Urbanization is an important dimension of global change, and urban areas impose significant natural selection on species within them. Although many species persist in urban areas, little research has investigated whether populations have adapted to urbanization. Even less work has considered tropical regions, which have recently experienced dramatic urban growth. In the present study we focused on the neotropical lizard, Anolis cristatellus. We tested whether lizard ecology and morphology differ between urban and natural areas in Puerto Rico. We found that environmental conditions differ dramatically between urban and natural areas. We also found that lizards in urban areas frequently use artificial substrates, and that these substrates are broader than substrates in natural forest. Finally our morphological data showed that lizards in urban areas have longer limbs and more subdigital lamellae compared to lizards from forested habitats. This shift in phenotype is in the direction predicted based on habitat differences between urban and natural sites, combined with results on how lizards use substrates in these areas. Findings from common garden rearing provide evidence that trait differences may be genetically based. Our data suggest anoles in urban areas are under significant natural selection and may be adapting to human-modified environments.
data for wild-caught individuals
All animals measured were adult males. Comma-separated data file containing the following variables, all morphological variables in mm unless otherwise noted:
* ID: unique ID for each animal
* date (YYYY_MM_DD): date of capture and measurement
* Site: municipality of population
* context: natural or urban
* perch: perch type
* bodytemp.C: body temperature (C) at time of capture
* perch.temp.C: perch temperature (C) at time of capture
* ambient.temp.C: air temperature (C) at perch location at time of capture
* humidity.percent: percent humidity at perch location at time of capture
* perch.height.cm: height to perch location (cm)
* perch.diam.cm: diameter at perch location (cm)
* weight.g: lizard weight (g)
* head.height.mm: externally measured head height (mm)
* svl.mm: externally measured snout-vent length (mm)
* local.time.decimal: time of capture in decimal format
* flags: data flags (ground animals and sick animals)
* JL: right and left averaged jaw length (measured from xray)
* JW: jaw width (measured from xray)
* METC: right and left averaged metacarpals
* RAD: right and left averaged radius
* ULN: right and left averaged ulna
* HUM: right and left averaged humerus
* FEM: right and left averaged femur
* TIB: right and left averaged tibia
* FIB: right and left averaged fibula
* METT1 & METT2: right and left metatarsals averaged (1st and 2nd)
* FL: total forelimb length
* HL: total hindlimb length
winchell_evol_phenshifts.csv
data for common garden individuals
All adults measured at time of specimen preparation at end of egg-laying. All F1 measured at approximately 365 days post-hatching. NA’s exist in the data where injury, illness, or other factors made it difficult to confidently measure a variable.
Comma-separated data file containing the following variables, all morphological variables in mm:
* ID: unique ID for each animal
* generation: F1 for offspring, P for parental (wildcaught)
* dam: mother for offspring
* context: natural or urban
* sex: male or female (a small number of animals we were unable to confidently sex at time of death or measurement)
* front_lamellae1 & front_lamellae2: counts of front lamellae numbers from scans
* rear_lamellae1 & rear_lamellae2: counts of rear lamellae numbers from scans
* rMETC & lMETC: right and left metacarpal
* rRAD & lRAD: right and left radius
* rULM & lULN: right and left ulna
* rHUM & lHUM: right and left humerus
* rFEM & lFEM: right and left femur
* rTIB & lTIB: right and left tibia
* rFIB & lFIB: right and left fibula
* rMET1, rMET2, lMET1, lMET2: right and left metatarsals (1st and 2nd)
* SVL: internally measured snout-vent-length (mm)
winchell_evol_CG.csv