Florida International University FIU Digital Commons FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations University Graduate School 3-2-2018 Using Introduced Species of Anolis Lizards to Test Adaptive Radiation Theory James T. Stroud Florida International University, [email protected] DOI: 10.25148/etd.FIDC006576 Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.fiu.edu/etd Part of the Behavior and Ethology Commons, Evolution Commons, and the Other Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Commons Recommended Citation Stroud, James T., "Using Introduced Species of Anolis Lizards to Test Adaptive Radiation Theory" (2018). FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 3695. https://digitalcommons.fiu.edu/etd/3695 This work is brought to you for free and open access by the University Graduate School at FIU Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of FIU Digital Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. FLORIDA INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY Miami, Florida USING INTRODUCED SPECIES OF ANOLIS LIZARDS TO TEST ADAPTIVE RADIATION THEORY A dissertation in partial fulfillment of the Requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY In BIOLOGY By James T. Stroud 2018 To: Dean Michael R. Heithaus College of Arts, Sciences, and Education This dissertation, written by James T. Stroud, and entitled Using Introduced Species of Anolis Lizards to Test Adaptive Radiation Theory, having been approved in respect to style and intellectual content, is referred to you for judgment. We have read this dissertation and recommend that it be approved. ______________________________________ Maureen A. Donnelly ______________________________________ Christopher Baraloto _______________________________________ Hong Liu _______________________________________ Jonathan B. Losos _______________________________________ Kenneth J. Feeley, Major Professor Date of Defense: March 2, 2018 The dissertation of James T. Stroud is approved. _______________________________________ Dean Michael R. Heithaus College of Arts, Sciences, and Education _______________________________________ Andrés G. Gil Vice President for Research and Economic Development and Dean of the University Graduate School Florida International University, 2018 ii COPYRIGHT PAGE The chapter listed below have been published in peer-reviewed journals. The journal “Annual Review of Ecology, Evolution, and Systematics” states that authors do not need to obtain permission to reuse the material in their review (Chapter II). Specifically, the copyright transfer agreement provides “…the nonexclusive right to use, reproduce, distribute, perform, update, create derivatives, and make copies of the work (electronically or in print) in connection with the author’s teaching, conference presentations, lectures, and publications, provided proper attribution is given.” The journal “Biological Invasions” is published by Springer and has granted Copright Clearance (order no. 4201361412484) to publish Chapter V in this dissertation. Chapter III has been formatted for submission to “Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences”. Chapter IV has been formatted for submission to “Ecology Letters”. CHAPTER II Stroud JT and Losos JB (2016) Ecological opportunity and adaptive radiation. Annual Review of Ecology, Evolution, and Systematics, 47: 507-532 CHAPTER V Stroud JT, Giery ST, and Outerbridge ME (2017) Establishment of Anolis sagrei on Bermuda represents a novel ecological threat to Critically Endangered Bermuda skinks (Plestiodon longirostris). Biological Invasions 19: 1723-1731 All other materials © Copyright 2018 by James T. Stroud All rights reserved iii DEDICATION To my parents, Mark and Teresa. For everything, and more. iv ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The fact that this Acknowledgments section is so long is testament to the many wonderful, caring, intelligent, and marvellous people that I have had the absolute pleasure of coming across during my doctoral studies. Thank you, you are all beautiful. This list is presented in no particular order of importance, and I have attempted to be as exhaustive as my [exhausted] mind will let me – however, due to those reasons, there is a chance that some of you may have escaped this list. If so, I apologise in advance, and please do not hesitate in reminding me. I will be extraordinarily embarrassed and buy you lunch. First of all, I must thank my family. I was so incredibly moved that all of you made the >4,000 mile trip from London to watch my defence. The fact that that act itself only represents a tiny example of your support is a testament to how truly important you were in this dissertation being a success. I hope you all know that I would do anything to reciprocate. This dissertation is dedicated wholeheartedly to my parents: the best people I know in the world. Thank you for always encouraging me to be curious, be successful, and for setting the standards of how hard you should work if it’s something you are truly passionate about. The tireless, and all-too-often (and ashamedly) thankless, effort and care you put in to ensuring that we would always have access to the best education available is humbling. I am so, so proud to call you my parents. My sisters, Jessica and Olivia, are the most unfathomably supportive siblings imaginable. I am prouder of you than you could ever possibly believe. The strongest, most caring, and most intelligent women. Thank you for taking your spare time – where you could have gone anywhere in the world (!) – to come and visit me during my PhD studies, it means so much. I owe a special thank you to my Nan and Grandad. I am sorry I couldn’t finish earlier. I tried. I know how proud you always are of all of us. To Ken, thank you so much for the past 5 years. Most obviously and primarily for doing all the things a great advisor would (and should) do, but also for the trust and freedom that you v afforded me when I fled on a totally different research tangent to the rest of the lab. I can say, with confidence, that I never studied anything in my PhD that I did not find truly exciting and enjoyable. For that, I thank you deeply. Prior to joining the lab I had resigned myself to a life outside of academia; my many failed applications to graduate school lead me to believe I was not strong or smart enough to study the things I was most interested in – those topics were destined for others. You allowed me to find out if I could. Any advisor that supports that is invaluable. To my committee members, thank you. Mo, you never hesitated in offering advice, were extremely generous – especially with providing housing at the annual JMIH conferences, and frequently took me in as an adopted lab member. You were always available to me for help, thank you! Thank you to Hong Liu and John Withey, who were both valuable committee members, and to Chris Baraloto for stepping in after John Withey left FIU. Jonathan, you were a continual source of advice and support throughout my PhD. Thank you for gently guiding me with your advice, and for nonchalantly dropping questions in conversations which led to years of thinking. Having the opportunity to write the Annual Review (Chapter II) together was incredible; I learnt an awful lot about evolutionary theory, but (most importantly) it was also a wonderfully insightful internship in scientific writing. Fairchild Tropical Botanic Gardens were – and continue to be – overwhelmingly supportive of my lizard research in the gardens. I am incredibly proud of the research system on the anole community at FTBG that I have been able to develop over the past 5 years, and most especially proud of our “Lizards On The Loose” outreach project with the Fairchild Challenge (thanks to their whole team, especially Amanda Noble and Barbara Martinez). The director of the garden, Carl Lewis, has never refused any of my (many) requests, and Amy Padolf – the director of education at Fairchild – has always been wonderfully supportive throughout (and always excited about science!). Special thank you to the administrative staff for always helping, most of all Rose Ricks – you are an angel! vi Thank you to all of the people and agencies that provided my PhD research with financial support; FIU Dissertation Evidence Acquisition [DEA] Fellowship, FIU Dissertation Year Fellowship [DYF], FIU Judith Evans Parker International Travel Fellowship, FIU Kimberly Green Latin American and Caribbean Center (LACC) Tinker Research Grant, Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden (Graduate Student Research Grant), American Society of Naturalists (Graduate Research Award), National Science Foundation (NSF) Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant (DDIG), Bermuda Zoological Association’s Eric Clee Research Award. And thank you to the following for sponsoring travel to conferences for me to present my dissertation research: FIU Dept. of Biology, CASE, UGS, and FCE/LTER, American Society of Naturalists, and the American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists. Additionally, thank you to FIU’s College of Arts and Science’s for awarding my Chapter II (“Ecological Opportunity and Adaptive Radiation”) as FIU’s 2017 Outstanding Graduate Student Manuscript in STEM. And thank you to FIU’s Outstanding Student Life Awards for awarding me with the 2017 Outstanding Graduate Scholar Award. Thank you to all of my Feeley labmates past and present: Brian Machovina, Catherina Bravo-Avila, Belen Fadrique, and Christine Pardo, but special thanks goes to Tim Perez. As soon as you started you impressed me with your passion for botany and natural inquisitiveness (but probably most with your collection of mind-blowing shirts – as I write this you are wearing your shirt with zebras on. Classic.). My dissertation writing was definitely helped by having you around to bounce ideas off, however lizards are still > plants. I must also afford great thanks to my former lab-mate Evan Rehm. Evan you really supported me and guided me through the early stages of my PhD, probably more than you realized. You were a great mentor. Thank you. Thank you to all of the FIU undergraduate students that have helped me throughout my doctorate research.