The Evolution of Diet and Morphology in Insular Lizards: Insights from a Replicated Island Introduction Experiment

Author:

Donihue Colin M.1,Herrel Anthony234ORCID,Taverne Maxime2,Foufopoulos Johannes5,Pafilis Panayiotis67

Affiliation:

1. Institute at Brown for Environment and Society, Brown University, Providence, RI 02903, USA

2. UMR 7179 Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique/Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle, Département Adaptations du Vivant, Bâtiment d’Anatomie Comparée, 55 rue Buffon, 75005 Paris, France

3. Department of Biology, Functional Morphology, University of Antwerp, 2000 Antwerp, Belgium

4. Department of Biology, Evolutionary Morphology of Vertebrates, Ghent University, 9000 Ghent, Belgium

5. School for Environment and Sustainability, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA

6. Department of Biology, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, 15784 Athens, Greece

7. Zoological Museum, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, 15784 Athens, Greece

Abstract

Resource-limited environments may drive the rapid evolution of phenotypic traits and ecological preferences optimizing the exploitation of resources. Very small islands are often characterized by reduced food availability, seasonal fluctuations in resources and strong unpredictability. These features may drive the evolution of phenotypic traits such as high bite forces, allowing animals to exploit a wider variety of the available resources. They may also lead to more generalist dietary patterns in response to food scarcity. However, the lack of predators and competitors on such small islands often also leads to high densities and the evolution of strong sexual dimorphism, which may also drive the evolution of bite force. Here, we take advantage of a unique replicated introduction experiment to test whether lizards introduced into very small islands alter their feeding ecology and use different resources, resulting in the evolution of a large body size, large head size and large bite forces. Our results show that three years after their introduction, the island lizards were larger and had greater bite forces and more pronounced sexual dimorphism. However, the diets were only marginally different between animals from the source population on a very large nearby island and those on the islets. Moreover, distinct differences in diet between animals on the different islets were observed, suggesting that the local environment is a strong driver of resource use. Overall, lizards with absolutely and relatively (adjusted for body size) large bite forces did eat larger and harder prey. Taken together, our data suggest that intraspecific competition is an important driver of the rapid evolution of bite force, which may allow these lizards to exploit the scarce and fluctuating resources on the islets. Whether or not lizards will evolve to include other types of food such as plants in their diet, facilitated by their large bite forces, remains to be explored in future studies.

Funder

National Geographic Waitt Grant

Yale Institute of Biospheric Studies

NSF Postdoctoral Fellowship

ATM MNHN grant

Publisher

MDPI AG

Subject

General Veterinary,Animal Science and Zoology

Cited by 2 articles. 订阅此论文施引文献 订阅此论文施引文献,注册后可以免费订阅5篇论文的施引文献,订阅后可以查看论文全部施引文献

同舟云学术

1.学者识别学者识别

2.学术分析学术分析

3.人才评估人才评估

"同舟云学术"是以全球学者为主线,采集、加工和组织学术论文而形成的新型学术文献查询和分析系统,可以对全球学者进行文献检索和人才价值评估。用户可以通过关注某些学科领域的顶尖人物而持续追踪该领域的学科进展和研究前沿。经过近期的数据扩容,当前同舟云学术共收录了国内外主流学术期刊6万余种,收集的期刊论文及会议论文总量共计约1.5亿篇,并以每天添加12000余篇中外论文的速度递增。我们也可以为用户提供个性化、定制化的学者数据。欢迎来电咨询!咨询电话:010-8811{复制后删除}0370

www.globalauthorid.com

TOP

Copyright © 2019-2024 北京同舟云网络信息技术有限公司
京公网安备11010802033243号  京ICP备18003416号-3