Urbanization affects body size and parasitism but not thermal preferences in<i>Anolis</i>lizards

Thawley, Christopher J.; Moniz, Haley A.; Merritt, Amanda J.; Battles, Andrew C.; Michaelides, Sozos; Kolbe, Jason J.

doi:10.1093/jue/juy031

Cited by 23 publications

(16 citation statements)

References 79 publications

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“…We do not know how the TAFB population compares with Texas horned lizards from other regions of Oklahoma because no statewide data exist. Smaller‐than‐average body size has been documented in urban settings in another lizard species (western fence lizard [ Sceloporus occidentalis ]; Putman et al 2019); however, larger‐than‐average body sizes have also been documented in urban lizards (e.g., ornate tree lizard [ Urosaurus ornatus ], French et al 2008; Puerto Rican crested anole [ Anolis cristatellus ] and brown anole [ A. sagrei ], Thawley et al 2019).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Survivorship and Spatial Patterns of an Urban Population of Texas Horned Lizards

et al. 2021

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Habitat fragmentation has negative consequences on threatened and endangered species by creating isolated populations. The Texas horned lizard (Phrynosoma cornutum) is experiencing population declines and localized extirpations throughout its range and has been classified as a species of greatest conservation need in Oklahoma, USA. Younger age classes have been poorly studied but may be vital to the stability of remaining populations. To address gaps in knowledge concerning subadult (hatchling and juvenile) morphometrics, survivorship, and home range sizes, we studied 2 cohorts of subadults, for 2 years each, covering their hatching and juvenile years (2016)(2017)(2018)(2019). We used a combination of radio-telemetry and novel harmonic radar methodology to study a closed population of Texas horned lizards in 15 ha of native grassland at Tinker Air Force Base, Oklahoma. Population abundance for adults and juveniles was estimated as 56.5 ± 5.5 lizards and density as 7.96 lizards/ha. Our lowest estimates of survival indicated an average survival probability for the hatchling life stage of 0.285 (95% CI = 0.15-0.44), which is lower than for adults on the site. Average home range size increased from hatchling to adult life stages. Our results will have an immediate effect on the planning and assessment of ongoing headstart and management programs for Texas horned lizards.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Survivorship and Spatial Patterns of an Urban Population of Texas Horned Lizards

et al. 2021

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“…Third, methods for their captive husbandry and egg incubation are well established (Sanger et al, 2008a), and patterns of embryo development are described (Sanger et al, 2008b), making them logistically feasible models for incubation studies. Lastly, they have contributed substantially to our general understanding of urban ecology and evolution (Kolbe et al, 2016;Winchell et al, 2016;Warner, 2017, 2018;Tiatragul et al, 2017Tiatragul et al, , 2019Battles et al, 2018;Lapiedra, 2018;Battles and Kolbe, 2019;Thawley et al, 2019).…”

Section: Study Speciesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Second, because urban-dwelling species vary considerably in many facets of their biology (e.g. microhabitat preference, thermal physiology), the impact of urbanization can be highly species specific (Niemelä et al, 2002;Diamond et al, 2014;Thawley et al, 2019). This makes it difficult to draw general conclusions about the effects of this widespread aspect of global change.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Thermal tolerance in the urban heat island: thermal sensitivity varies ontogenetically and differs between embryos of two sympatric ectotherms

Hall

Warner

2019

Journal of Experimental Biology

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Most studies of thermal tolerance use adults, but early-life stages (e.g. embryos) are often more sensitive to thermal agitation. Studies that examine effects on embryos rarely assess the potential for thermal tolerance to change with ontogeny or how effects differ among sympatric species, and often utilize unrealistic temperature treatments. We used thermal fluctuations from nests within the urbanheat island to determine how thermal tolerance of embryos changes across development and differs among two sympatric lizard species (Anolis sagrei and Anolis cristatellus). We applied fluctuations that varied in frequency and magnitude at different times during development and measured effects on embryo physiology and survival, and hatchling morphology, growth and survival. Thermal tolerance differed between the species by ∼2°C: embryos of A. sagrei, a lizard that prefers warmer, open-canopy microhabitats, were more robust to thermal stress than embryos of A. cristatellus, which prefers cooler, closed-canopy microhabitats. Moreover, thermal tolerance changed through development; however, the nature of this change differed between the species. For A. cristatellus, thermal tolerance was greatest mid-development. For A. sagrei, the relationship was not statistically clear. The greatest effects of thermal stress were on embryo and hatchling survival and embryo physiology. Hatchling morphology and growth were less affected. Inter-specific responses and the timing of stochastic thermal events with respect to development have important effects on embryo mortality. Thus, research that integrates ecologically meaningful thermal treatments, considers multiple life-history stages and examines interspecific responses will be critical to make robust predictions of the impacts of global change on wildlife.

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“…Regardless of the mechanism, the main finding that the urban green anole population suffers a higher rate of infection than natural populations is consistent with results both from other Anolis species and from other lizards. Thawley et al (2019) found that A. sagrei lizards from urban populations experienced higher intensity of parasite infection compared to conspecifics sampled from natural habitats (although they also found no effect of urbanization on infection intensity in another species, A. cristatellus). Furthermore, Lazíc et al (2017) reported more variable but on average significantly higher blood parasite loads in urban versus rural populations of Podarcis muralis lizards.…”

Section: Display Behavior Population Density and Parasitismmentioning

confidence: 93%

It’s Not Easy Being Green: Behavior, Morphology, and Population Structure in Urban and Natural Populations of Green Anole (Anolis carolinensis) Lizards

Lailvaux

2020

Front. Ecol. Evol.

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Selection on behavior, signaling, and morphology can be strongly affected by variation in habitat type. Consequently, populations inhabiting different environments can exhibit divergent phenotypes as a result of either habitat-specific selection or plasticity. Urban habitats in particular represent different challenges for organisms adapted for rural environments, including disparate complements of predators and competitors, resource availability, and habitat complexity. In this paper, I review work aimed at understanding the different selective challenges experienced by rural and urban populations of green anole lizards, primarily those in southeastern Louisiana. I also describe a long-term mark-recapture experiment on an urban population of green anoles in New Orleans, and consider how sex ratios and population density changes over time. Collectively, this work shows that urban and rural populations of green anoles diverge markedly in behavior and morphology driven both by differences in habitat and the presence of competitors in the urban environment; however, it also shows that the effects of urbanization on the ecology and evolution of green anoles are understudied.

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Urbanization affects body size and parasitism but not thermal preferences inAnolislizards

Cited by 23 publications

References 79 publications

Survivorship and Spatial Patterns of an Urban Population of Texas Horned Lizards

Survivorship and Spatial Patterns of an Urban Population of Texas Horned Lizards

Thermal tolerance in the urban heat island: thermal sensitivity varies ontogenetically and differs between embryos of two sympatric ectotherms

It’s Not Easy Being Green: Behavior, Morphology, and Population Structure in Urban and Natural Populations of Green Anole (Anolis carolinensis) Lizards

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