| Institution: | 1. Miller Institute for Basic Research in Science & Department of Environmental Science Policy and Management, University of California at Berkeley, Berkeley, California;2. Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts
Kamath and Herrmann are co-first authors.;3. Department of Zoology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, England;4. Department of Integrative Biology, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas;5. Department of Biology, University of Central Florida, Orlando, Florida;6. Department of Biology, Loyola University Chicago, Chicago, Illinois;7. South Dakota School of Mines and Technology, Rapid City, South Dakota;8. Department of Biology, University of Tampa, Tampa, Florida |
| Abstract: | Negative interactions between species can generate divergent selection that causes character displacement. However, other processes cause similar divergence. We use spatial and temporal replication across island populations of Anolis lizards to assess the importance of negative interactions in driving trait shifts. Previous work showed that the establishment of Anolis sagrei on islands drove resident Anolis carolinensis to perch higher and evolve larger toepads. To further test the interaction's causality and predictability, we resurveyed a subset of islands nine years later. Anolis sagrei had established on one island between surveys. We found that A. carolinensis on this island now perch higher and have larger toepads. However, toepad morphology change on this island was not distinct from shifts on six other islands whose Anolis community composition had not changed. Thus, the presence of A. sagrei only partly explains A. carolinensis trait variation across space and time. We also found that A. carolinensis on islands with previously established A. sagrei now perch higher than a decade ago, and that current A. carolinensis perch height is correlated with A. sagrei density. Our results suggest that character displacement likely interacts with other evolutionary processes in this system, and that temporal data are key to detecting such interactions. |
