An experimental study of interspecific interactions between two Puerto Rican Anolis lizards |
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| Authors: | Manuel Leal Javier A Rodríguez-Robles Jonathan B Losos |
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| Institution: | (1) Department of Biology, Campus Box 1137, Washington University, St. Louis, MO 63130-4899, USA e-mail: mleal@biodec.wustl.edu, Fax: +1 314-9354432, US;(2) Museum of Vertebrate Zoology and Department of Integrative Biology, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720-3160, USA, US |
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| Abstract: | We analyzed the impact of interspecific interactions between two ecologically and morphologically distinct Puerto Rican lizards,
Anolis gundlachi and A. evermanni, in an experimental design consisting of six 20 × 20 m plots divided into three blocks, each consisting of a pair of experimental
and control plots. We removed A. gundlachi from experimental plots and monitored the response of A. evermanni. The reduction in the number of A. gundlachi resulted in a significant increase in the abundance of both adult and juvenile A. evermanni. We found no evidence for a shift in structural habitat use in A. evermanni in experimental plots. Two possible mechanisms, interspecific competition and intraguild predation, could explain the increase
in abundance of A. evermanni after the removal of A. gundlachi. These results make clear that interactions still occur between A. gundlachi and A. evermanni even given their morphological and ecological differences.
Received: 14 November 1997 / Accepted: 4 May 1998 |
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| Keywords: | Anolis Habitat partitioning Interspecific interactions Intraguild predation Puerto Rico |
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