Journal ArticleDOI
The finer points of urban adaptation: intraspecific variation in lizard claw morphology
TLDR
It is found that urban lizards undergo a shift in claw shape in the same direction but varying magnitude across species, which supports the intriguing possibility that urban environments may lead to predictable convergent adaptive change.Abstract:
Human activity drastically transforms landscapes, generating novel habitats to which species must adaptively respond. Consequently, urbanization is increasingly recognized as a driver of phenotypic change. The structural environment of urban habitats presents a replicated natural experiment to examine trait–environment relationships and phenotypic variation related to locomotion. We use geometric morphometrics to examine claw morphology of five species of Anolis lizards in urban and forest habitats. We find that urban lizards undergo a shift in claw shape in the same direction but varying magnitude across species. Urban claws are overall taller, less curved, less pointed and shorter in length than those of forest lizards. These differences may enable more effective attachment or reduce interference with toepad function on smooth anthropogenic substrates. We also find an increase in shape disparity, a measurement of variation, in urban populations, suggesting relaxed selection or niche expansion rather than directional selection. This study expands our understanding of the relatively understudied trait of claw morphology and adds to a growing number of studies demonstrating phenotypic changes in urban lizards. The consistency in the direction of the shape changes we observed supports the intriguing possibility that urban environments may lead to predictable convergent adaptive change.read more
Citations
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Journal Article
Lizards in an evolutionary tree: ecology and adaptive radiation of anoles
TL;DR: Lizards in an evolutionary tree: ecology and Adaptive Radiation of Anoles By Jonathan B. Losos 2009.
Journal ArticleDOI
Phenotypic variation in urban environments: mechanisms and implications.
Megan J. Thompson,Megan J. Thompson,Pablo Capilla-Lasheras,Davide M. Dominoni,Denis Réale,Anne Charmantier +5 more
TL;DR: In this article, a review suggests that urbanisation may often increase intraspecific phenotypic variation through several processes; a conclusion aligned with results from an illustrative analysis on tit morphology across 13 European city/forest population pairs.
Journal ArticleDOI
Phenotypic variation in urban environments: mechanisms and implications
TL;DR: In this article , a review suggests that urbanisation may often increase intraspecific phenotypic variation through several processes; a conclusion aligned with results from an illustrative analysis on tit morphology across 13 European city/forest population pairs.
Journal ArticleDOI
Phenotypic response to a major hurricane in Anolis lizards in urban and forest habitats
TL;DR: In this article, the authors compared morphological traits of the lizard Anolis cristatellus on Puerto Rico sampled before the 2017 category 5 Hurricane Maria and 4 and 11 months after the hurricane.
References
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Journal Article
R: A language and environment for statistical computing.
TL;DR: Copyright (©) 1999–2012 R Foundation for Statistical Computing; permission is granted to make and distribute verbatim copies of this manual provided the copyright notice and permission notice are preserved on all copies.
Journal ArticleDOI
Fitting Linear Mixed-Effects Models Using lme4
TL;DR: In this article, a model is described in an lmer call by a formula, in this case including both fixed-and random-effects terms, and the formula and data together determine a numerical representation of the model from which the profiled deviance or the profeatured REML criterion can be evaluated as a function of some of model parameters.
Book
Lizards in an Evolutionary Tree: Ecology and Adaptive Radiation of Anoles
TL;DR: This major work, written by one of the best-known investigators of Anolis, reviews and synthesizes an immense literature and illustrates how different scientific approaches to the questions of adaptation and diversification can be integrated and examines evolutionary and ecological questions of interest to a broad range of biologists.
Journal ArticleDOI
Behavioural responses of wildlife to urban environments
TL;DR: It is argued that individuals that can adjust their behaviours to the new selection pressures presented by cities should have greater success in urban habitats, and members of species that are less ‘plastic’ or naturally timid in temperament are likely to be disadvantaged in high‐disturbance environments and consequently may be precluded from colonizing cities and towns.