Skip to main content
Log in

Habitat use and ecological interactions of an introduced and a native species of Anolis lizard on Grand Cayman, with a review of the outcomes of anole introductions

  • Original Papers
  • Published:
Oecologia Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Since its introduction ten years ago, Anolis sagrei has spread over much of Grand Cayman and is now more common in some habitats than the native anole, A. conspersus. Interspecific differences in body size, perch height, and microclimatic preference may have facilitated the colonization. Nonetheless, competition may be occurring between the species; comparisons with studies of habitat use prior to the arrival of A. sagrei indicate that in open habitats, where A. sagrei is now abundant, A. conspersus perches higher, but in closed habitats, where A. sagrei is absent, no change in perch height is evident. Review of data concerning 23 Anolis introductions indicates that the presence or absence of an ecologically similar native species may be an important determinant of colonization success or failure.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Avery RA (1988) Observations on habitat utilization by the lizard Anolis conspersus on the island of Grand Cayman, West Indies. Amph Rept 9: 417–420

    Google Scholar 

  • Brooks DR, McLennan DA (1991) Phylogeny, Ecology and Behavior: a Research Program in Comparative Biology, University of Chicago Press, Chicago

    Google Scholar 

  • Case TJ (1983) Sympatry and Size similarity in Cnemidophorus. In: Huey RB, Pianka ER, Schoener TW (eds) Lizard Ecology: Studies of a Model Organism. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, pp 297–325

    Google Scholar 

  • Case TJ (1990) Invasion resistance arises in strongly interacting species-rich model competition communities. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 87: 9610–9614

    Google Scholar 

  • Case TJ (1991) Invasion resistance, species build-up and community collapse in metapopulation models with interspecies competition. Biol J Linn Soc 42: 239–266

    Google Scholar 

  • Case TJ, Sidell R (1983) Pattern and chance in the structure of model and natural communities. Evolution 37: 832–849

    Google Scholar 

  • Collette BB (1961) Correlations between ecology and morphology in anoline lizards from Havana, Cuba and southern Florida. Bull Mus Comp Zool 125: 137–162

    Google Scholar 

  • Corke D (1987) Reptile conservation on the Maria Islands (St. Lucia, West Indies). Biol Cons 40: 263–270

    Google Scholar 

  • Drake JA (1990) Communities as assembled structures: Do rules govern pattern? Trends Ecol Evol 5: 159–163

    Google Scholar 

  • Drake JA (1991) Community-assembly mechanics and the structure of an experimental species ensemble. Am Nat 137: 1–26

    Google Scholar 

  • Fitch HS, Henderson RW, Guarisco H (1989) Aspects of the ecology of an introduced anole: Anolis cristatellus in the Dominican Republic. Amph-Rept 10: 307–320

    Google Scholar 

  • Floyd HG, Jenssen TA (1983) Food habits of the Jamaican lizard, Anolis opalinus: resource partitioning and seasonal effects examined. Copeia 1983: 319–331

    Google Scholar 

  • Goel NS, Richter-Dyn N (1974) Stochastic Models in Biology. Academic Press, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Gorman GC (1976) Observations on the distribution of Anolis extremus (Sauria: Iguanidae) on St. Lucia, West Indies — a “colonizing” species. Herpetologica 32: 184–188

    Google Scholar 

  • Gorman GC, Boos JO (1972) Extinction of a local population of Anolis lizards through competition with a congener. Syst Zool 21: 440–441

    Google Scholar 

  • Gorman GC, Licht P, Dessauer HC, Boos JO (1971) Reproductive failure among the hybridizing Anolis lizards of Trinidad. Syst Zool 20: 1–18

    Google Scholar 

  • Grant C (1940) The herpetology of the Cayman Islands Bull Inst Jamaica, Science Series 2: 1–65

    Google Scholar 

  • Grant PR (1986) Ecology and Evolution of Darwin's Finches. Princeton Univ Press: Princeton

    Google Scholar 

  • Jenssen TA (1973) Shift in the structural habitat of Anolis opalinus due to congeneric competition. Ecology 54: 863–869

    Google Scholar 

  • Jenssen TA, Marcellini DL, Pague CA, Jenssen LA (1984) Competitive interference between two Puerto Rican lizards, Anolis cooki and Anolis cristatellus. Copeia 1984: 853–861

    Google Scholar 

  • King W, Krakauer T (1966) The exotic herpetofauna of southeast Florida. Quart J Fla Acad Sci 29: 144–154

    Google Scholar 

  • Lee JC (1992) Anolis sagrei in Florida: phenetics of a colonizing species III. West Indian and Middle American comparisons. Copeia 1992: 942–954

    Google Scholar 

  • Lister BC (1976) The nature of niche expansion in West Indian Anolis lizards I: ecological consequences of reduced competition. Evolution 30: 659–676

    Google Scholar 

  • Losos JB (1990a) Ecomorphology, performance capability, and scaling of West Indian Anolis lizards: an evolutionary analysis. Ecol Mon 60: 369–388

    Google Scholar 

  • Losos JB (1990b) A phylogenetic analysis of character displacement in Caribbean Anolis lizards. Evolution 44: 558–569

    Google Scholar 

  • Losos JB (1992) A critical comparison of the taxon-cycle and character displacement models for size evolution of Anolis lizards in the Lesser Antilles. Copeia 1992: 279–288

    Google Scholar 

  • Losos JB (1992) The evolution of convergent structure in Caribbean Anolis communities. Syst Biol 41: 403–420

    Google Scholar 

  • MacArthur R (1972) Geographical Ecology: Patterns in the Distribution of Species. Princeton University Press, Princeton

    Google Scholar 

  • Moulton MP, Pimm SL (1983) The introduced Hawaiian avifauna: biogeographic evidence for competition. Am Nat 121: 669–690

    Google Scholar 

  • Moulton MP (1986) The extent of competition in shaping an introduced avifauna. In: Diamond J, Case TJ (eds), Community Ecology, Harper and Row, Cambridge, pp 80–97

    Google Scholar 

  • Minton SA, Minton MR (1984) Geographic distribution — Anolis sagrei. Herp Rev 15: 77

    Google Scholar 

  • Powell R, Passara RJ, Henderson RW (1992) Noteworthy herpetological records from Saint Maarten, Netherlands Antilles. Carib J Sci 28: 234–235

    Google Scholar 

  • Powell R, Smith DD, Parmerlee JS, Taylor CV, Jolley ML (1990) Range expansion by an introduced anole: Anolis porcatus in the Dominican Republic. Amph-Rept 11: 421–425

    Google Scholar 

  • Proctor GR (1984) Flora of the Cayman Islands. Kew Bulletin, Add Series (11): 1–834

  • Rand AS (1967) The ecological distribution of anoline lizards around Kingston, Jamaica. Breviora (272): 1–18

  • Rice WR (1969) Analyzing tables of statistical tests. Evolution 43: 223–225

    Google Scholar 

  • Roughgarden J (1974) Niche width: biogeographic patterns among Anolis lizard populations. Am Nat 108: 429–442

    Google Scholar 

  • Roughgarden J (1989) The structure and assembly of communities. In: Roughgarden J, May RM, Levin SA (eds), Perspectives in Ecological Theory. Princeton Univ Press, Princeton, pp 203–226

    Google Scholar 

  • Roughgarden J (1992) Comments on the paper by Losos: character displacement versus taxon loop. Copeia 1992: 288–295

    Google Scholar 

  • Roughgarden J, Pacala S (1989) Taxon cycle among Anolis lizard populations: review of the evidence. In: Otte D, Endler J (eds), Speciation and its Consequences. Sinauer, Sunderland, MA pp 403–432

    Google Scholar 

  • Roughgarden J, Pacala S, Rummel J (1984) Strong present-day competition between the Anolis lizard populations of St. Maarten (Neth. Antilles). In: Shorrocks B (ed), Evolutionary Ecology, Blackwell Scientific Pub, Oxford, pp 203–220

    Google Scholar 

  • Roughgarden J, Rummel JD, Pacala SW (1983) Experimental evidence of strong present-day competition between the Anolis populations of the Anguilla Bank — a preliminary report. In: Rhodin A, Miyata K (eds), Advances in Herpetology and Evolutionary Biology: Essays in Honor of Ernest E. Williams. Museum Comp Zool, Cambridge, pp 499–506

    Google Scholar 

  • Ruibal R (1961) Thermal relations of five species of tropical lizards. Evolution 15: 98–111

    Google Scholar 

  • Rummel JD, Roughgarden J (1983) Some differences between invasion-structured and coevolution-structured competitive communities: a preliminary theoretical analysis. Oikos 41: 477–486

    Google Scholar 

  • Rummel JD, Roughgarden J (1985) A theory of faunal build-up for competition communities. Evolution 39: 1009–1033

    Google Scholar 

  • Salzburg MA (1984) Anolis sagrei and Anolis cristatellus in southern Florida: a case study in interspecific competition. Ecology 65: 14–19

    Google Scholar 

  • Schoener TW (1967) The ecological significance of sexual dimorphism in size of the lizard Anolis conspersus. Science 155: 474–478

    Google Scholar 

  • Schoener TW (1968) The Anolis lizards of Bimini: resource partitioning in a complex fauna. Ecology 49: 704–726

    Google Scholar 

  • Schoener TW (1970) Size patterns in West Indian Anolis lizards. II. Correlations with the size of particular sympatric species —displacement and convergence. Am Nat 104: 155–174

    Google Scholar 

  • Schoener TW (1975) Presence and absence of habitat shift in some widespread lizard species. Ecol Mon 45: 233–258

    Google Scholar 

  • Schoener TW (1977) Competition and the niche. In: Gans C, Tinkle DW (eds), Biology of the Reptilia, vol. 7. Academic Press, London, pp 35–136

    Google Scholar 

  • Schoener TW (1986) Resource partitioning. In: Kikkawa J, Anderson DJ (eds), Community Ecology: Pattern and Process. Blackwell Scientific, Melbourne, pp 91–126

    Google Scholar 

  • Schoener TW, Gorman GC (1968) Some niche differences in three Lesser-Antillean lizards of the genus Anolis. Ecology 49: 819–830

    Google Scholar 

  • Schoener TW, Schoener A (1971a) Structural habitats of West Indian Anolis lizards. I. Jamaican lowlands. Breviora 368: 1–53

    Google Scholar 

  • Schoener TW, Schoener A (1971b) Structural habitats of West Indian Anolis lizards. II. Puerto Rican uplands. Breviora 375: 1–39

    Google Scholar 

  • Siegel S, Castellan NJ, Jr. (1988) Nonparametric Statistics for the Behavioral Sciences. McGraw-Hill, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Taper ML, Case TJ (1992a) Models of character displacement and the theoretical robustness of taxon cycles. Evolution 46: 317–333

    Google Scholar 

  • Taper ML, Case TJ (1992b) Coevolution among competitors. In: Futuyma, D, Antonovics, J (eds), Oxford Surveys in Evolutionary Biology, vol. 8. Oxford Univ Press, Oxford, pp 63–109

    Google Scholar 

  • Thomas RA, Thomas PJ, Coulson JO, Coulson T (1990) Geographic distribution — Anolis sagrei sagrei. Herp Rev 21: 22

    Google Scholar 

  • Williams EE (1969) The ecology of colonization as seen in the zoogeography of anoline lizards on small islands. Q Rev Biol 44: 345–389

    Google Scholar 

  • Williams EE (1972) The origin of faunas. Evolution of lizard congeners in a complex island fauna: a trial analysis. Evol Biol 6: 47–89

    Google Scholar 

  • Williams EE (1977) Anoles out of place: Introduced anoles. Williams, EE (ed), The Third Anolis Newsletter. Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard Univ, Cambridge, pp 110–118

    Google Scholar 

  • Williams EE (1983) Ecomorphs, faunas, island size, and diverse end points in island radiations of Anolis. Huey RB, Pianka ER, Schoener TW (eds), Lizard Ecology: Studies of a Model Organism. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, pp 326–370

    Google Scholar 

  • Wilson LD, Porras L (1983) The Ecological Impact of Man on the South Florida Herpetofauna. Univ Kans Press, Lawrence, Kan

    Google Scholar 

  • Wingate DB (1965) Terrestrial herpetofauna of Bermuda Herpetologica 21: 199–219

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Losos, J.B., Marks, J.C. & Schoener, T.W. Habitat use and ecological interactions of an introduced and a native species of Anolis lizard on Grand Cayman, with a review of the outcomes of anole introductions. Oecologia 95, 525–532 (1993). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00317437

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00317437

Key words

Navigation