SCIENCE@home

Morphological divergence and reduced ectoparasite prevalence in an introduced population of a Caribbean anole

Zoology Wiley,Vaughn Bodden,R. Puschendorf

Published 2019 in Journal of Zoology

ABSTRACT

8 Invasive species are characterized as effective dispersers, allowing them to rapidly colonize an area 9 shortly after being introduced. As biological invasions become increasingly common understanding 10 what factors drive a species’ ability to rapidly colonize new habitats will be important for future 11 conservation management. Theoretical models predict that spatial sorting of an invasive population 12 will select for enhanced dispersal-related traits and lower prevalence of parasitic infections of 13 individuals on the vanguard of range expansion when compared to those of the core population. In 14 support of the models, there is a growing body of evidence that demonstrates both features are 15 common in invasive populations, although, these observations stem from mainland systems, over 16 larger spatial scales. Here we investigated the morphology and ectoparasite prevalence of Maynard’s 17 anole ( Anolis maynardi) in its native range Little Cayman, and across its introduced range Cayman 18 Brac where it was discovered 31 years ago. We tested for morphological divergence, ectoparasite 19 prevalence, and the effects of parasite load on body condition between the native population and the 20 core, intermediate and range edge populations within the introduced range. Our results suggest that 21 spatial sorting could have selected for decreased ectoparasite prevalence on the range edge of the 22 introduced population, across an area of just 39 km 2 . However, there was no difference in hind-limb 23 length, the character that is expected to enhance dispersal ability, across the range of the introduced

PUBLICATION RECORD

  • Publication year

    2019

  • Venue

    Journal of Zoology

  • Publication date

    2019-04-08

  • Fields of study

    Biology, Environmental Science

  • Identifiers
    DOI 10.1111/JZO.12664
  • External record

    Open on Semantic Scholar

  • Source metadata

    Semantic Scholar

CITATION MAP

EXTRACTION MAP

CLAIMS

  • No claims are published for this paper.

CONCEPTS

  • No concepts are published for this paper.

REFERENCES

Showing 1-53 of 53 references · Page 1 of 1

CITED BY