our understanding of how invasions can be modulated by interaction among co-colonizing taxa.…”

Choice of climate data influences current and future global invasion risks for two Phelsuma geckos

“…Both P. grandis and P. laticauda are highly flexible in terms of habitat use (D'Cruze and Kumar 2011;Dubos et al 2014), which raises concerns for native synanthropic species as well as for species dwelling in natural forested habitats. Species at risk include native Phelsuma species (as suggested by the reduction of the P. lineata population in the eastern seaport town of Toamasina), or any other diurnal arboreal reptiles with similar habitat use (e.g., perch height, substrate;Augros et al 2018;Wright et al 2021), such as the Critically Endangered brown red-bellied anole Anolis koopmani from Haiti, the Endangered blackthroated stout anole are diurnal, but can also be active at night due to artificial light(Dubos et al 2020;Baxter-Gilbert et al 2021), highlighting the risk of competition with nocturnal species living near anthropogenic structures such as the Critically Endangered Barbados leaf-toed gecko Phyllodactylus pulcher(Williams et al 2016). The potential impact of invasive…”