Cookellee.Pdf (1.680Mb)

Total Page:16

File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

Cookellee.Pdf (1.680Mb) CHARACTERIZING TERRITORIALITY AND THE MECHANISMS THAT MEDIATE IT IN FEMALE ANOLIS GUNDLACHI LIZARDS _______________________________________ A Dissertation presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School at the University of Missouri-Columbia _______________________________________________________ In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy _____________________________________________________ by ELLEE G. COOK Dr. Manuel Leal, Dissertation Supervisor JULY 2019 The undersigned, appointed by the dean of the Graduate School, have examined the dissertation entitled CHARACTERIZING TERRITORIALITY AND THE MECHANISMS THAT MEDIATE IT IN FEMALE ANOLIS GUNDLACHI LIZARDS Presented by Ellee G. Cook, a candidate for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, and hereby certify that, in their opinion, it is worthy of acceptance. ___________________________________ Professor Manuel Leal ___________________________________ Professor Reginald Cocroft ___________________________________ Professor Kevin Middleton ___________________________________ Professor Johannes Schul ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Countless people have contributed to this dissertation and to the successful culmination of my graduate work at the University of Missouri. I have had the tremendous good fortune to have an incredible support system, both in terms of my academic and scientific development, and the emotional support that is critical for success in this field. I have learned more from Manuel Leal than from any other teacher or mentor I have had the fortune to work with. His mentorship challenged me to develop as a critical thinker, and has instilled in me a confidence in facing new challenges. I will be forever grateful for his perpetual willingness to talk and laugh, his tremendous investment in me as a student and scientist, and in always encouraging me to pursue lines of inquiry of interest to me in science and beyond. The other members of my committee have also invested substantially in my success, and I thank Rex Cocroft, Kevin Middleton, and Johannes Schul for taking the time to teach me, talk with me, and make this dissertation what it is. The Division of Biological Sciences has been a hub of support. No day was complete without my visiting with Nila Emirich and Rebecca Ballew, and I would not have survived this process nearly as gracefully without the support of Melody Kroll, Alan Marshall, Nick Valentine, and all the other staff that make this place great. I also thank Lori Eggert and Candi Galen for their mentorship in teaching, and thank Barb Sonderman and Richard Daniel for always being ready to meet to have executive discussions about our classes. And last but certainly not least, my fellow graduate students and lab mates. I can’t possibly mention all of the individuals I’ve spoken to about science, life, and life- after-graduate-school, but I thank you all! In particular, I thank Jake Burkhart, Ronnie ii Lacombe, Arianne Messerman, Erin Sellner, and Levi Storks for always being my people both in science and beyond. This work would not have been possible without the help of field assistants who went above and beyond what I asked of them. Deborah Lopez-Nieves, Karen Patterson, Jessica Pita-Aquino, and Phil Pearson, your thoughtfulness and hard work made these projects better and I am so grateful for the adventures we had. Furthermore, my collaborators Miguel Acevedo, Matthew B. Lovern, David Clark so graciously agreed to collaborate with us, and I thank them for the tools that made these projects what they are. Finally, none of this would have been possible without the support of my family. Doug and Paula Cook have been my cheerleaders for the last six years, never once doubting my ability to succeed. I am forever grateful to them for reminding me that I can do anything I set out to do. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ................................................................................................ii LIST OF TABLES ...............................................................................................................vi LIST OF FIGURES .............................................................................................................vii ABSTRACT ..........................................................................................................................viii CHAPTER 1 • INTRODUCTION INTRODUCTION ...........................................................................................................1 LITERATURE CITED .....................................................................................................7 CHAPTER 2 • TERRITORIALITY: A SURVEY OF THE PROGRESSION FROM OBSERVATION TO EXPERIMENTATION TO UNDERSTAND THE EVOLUTION, FUNCTION, AND REGULATION OF TERRITORIAL BEHAVIOR ABSTRACT ..................................................................................................................10 INTRODUCTION ...........................................................................................................10 CASE STUDY ...............................................................................................................18 CONCLUSIONS AND FUTURE DIRECTIONS ...................................................................27 REFERENCES ...............................................................................................................29 CHAPTER 3 • SIMILAR BEHAVIOR, SHARED MECHANISM? EVALUATING THE INLFUENCE OF BODY CONDITION ON TERRITORIAL BEHAVIOR IN FEMALE ANOLIS GUNDLACHI LIZARDS ABSTRACT ..................................................................................................................43 INTRODUCTION ...........................................................................................................44 MATERIALS AND METHODS ........................................................................................49 RESULTS .....................................................................................................................56 DISCUSSION ................................................................................................................60 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ................................................................................................69 iv REFERENCES ...............................................................................................................71 CHAPTER 4 • EVALUATING THE POTENTIAL FOR TESTOSTERONE TO MEDIATE AGGRESSIVE BEHAVIOR IN WILD FEMALE ANOLIS GUNDLACHI LIZARDS ABSTRACT ..................................................................................................................91 INTRODUCTION ...........................................................................................................92 MATERIALS AND METHODS ........................................................................................97 RESULTS .....................................................................................................................106 DISCUSSION ................................................................................................................110 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ................................................................................................117 REFERENCES ...............................................................................................................118 CHAPTER 5: TESTOSTERONE AND PARASITE LOAD: AN INVESTIGATION OF THE IMMUNOCOMPETENCE HYPOTHESIS IN WILD ANOLIS GUNDLACHI LIZARDS ABSTRACT ..................................................................................................................141 INTRODUCTION ...........................................................................................................141 MATERIALS AND METHODS ........................................................................................146 RESULTS .....................................................................................................................149 DISCUSSION ................................................................................................................150 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ................................................................................................153 REFERENCES ...............................................................................................................155 CHAPTER 6 • CONCLUSIONS CONCLUSIONS .............................................................................................................166 SUMMARY OF RESULTS AND FUTURE DIRECTIONS ......................................................167 VITA......................................................................................................................................171 v LIST OF TABLES CHAPTER 2. Table 1. Results of literature search for lizard territoriality.......................................40 CHAPTER 3. Table 1. Descriptions of observed territorial behaviors .............................................80 Table 2. Results of t-tests comparing variables across sampling years .....................81 CHAPTER 4. Table 1. Description of territorial behaviors ..............................................................127 Table 2. Description of aggressive behaviors observed.............................................128 Table 3. Model comparison for probability of undetectable concentrations of testosterone in males and females ..............................................................................130 Table 4. Model comparison for probability of undetectable
Recommended publications
  • Body Condition of a Puerto Rican Anole
    SHORTER COMMUNICATIONS 489 Journal Vol. No. 489-491,2000 of Herpetology, 34, 3, pp. study site and details of its natural are in Rea- Copyright2000 Societyfor the Study of Amphibiansand Reptiles history gan and Wade (1996). Anolis gundlachi lizards are com- mon at the site, perching on trees and large logs with- in of Condition of a Puerto Rican reach human observers. Anoles were captured Body along trails within a 36 ha plot with a slip noose at- Anole, Anolis gundlachi:Effect of a tached to a pole or by hand during five periods: July Malaria Parasite and Weather Variation 1996, July 1997, January 1998, May 1998, and March 1999. Only males with an intact tail were used for this Jos. J. SCHALLAND ANJA R. PEARSON,Department of study because the mass of females would vary with Biology, University of Vermont, Burlington, Vermont reproductive condition, and animals with broken or 05405, USA. E-mail: [email protected] regenerated tails would have a body mass atypical for their SVL. Each lizard was maintained in a mesh sack until Over 70 of malaria Plasmodium species parasites, when a blood smear was made from a lizards as their vertebrate hosts evening drop spp., exploit through- of blood extracted from a SVL out the warmer of the world clipped toe, measured, regions (Schall, 1996). and mass taken with a Pesola cali- Detailed information on the of infection is body spring scale impact brated an balance. known for a few Plasmodium-lizard associations: against electronic The next morn- only all lizards were released at their of P mexicanum and Sceloporus occidentalis in California, ing, points capture.
    [Show full text]
  • Species Concepts and Malaria Parasites
    doi 10.1098/rspb.2000.1290 Speciesconceptsandmalariaparasites: detecting acrypticspeciesof Plasmodium Susan L.Perki ns { Department of Biology,University of Vermont, Burlington,VT 05405,USA Species ofmalaria parasite (phylum Apicomplexa: genus Plasmodium)havetraditionally been described usingthe similarity species concept(based primarily on di¡ erences inmorphological or life-history characteristics).Thebiological species concept(reproductive isolation) and phylogenetic species concept (basedon monophyly) have not been used beforein de¢ ning species of Plasmodium. Plasmodium azurophilum ,described from Anolis lizardsin the eastern Caribbean,is actuallya two-species cryptic complex.The parasites werestudied from eightislands, from Puerto Rico in the northto Grenada in the south.Morphology of the twospecies isverysimilar (di¡erences areindistinguishable to the eye),but one infects onlyerythrocytes andthe otheronly white blood cells. Moleculardata for the cytochrome b gene revealthat the twoforms arereproductively isolated ;distinct haplotypesare present oneachisland and arenever shared between the erythrocyte-infectingand leucocyte-infecting species. Eachforms amono- phyleticlineage indicating that theydiverged before becoming established inthe anolesof the eastern Caribbean.This comparison of the similarity,biologicaland phylogenetic species concepts formalaria parasites revealsthe limited valueof usingonly similarity measures inde¢ ning protozoan species. Keywords: Plasmodium;species concepts; cryptic species; malaria fora givenspecies
    [Show full text]
  • Literature Cited in Lizards Natural History Database
    Literature Cited in Lizards Natural History database Abdala, C. S., A. S. Quinteros, and R. E. Espinoza. 2008. Two new species of Liolaemus (Iguania: Liolaemidae) from the puna of northwestern Argentina. Herpetologica 64:458-471. Abdala, C. S., D. Baldo, R. A. Juárez, and R. E. Espinoza. 2016. The first parthenogenetic pleurodont Iguanian: a new all-female Liolaemus (Squamata: Liolaemidae) from western Argentina. Copeia 104:487-497. Abdala, C. S., J. C. Acosta, M. R. Cabrera, H. J. Villaviciencio, and J. Marinero. 2009. A new Andean Liolaemus of the L. montanus series (Squamata: Iguania: Liolaemidae) from western Argentina. South American Journal of Herpetology 4:91-102. Abdala, C. S., J. L. Acosta, J. C. Acosta, B. B. Alvarez, F. Arias, L. J. Avila, . S. M. Zalba. 2012. Categorización del estado de conservación de las lagartijas y anfisbenas de la República Argentina. Cuadernos de Herpetologia 26 (Suppl. 1):215-248. Abell, A. J. 1999. Male-female spacing patterns in the lizard, Sceloporus virgatus. Amphibia-Reptilia 20:185-194. Abts, M. L. 1987. Environment and variation in life history traits of the Chuckwalla, Sauromalus obesus. Ecological Monographs 57:215-232. Achaval, F., and A. Olmos. 2003. Anfibios y reptiles del Uruguay. Montevideo, Uruguay: Facultad de Ciencias. Achaval, F., and A. Olmos. 2007. Anfibio y reptiles del Uruguay, 3rd edn. Montevideo, Uruguay: Serie Fauna 1. Ackermann, T. 2006. Schreibers Glatkopfleguan Leiocephalus schreibersii. Munich, Germany: Natur und Tier. Ackley, J. W., P. J. Muelleman, R. E. Carter, R. W. Henderson, and R. Powell. 2009. A rapid assessment of herpetofaunal diversity in variously altered habitats on Dominica.
    [Show full text]
  • Phenotypic Variation and the Behavioral Ecology of Lizards
    Phenotypic Variation and the Behavioral Ecology of Lizards The Harvard community has made this article openly available. Please share how this access benefits you. Your story matters Citable link http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:40046431 Terms of Use This article was downloaded from Harvard University’s DASH repository, and is made available under the terms and conditions applicable to Other Posted Material, as set forth at http:// nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:dash.current.terms-of- use#LAA Phenotypic Variation and the Behavioral Ecology of Lizards A dissertation presented by Ambika Kamath to The Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the subject of Biology Harvard University Cambridge, Massachusetts March 2017 © 2017 Ambika Kamath All rights reserved. Dissertation Advisor: Professor Jonathan Losos Ambika Kamath Phenotypic Variation and the Behavioral Ecology of Lizards Abstract Behavioral ecology is the study of how animal behavior evolves in the context of ecology, thus melding, by definition, investigations of how social, ecological, and evolutionary forces shape phenotypic variation within and across species. Framed thus, it is apparent that behavioral ecology also aims to cut across temporal scales and levels of biological organization, seeking to explain the long-term evolutionary trajectory of populations and species by understanding short-term interactions at the within-population level. In this dissertation, I make the case that paying attention to individuals’ natural history— where and how individual organisms live and whom and what they interact with, in natural conditions—can open avenues into studying the behavioral ecology of previously understudied organisms, and more importantly, recast our understanding of taxa we think we know well.
    [Show full text]
  • Haemocystidium Spp., a Species Complex Infecting Ancient Aquatic Turtles of the Family Podocnemididae First Report of These
    IJP: Parasites and Wildlife 10 (2019) 299–309 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect IJP: Parasites and Wildlife journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/ijppaw Haemocystidium spp., a species complex infecting ancient aquatic turtles of the family Podocnemididae: First report of these parasites in Podocnemis T vogli from the Orinoquia Leydy P. Gonzáleza,b, M. Andreína Pachecoc, Ananías A. Escalantec, Andrés David Jiménez Maldonadoa,d, Axl S. Cepedaa, Oscar A. Rodríguez-Fandiñoe, ∗ Mario Vargas‐Ramírezd, Nubia E. Mattaa, a Departamento de Biología, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Sede Bogotá, Carrera 30 No 45-03, Bogotá, Colombia b Instituto de Biotecnología, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Sede Bogotá, Carrera 30 No 45-03, Bogotá, Colombia c Department of Biology/Institute for Genomics and Evolutionary Medicine (iGEM), Temple University, Philadelphia, PA, USA d Instituto de Genética, Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Sede Bogotá, Carrera 30 No 45-03, Bogotá, Colombia e Fundación Universitaria-Unitrópico, Dirección de Investigación, Grupo de Investigación en Ciencias Biológicas de la Orinoquía (GINBIO), Colombia ARTICLE INFO ABSTRACT Keywords: The genus Haemocystidium was described in 1904 by Castellani and Willey. However, several studies considered Haemoparasites it a synonym of the genera Plasmodium or Haemoproteus. Recently, molecular evidence has shown the existence Reptile of a monophyletic group that corresponds to the genus Haemocystidium. Here, we further explore the clade Simondia Haemocystidium spp. by studying parasites from Testudines. A total of 193 individuals belonging to six families of Chelonians Testudines were analyzed. The samples were collected in five localities in Colombia: Casanare, Vichada, Arauca, Colombia Antioquia, and Córdoba. From each individual, a blood sample was taken for molecular analysis, and peripheral blood smears were made, which were fixed and subsequently stained with Giemsa.
    [Show full text]
  • Phylogeny, Ecomorphological Evolution, and Historical Biogeography of the Anolis Cristatellus Series
    Uerpetological Monographs, 18, 2004, 90-126 © 2004 by The Herpetologists' League, Inc. PHYLOGENY, ECOMORPHOLOGICAL EVOLUTION, AND HISTORICAL BIOGEOGRAPHY OF THE ANOLIS CRISTATELLUS SERIES MATTHEW C. BRANDLEY^''^'"' AND KEVIN DE QUEIROZ^ ^Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural History and Department of Zoology, The University of Oklahoma, Norman, OK 73072, USA ^Department of Zoology, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC 20,560, USA ABSTRACT: TO determine the evolutionary relationships within the Anolis cristatellus series, we employed phylogenetic analyses of previously published karyotype and allozyme data as well as newly collected morphological data and mitochondrial DNA sequences (fragments of the 12S RNA and cytochrome b genes). The relationships inferred from continuous maximum likelihood reanalyses of allozyme data were largely poorly supported. A similar analysis of the morphological data gave strong to moderate support for sister relationships of the two included distichoid species, the two trunk-crown species, the grass-bush species A. poncensis and A. pulchellus, and a clade of trunk-ground and grass-bush species. The results of maximum likelihood and Bayesian analyses of the 12S, cyt b, and combined mtDNA data sets were largely congruent, but nonetheless exhibit some differences both with one another and with those based on the morphological data. We therefore took advantage of the additive properties of likelihoods to compare alternative phylogenetic trees and determined that the tree inferred from the combined 12S and cyt b data is also the best estimate of the phylogeny for the morphological and mtDNA data sets considered together. We also performed mixed-model Bayesian analyses of the combined morphology and mtDNA data; the resultant tree was topologically identical to the combined mtDNA tree with generally high nodal support.
    [Show full text]
  • A MOLECULAR PHYLOGENY of MALARIAL PARASITES RECOVERED from CYTOCHROME B GENE SEQUENCES
    J. Parasitol., 88(5), 2002, pp. 972±978 q American Society of Parasitologists 2002 A MOLECULAR PHYLOGENY OF MALARIAL PARASITES RECOVERED FROM CYTOCHROME b GENE SEQUENCES Susan L. Perkins* and Jos. J. Schall Department of Biology, University of Vermont, Burlington, Vermont 05405. e-mail: [email protected] ABSTRACT: A phylogeny of haemosporidian parasites (phylum Apicomplexa, family Plasmodiidae) was recovered using mito- chondrial cytochrome b gene sequences from 52 species in 4 genera (Plasmodium, Hepatocystis, Haemoproteus, and Leucocy- tozoon), including parasite species infecting mammals, birds, and reptiles from over a wide geographic range. Leucocytozoon species emerged as an appropriate out-group for the other malarial parasites. Both parsimony and maximum-likelihood analyses produced similar phylogenetic trees. Life-history traits and parasite morphology, traditionally used as taxonomic characters, are largely phylogenetically uninformative. The Plasmodium and Hepatocystis species of mammalian hosts form 1 well-supported clade, and the Plasmodium and Haemoproteus species of birds and lizards form a second. Within this second clade, the relation- ships between taxa are more complex. Although jackknife support is weak, the Plasmodium of birds may form 1 clade and the Haemoproteus of birds another clade, but the parasites of lizards fall into several clusters, suggesting a more ancient and complex evolutionary history. The parasites currently placed within the genus Haemoproteus may not be monophyletic. Plasmodium falciparum of humans was not derived from an avian malarial ancestor and, except for its close sister species, P. reichenowi,is only distantly related to haemospordian parasites of all other mammals. Plasmodium is paraphyletic with respect to 2 other genera of malarial parasites, Haemoproteus and Hepatocystis.
    [Show full text]
  • Ecology and Evolution of Malarial Parasites In
    ECOLOGY AND EVOLUTION OF MALARIAL PARASITES IN VERTEBRATE HOSTS A Dissertation Presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School Of Cornell University In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy By Holly Lynn Lutz August 2016 © Holly Lynn Lutz 2016 ECOLOGY AND EVOLUTION OF MALARIAL PARASITES IN VERTEBRATE HOSTS Holly Lynn Lutz, Ph.D. Cornell University 2016 This dissertation represents a culmination of extensive field work and collections of African vertebrates and their symbionts, as well as experimental studies carried out in the laboratory. Field work was conducted primarily in the East African countries of Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, and Uganda. Throughout these expeditions, efforts were made to improve field protocols for the comprehensive sampling of wild vertebrates and their symbionts, with particular focus on the sampling of avian blood parasites (haematozoa), ectoparasites (arthropods), endoparasites (helminths), and microbial symbionts (bacteria and viruses). This dissertation therefore includes a chapter with detailed guidelines and protocols for sampling avian symbionts based on these experiences. Following chapters rely on data from both field collections and laboratory experiments, which provide a foundation for addressing the ecology, systematics, and molecular evolution of malarial parasites in vertebrate hosts. Specifically, haemosporidian data from 2,539 Afrotropical birds and small mammals (bats, rodents, and shrews) collected during field inventories were used to (1) test hypotheses linking host life history traits and host ecology to patterns of infection by three haemosporidian parasite genera in birds (Plasmodium, Haemoproteus, and Leucocytozoon), and (2) re-evaluate the molecular phylogeny of the order Haemosporida by incorporating existing genomic data from haemosporidian parasites with data from novel parasite lineages infecting major vertebrate host groups, including birds, mammals, and reptiles.
    [Show full text]
  • The Erratic and Contingent Progression of Research on Territoriality: a Case Study
    bioRxiv preprint doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/107664; this version posted May 1, 2017. The copyright holder for this preprint (which was not certified by peer review) is the author/funder, who has granted bioRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity. It is made available under aCC-BY-NC 4.0 International license. Kamath and Losos 1 Territorial Polygyny in Anolis Lizards The erratic and contingent progression of research on territoriality: a case study. Ambika Kamath1,2 and Jonathan Losos1 1. Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology and the Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard University, 26 Oxford Street, Cambridge, MA, 02138, USA. 2. [email protected] bioRxiv preprint doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/107664; this version posted May 1, 2017. The copyright holder for this preprint (which was not certified by peer review) is the author/funder, who has granted bioRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity. It is made available under aCC-BY-NC 4.0 International license. Kamath and Losos 2 Territorial Polygyny in Anolis Lizards ABSTRACT Our understanding of animal mating systems has changed dramatically with the advent of molecular methods to determine individuals’ reproductive success. But why are older behavioral descriptions and newer genetic descriptions of mating systems often seemingly inconsistent? We argue that a potentially important reason for such inconsistencies is a research trajectory rooted in early studies that were equivocal and overreaching, followed by studies that accepted earlier conclusions at face value and assumed, rather than tested, key ideas about animal mating systems. We illustrate our argument using Anolis lizards, whose social behavior has been studied for nearly a century.
    [Show full text]
  • Scientific Survey of Porto Rico and the Virgin Islands
    : NEW YORK ACADEMY OF SCIENCES SCIENTIFIC SURVEY OF Porto Rico and the Virgin Islands VOLUME X NEW YORK Published by the Academy 1930 CONTENTS OF VOLUME X Page Title-page. Contents ^ Dates of Publication of Parts " List of Illustrations iv Amphibians and Land Reptiles of Porto Rico, with a List of Those Reported from the Virgin Islands. By Karl Patterson Schmidt 1 The Fishes of Porto Rico and the Virgin Islands—Branchiostomidae to Sciae- nidae. By J. T. Nichols 161 The Fishes of Porto Rico and the Virgin Islands—Pomacentridae to Ogcoce- phaUdae. By. J. T. Nichols 297 The Ascidians of Porto Rico and the Virgin Islands. By Willard G. Van Name 401 3 Index 5 ' Dates of Publication of Parts Part 1, November 22, 1928. ^ Part 2, September 10, 1929. ^"^ *7 jL mL. Part 3, March 15, 1930 Part 4, August 1, 1930 (iii) 'X -«^- AMPHIBIANS AND LAND REPTILES OF PORTO RICO With a List of Those Reported from the Virgin Islands By Karl Patterson Schmidt contents Page Introduction 3 Itinerary and collections made 4 Other material examined 4 Plan of work 5 Acknowledgments 6 Porto Rican herpetology since 1904 6 Lists of the amphibians and land reptiles of Porto Rico and the adjacent islands 7 Habitat associations and faunal subdivisions 9 Origin and relations of the Porto Rican herpetological fauna 12 Systematic account of the species 30 Class Amphibia 30 Order SaUentia 30 Family Bufonidae 30 Key to the genera of Porto Rican frogs and toads 30 Bufo Laurenti 31 Key to the Porto Rican species of true toads 31 Bufo lemur (Cope) 31 Bufo marinus (Linne) 34 Leptodactylus
    [Show full text]
  • The Ecology of Lizard Reproductive Output
    Global Ecology and Biogeography, (Global Ecol. Biogeogr.) (2011) ••, ••–•• RESEARCH The ecology of lizard reproductive PAPER outputgeb_700 1..11 Shai Meiri1*, James H. Brown2 and Richard M. Sibly3 1Department of Zoology, Tel Aviv University, ABSTRACT 69978 Tel Aviv, Israel, 2Department of Biology, Aim We provide a new quantitative analysis of lizard reproductive ecology. Com- University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM 87131, USA and Santa Fe Institute, 1399 Hyde parative studies of lizard reproduction to date have usually considered life-history Park Road, Santa Fe, NM 87501, USA, 3School components separately. Instead, we examine the rate of production (productivity of Biological Sciences, University of Reading, hereafter) calculated as the total mass of offspring produced in a year. We test ReadingRG6 6AS, UK whether productivity is influenced by proxies of adult mortality rates such as insularity and fossorial habits, by measures of temperature such as environmental and body temperatures, mode of reproduction and activity times, and by environ- mental productivity and diet. We further examine whether low productivity is linked to high extinction risk. Location World-wide. Methods We assembled a database containing 551 lizard species, their phyloge- netic relationships and multiple life history and ecological variables from the lit- erature. We use phylogenetically informed statistical models to estimate the factors related to lizard productivity. Results Some, but not all, predictions of metabolic and life-history theories are supported. When analysed separately, clutch size, relative clutch mass and brood frequency are poorly correlated with body mass, but their product – productivity – is well correlated with mass. The allometry of productivity scales similarly to metabolic rate, suggesting that a constant fraction of assimilated energy is allocated to production irrespective of body size.
    [Show full text]
  • Tri-Trophic Interactions of a Predator- Parasite-Host Assemblage in New Zealand
    Tri-trophic interactions of a predator- parasite-host assemblage in New Zealand BY KIRSTY JANE YULE A thesis submitted to Victoria University of Wellington in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Victoria University of Wellington (2016) 1 2 This thesis was conducted under the supervision of Associate Professor Kevin Burns (Primary Supervisor) Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand 3 4 Abstract Parasites are ubiquitous and the antagonistic relationships between parasites and their hosts shape populations and ecosystems. However, our understanding of complex parasitic interactions is lacking. New Zealand’s largest endemic moth, Aenetus virescens (Lepidoptera: Hepialidae) is a long-lived arboreal parasite. Larvae grow to 100mm, living ~6 years in solitary tunnels in host trees. Larvae cover their tunnel entrance with silk and frass webbing, behind which they feed on host tree phloem. Webbing looks much like the tree background, potentially concealing larvae from predatory parrots who consume larvae by tearing wood from trees. Yet, the ecological and evolutionary relationships between the host tree, the parasitic larvae, and the avian predator remain unresolved. In this thesis, I use a system-based approach to investigate complex parasite-host interactions using A. virescens (hereafter “larvae”) as a model system. First, I investigate the mechanisms driving intraspecific parasite aggregation (Chapter 2). Overall, many hosts had few parasites and few hosts had many, with larvae consistently more abundant in larger hosts. I found no evidence for density- dependent competition as infrapopulation size had no effect on long-term larval growth. Host specificity, the number of species utilised from the larger pool available, reflects parasite niche breadth, risk of extinction and ability to colonise new locations.
    [Show full text]