Survival of Alternative Dorsal-Pattern Morphs in Females of the Anole Norops humilis

Paemelaere, Evi A. D.; Guyer, Craig; Dobson, F. Stephen

doi:10.1655/herpetologica-d-11-00010.1

Cited by 8 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 47 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Specifically, they suggested that heterogeneity in habitat use among females may explain why that sex is more polymorphic (Stamps & Gon, 1983). Previous work has shown that females differing in dorsal pattern occur at different perch heights (Steffen, 2010;Cox & Calsbeek, 2011;Paemelaere et al, 2011b;Calsbeek & Cox, 2012), but at least in A. sagrei and A. humilis, morphs experience similar mortality rates (Cox & Calsbeek, 2011;Paemelaere et al, 2011b;Calsbeek & Cox, 2012). In our study, we found that in 16 of 36 species studied, females were significantly more polymorphic than males.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 54%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Evolution of dorsal pattern variation in Greater AntilleanAnolislizards

Medina

Losos

Mahler

2016

Biol. J. Linn. Soc.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Dorsal patterning in animals can serve as an antipredator defence and may be involved in sexual selection, and is thus likely to be the target of multiple selective forces. Intraspecific variation in dorsal patterning is not rare, but the reasons behind it are poorly understood. Anolis lizards offer an ideal system to test for a role of ecological factors in driving variation in dorsal pattern. Anoles show a high degree of variation in dorsal pattern not only among species, but also between and within sexes. We use a comparative framework to explore whether ecological variables such as habitat use and perch height can explain the evolution of sexual dimorphism in dorsal pattern and the presence of female pattern polymorphism (FPP) in 36 Greater Antillean Anolis species. We provide evidence that anoles that perch closer to the ground are more likely to exhibit sexual dimorphism in dorsal pattern, and we suggest that habitat-use differences between sexes in ground-affiliated ecomorphs may drive the evolution of dorsal pattern dimorphism. In contrast, the ecological variables we investigated cannot explain the presence of FPP. Our results demonstrate that niche-associated diversification can generate phenotypic diversity within as well as among species, but the factors responsible for intrasexual polymorphism in some anole species remain cryptic.

show abstract

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 54%

“…More generally, a number of anole studies suggest an adaptive value for such pattern variation (e.g. Schoener & Schoener, 1976;Steffen, 2010;Paemelaere, Guyer & Dobson, 2011b). For years, the idea that sexual selection (e.g.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evolution of dorsal pattern variation in Greater AntilleanAnolislizards

Medina

Losos

Mahler

2016

Biol. J. Linn. Soc.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Moreover, we have not detected any rare‐morph advantage when comparing survival across island populations in which the frequencies of B and D naturally vary from rare to common (Calsbeek et al ., , b). This lack of support for apostatic selection agrees with a recent study of another anole expressing a sex‐limited dorsal pattern polymorphism, in which neither long‐term changes in morph frequencies nor within‐generation survival rates provided evidence for frequency‐dependent selection (Paemelaere et al ., ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 97%

“…Another possibility is that B females are cryptic when perched on narrow branches (Schoener & Schoener, 1976), whereas D females are cryptic in leaf litter, such that predators maintain the polymorphism via disruptive selection against intermediate forms that are not cryptic on either background (Gray & McKinnon, 2006). Predators could also maintain the polymorphism through apostatic selection by developing a search image and disproportionately preying upon the most common morph (Gray & McKinnon, 2006), as suggested for other Anolis species with polymorphisms in dorsal pattern (Paemelaere et al, 2011a). Any of these hypothesized mechanisms for the maintenance of polymorphism could be driven by morph-specific predation, but no study to date has tested the role of predators in this system.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

An experimental test of the role of predators in the maintenance of a genetically based polymorphism

Calsbeek

Cox

2012

J of Evolutionary Biology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Polymorphisms provide one of the most useful tools for understanding the maintenance of genetic and phenotypic variation in nature. We have previously described a genetically based polymorphism in dorsal patterning that is expressed by female brown anole lizards, Anolis sagrei, which occur in Bar, Diamond and intermediate Diamond-Bar morphs. Previous studies of island populations in The Bahamas support a role for selection in maintaining the polymorphism, but the agents responsible for this selection remain unclear. We tested two main hypotheses regarding the importance of predation as a selective agent that maintains the polymorphism within populations. First, we tested whether correlational selection favours different combinations of morph, locomotor performance and escape behaviour by measuring morphspecific natural selection on sprint speed, running endurance and the propensity of females to either 'freeze' or 'run' in response to attempted capture. Morphs did not differ in any of these traits, nor did correlational selection consistently favour any particular combinations of morph and antipredator behaviour. Second, we experimentally excluded bird and snake predators from two entire island populations, allowed these predators access to two additional islands and then measured subsequent differences in natural selection on morphs in each population. Predators reduced the survival of Bar and Diamond females, but not of genetically intermediate DiamondBar females. These results provide limited evidence that predation may play a role in maintaining this polymorphism, although the functional traits that could account for differential susceptibility to predation remain unclear.

show abstract

“…Females lay a single egg in leaf litter as often as every seven days with the greatest activity during the rainy season (Guyer and Donnelly, 2005, apparently erroneously stated that reproductive activity peaks during the dry season). Paemelaere et al (2011Paemelaere et al ( , 2013) studied dorsal pattern morphology and microhabitat selection in female N. quaggulus at La Selva, Costa Rica, in relation to their survival rates.…”

Section: Undisturbed Vegetation'' (Mccranie Andmentioning

confidence: 99%