Steroid correlates of multiple color traits in the spiny lizard, <Emphasis Type="Italic">Sceloporus pyrocephalus</Emphasis>

Conspicuous coloration in females is less well studied compared to that in males. Adult female Mexican boulder spiny lizards (Sceloporus pyrocephalus) have conspicuously colored throat, or gular, regions, ranging from red to yellow, while adult males only weakly express such color in their gular region. Both sexes have dark blue–black gular stripes and venter stripes. Understanding proximate mechanisms underlying trait expression can aid in understanding trait function. To characterize the proximate mechanisms potentially influencing color variation among field-captured male and female S. pyrocephalus, we quantified three aspects of color (hue, saturation, brightness) for three body locations (gular region, gular stripes, venter stripes) and then assessed how color was related to reproductive state and concentrations of the plasma steroid hormones testosterone (T) and corticosterone (CORT) in males and T, CORT, and 17-β estradiol (E₂) in females. Testes volume was not related to variation in color or in hormones, perhaps because most males were in peak reproductive condition. Large vitellogenic follicles as opposed to oviductal eggs were associated with higher E₂ in females. Males with more dull gular stripes and females with dull venter stripes had significantly higher CORT. Females with red gular regions and pale grey gular stripes had higher T and E₂ concentrations compared to females with a more yellow gular region and darker gular stripes. Thus, gular region color in females could communicate reproductive state; dull gular stripes in males and dull venter stripes in females could communicate stress status.     

Hybridization between multiple fence lizard lineages in an ecotone: locally discordant variation in mitochondrial DNA, chromosomes, and morphology

We investigated a hybrid zone between two major lineages of fence lizards (Sceloporus cowlesi and Sceloporus tristichus) in the Sceloporus undulatus species complex in eastern Arizona. This zone occurs in an ecotone between Great Basin Grassland and Conifer Woodland habitats. We analysed spatial variation in mtDNA (N=401; 969 bp), chromosomes (N=217), and morphology (N=312; 11 characters) to characterize the hybrid zone and assess species limits. A fine-scale population level phylogenetic analysis refined the boundaries between these species and indicated that four nonsister mtDNA clades (three belonging to S. tristichus and one to S. cowlesi) are sympatric at the centre of the zone. Estimates of cytonuclear disequilibria in the population closest to the centre of the hybrid zone suggest that the S. tristichus clades are randomly mating, but that the S. cowlesi haplotype has a significant nonrandom association with nuclear alleles. Maximum-likelihood cline-fitting analyses suggest that the karyotype, morphology, and dorsal colour pattern clines are all coincident, but the mtDNA cline is skewed significantly to the south. A temporal comparison of cline centres utilizing karyotype data collected in the early 1970s and in 2002 suggests that the cline may have shifted by approximately 1.5 km to the north over a 30-year period. The recent northward expansion of juniper trees into the Little Colorado River Basin resulting from intense cattle overgrazing provides a plausible mechanism for a shifting hybrid zone and the introgression of the mtDNA haplotypes, which appear to be selectively neutral. It is clear that complex interactions are operating simultaneously in this contact zone, including the formation of hybrids between populations within S. tristichus having diagnostic mtDNA, morphology, karyotypes, and dorsal colour patterns, and secondary contact between these and a distantly related yet morphologically cryptic mtDNA lineage (S. cowlesi).     

The Effect of Host Constitution on the Development of Plasmodium floridense*

More than 15,000 lizards from South Georgia were examined over a period of 16 years. Five percent of Sceloporus undulatus and 36% of Anolis carolinensis were found to harbor Plasmodium floridense. Development of 28 natural new infections was followed in detail as soon as they became patent and comparisons in the 2 host species made of intensity and duration of infections and of merozoite means during the periods of acute rise and decline. During the acute rise, the merozoite mean in Sceloporus was 10.6 ± 0.11 (8,495 segmenters counted), compared with 13.44 ± 0.15 in Anolis (3,805 counted); during the decline, the merozoite means were 8.55 ± 0.13 (3,305 counted) and 10.28 ± 0.09 (6,772 counted), respectively. It took an average of 150 (100–253) days for the infection to run its course in Sceloporus, compared with the average of 71 (60–90) days in Anolis; the peak of parasitemia in Sceloporus was 11,600 parasites/10,000 red cells, compared with 1,600 in Anolis. Both lizard genera produced 5–10% gametocytes.     

Fluctuating Asymmetry as an Indicator of Environmental Stress From Off-Highway Vehicles

Abstract: With human activities increasingly impacting natural resources in relatively remote locations, there is a need for simple and efficient methods to explore the ecological consequences of these activities. Little is understood about the influences of off-highway vehicle (OHV) use on wildlife populations. We examined the effect of OHV activity on developmental instability in a phrynosomatid lizard (i.e., western fence lizard [Sceloporus occidentalis]) in the western Great Basin, USA. We measured fluctuating asymmetry (FA) of bilateral head-scale patterns in populations of lizards at 3 OHV and 3 non-OHV sites. Fluctuating asymmetry was higher at OHV sites relative to non-OHV sites, supporting the idea that OHV activity can stress wildlife populations. We found FA to be a good tool for uncovering responses to stress in natural populations, and we recommend exploring FA as a means of uncovering developmental instability in other systems that merit conservation interest.     

Food consumption does not affect the preferred body temperature of Yarrow's spiny lizard (Sceloporus jarrovi)

When animals consume less food, they must reduce their body temperature to maximize growth. However, high temperatures enhance locomotion and other performances that determine survival and reproduction. Therefore, thermoregulatory behaviors during different metabolic states reveal the relative importance of conserving energy and sustaining performance. Using artificial thermal gradients, we measured preferred body temperatures of male spiny lizards (Sceloporus jarrovi) in fed and fasted states. Both the mean and maximal body temperatures (33° and 35 °C, respectively) were unaffected by metabolic state. This finding suggests that the benefits of foraging effectively, evading predators, and defending territory outweigh the energetic cost of a high body temperature during fasting.     

Thermal and reproductive biology of high and low elevation populations of the lizard Sceloporus scalaris: implications for the evolution of viviparity

Viviparity in squamate reptiles is presumed to evolve in cold climates by selection for increasingly longer periods of egg retention. Longer periods of egg retention may require modifications to other reproductive features associated with the evolution of viviparity, including a reduction in eggshell thickness and clutch size. Field studies on the thermal and reproductive biology of high (HE) and low (LE) elevation populations of the oviparous lizard, Sceloporus scalaris, support these expectations. Both day and night-time temperatures at the HE site were considerably cooler than at the LE site, and the activity period was 2 h shorter at the HE than at the LE site. The median body temperature of active HE females was 2°C lower than that of LE females. HE females initiated reproduction earlier in the spring than LE females, apparently in order to compensate for relatively low temperatures during gestation. HE females retained eggs for about 20 days longer than LE females, which was reflected by differences in the degree of embryonic development at the time of oviposition (stages 35.5–37.0 versus stages 31.0–33.5, respectively). These results support the hypotheses that evolution of viviparity is a gradual process, and is favored in cold climates. Females in the HE population exhibited other traits consistent with presumed intermediate stages in the evolution of viviparity; mean eggshell thickness of HE eggs (19.3 m) was significantly thinner than that of LE eggs (26.6 m) and the size-adjusted clutch sizes of HE females (9.4) were smaller than those of LE females (11.2).     

Geographic variation in field body temperature of sceloporus lizards

1. Using data from the literature, I assessed how broad climatic patterns affected field body temperatures (T_b’s) of lizards in the genus Sceloporus.

2. Sceloporus at temperate latitudes had mean T_b’s of 35°C throughout their elevational range. This pattern is associated with “tropical” temperatures that extend into high north latitudes during the summer and the relatively low elevations occupied by the lizards.

3. At tropical latitudes, mean T_b declined from 35°C at low elevations to 31°C at high elevations. This pattern is associated with low seasonal variation in temperature at tropical latitudes and the relatively high elevations occupied by the lizards.     

Genetic, prenatal, and postnatal correlates of dispersal in hatchling fence lizards (Sceloporus occidentalis)

Similarity of dispersal behavior among siblings is common invertebrates. However, little is known about the factors (genetic,prenatal, postnatal) generating this similarity. Here we analyzedpotential influences on the dispersal patterns of multiple familiesof hatchling fence lizards, Sceloporus occidentalis. We capturednear-term females from the field, incubated their eggs in thelaboratory, measured various traits of the hatchlings and dams,and then released the hatchlings at a number of sites in nature.We recaptured hatchlings 5–6 weeks later and measuredthe direct distance to the release site. Because we treatedhatchlings (from eggs to release) randomly with respect to sibship,we eliminated the possibility that any observed sibling similarityin dispersal is merely an artifact of common postnatal influences.To analyze dispersal, we developed a new method that does notmake an arbitrary choice of a threshold distance separatingdispersers from nondispersers. We found a significant familyeffect on dispersal. We suspect that this family effect originatesfrom genetic influences rather than from prenatal ones. Indeed,hatchling dispersal was remarkably unrelated to numerous traits(of clutches, mothers, or hatchlings) that might reflect prenataleffects. However, we did find that males were more likely todisperse than females, as predicted for polygynous species.Finally, characteristics of the release site did not appearto influence dispersal.     

A multilocus perspective on colonization accompanied by selection and gene flow

The colonization of novel habitats involves complex interactions between founder events, selection, and ongoing migration, and can lead to diverse evolutionary outcomes from local extinction to adaptation to speciation. Although there have been several studies of the demography of colonization of remote habitats, less is known about the demographic consequences of colonization of novel habitats within a continuous species range. Populations of the Eastern Fence Lizard, Sceloporus undulatus, are continuously distributed across two dramatic transitions in substrate color in southern New Mexico and have undergone rapid adaptation following colonization of these novel environments. Blanched forms inhabit the gypsum sand dunes of White Sands and melanic forms are found on the black basalt rocks of the Carrizozo lava flow. Each of these habitats formed within the last 10,000 years, allowing comparison of genetic signatures of population history for two independent colonizations from the same source population. We present evidence on phenotypic variation in lizard color, environmental variation in substrate color, and sequence variation for mitochondrial DNA and 19 independent nuclear loci. To confirm the influence of natural selection and gene flow in this system, we show that phenotypic variation is best explained by environmental variation and that neutral genetic variation is related to distance between populations, not partitioned by habitat. The historical demography of colonization was inferred using an Approximate Bayesian Computation (ABC) framework that incorporates known geological information and allows for ongoing migration with the source population. The inferences differed somewhat between mtDNA and nuclear markers, but overall provided strong evidence of historical size reductions in both white sand and black lava populations at the time of colonization. Populations in both novel habitats appear to have undergone partial but incomplete recovery from the initial bottleneck. Both ABC analyses and measures of mtDNA sequence diversity also suggested that population reductions were more severe in the black lava compared to the white sands habitat. Differences observed between habitats may be explained by differences in colonization time, habitat geometry, and strength or response to natural selection for substrate matching. Finally, effective population size reductions in this system appear to be more dramatic when colonization is accompanied by a change in selection regime. Our analyses are consistent with a demographic cost of adaptation to novel environments and show that it is possible to infer aspects of the historical demography of local adaptation even in the presence of ongoing gene flow.