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Thonis A, Stansfield A, Akçakaya HR. Unravelling the role of tropical cyclones in shaping present species distributions. GLOBAL CHANGE BIOLOGY 2024; 30:e17232. [PMID: 38462701 DOI: 10.1111/gcb.17232] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/30/2023] [Revised: 02/17/2024] [Accepted: 02/22/2024] [Indexed: 03/12/2024]
Abstract
Driven by climate change, tropical cyclones (TCs) are predicted to change in intensity and frequency through time. Given these forecasted changes, developing an understanding of how TCs impact insular wildlife is of heightened importance. Previous work has shown that extreme weather events may shape species distributions more strongly than climatic averages; however, given the coarse spatial and temporal scales at which TC data are often reported, the influence of TCs on species distributions has yet to be explored. Using TC data from the National Hurricane Center, we developed spatially and temporally explicit species distribution models (SDMs) to examine the role of TCs in shaping present-day distributions of Puerto Rico's 10 Anolis lizard species. We created six predictor variables to represent the intensity and frequency of TCs. For each occurrence of a species, we calculated these variables for TCs that came within 500 km of the center of Puerto Rico and occurred within the 1-year window prior to when that occurrence was recorded. We also included predictor variables related to landcover, climate, topography, canopy cover and geology. We used random forests to assess model performance and variable importance in models with and without TC variables. We found that the inclusion of TC variables improved model performance for the majority of Puerto Rico's 10 anole species. The magnitude of the improvement varied by species, with generalist species that occur throughout the island experiencing the greatest improvements in model performance. Range-restricted species experienced small, almost negligible, improvements but also had more predictive models both with and without the inclusion of TC variables compared to generalist species. Our findings suggest that incorporating data on TCs into SDMs may be important for modeling insular species that are prone to experiencing these types of extreme weather events.
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Affiliation(s)
- Anna Thonis
- Department of Ecology and Evolution, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, New York, USA
| | - Alyssa Stansfield
- Department of Atmospheric Science, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, Colorado, USA
| | - H Resit Akçakaya
- Department of Ecology and Evolution, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, New York, USA
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Michaud R, Hagey TJ, De León LF, Revell LJ, Avilés-Rodríguez KJ. Geometric Morphometric Assessment of Toe Shape in Forest and Urban Lizards Following Hurricane Disturbances. Integr Org Biol 2023; 5:obad025. [PMID: 37521144 PMCID: PMC10384016 DOI: 10.1093/iob/obad025] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/24/2023] [Revised: 05/18/2023] [Accepted: 07/11/2023] [Indexed: 08/01/2023] Open
Abstract
Evidence suggests that hurricanes can influence the evolution of organisms, with phenotypic traits involved in adhesion, such as the toepads of arboreal lizards, being particularly susceptible to natural selection imposed by hurricanes. To investigate this idea, we quantified trait variation before and after Hurricanes Irma and Maria (2017) in forest and urban populations of the Puerto Rican lizard Anolis cristatellus. We found that the hurricanes affected toe morphology differently between forest and urban sites. In particular, toepads of the forefeet were longer and narrower in forest, but wider in urban populations, compared to pre-hurricane measures. Toepads of the hind feet were larger in area following the hurricanes. Fore and rear toes increased in length following the hurricane. There were no changes in the number of lamellae scales or lamellae spacing, but lamellae 6-11 of the forefeet shifted proximally following the hurricane. We also measured clinging performance and toe shape. We found that toepad area and toe lengths were stronger predictors of adhesive forces than toepad shape. Our results highlight an interaction between urbanization and hurricanes, demonstrating the importance to consider how urban species will respond to extreme weather events. Additionally, our different results for fore and rear feet highlight the importance of evaluating both of these traits when measuring the morphological response to hurricanes in arboreal lizards.
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Affiliation(s)
- R Michaud
- Department of Biology, University of Massachusetts Boston, 100 Morrissey Blvd, Boston, MA 02125, USA
| | - T J Hagey
- Department of Science and Mathematics, Mississippi University for Women, 1100 College Street, Columbus, MS 39701, USA
| | - L F De León
- Department of Biology, University of Massachusetts Boston, 100 Morrissey Blvd, Boston, MA 02125, USA
| | - L J Revell
- Department of Biology, University of Massachusetts Boston, 100 Morrissey Blvd, Boston, MA 02125, USA
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Verrelli BC, Alberti M, Des Roches S, Harris NC, Hendry AP, Johnson MTJ, Savage AM, Charmantier A, Gotanda KM, Govaert L, Miles LS, Rivkin LR, Winchell KM, Brans KI, Correa C, Diamond SE, Fitzhugh B, Grimm NB, Hughes S, Marzluff JM, Munshi-South J, Rojas C, Santangelo JS, Schell CJ, Schweitzer JA, Szulkin M, Urban MC, Zhou Y, Ziter C. A global horizon scan for urban evolutionary ecology. Trends Ecol Evol 2022; 37:1006-1019. [PMID: 35995606 DOI: 10.1016/j.tree.2022.07.012] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/23/2022] [Revised: 07/21/2022] [Accepted: 07/27/2022] [Indexed: 10/31/2022]
Abstract
Research on the evolutionary ecology of urban areas reveals how human-induced evolutionary changes affect biodiversity and essential ecosystem services. In a rapidly urbanizing world imposing many selective pressures, a time-sensitive goal is to identify the emergent issues and research priorities that affect the ecology and evolution of species within cities. Here, we report the results of a horizon scan of research questions in urban evolutionary ecology submitted by 100 interdisciplinary scholars. We identified 30 top questions organized into six themes that highlight priorities for future research. These research questions will require methodological advances and interdisciplinary collaborations, with continued revision as the field of urban evolutionary ecology expands with the rapid growth of cities.
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Affiliation(s)
- Brian C Verrelli
- Center for Biological Data Science, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA 23284, USA.
| | - Marina Alberti
- Department of Urban Design and Planning, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195, USA
| | - Simone Des Roches
- School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195, USA
| | - Nyeema C Harris
- Applied Wildlife Ecology Lab, Yale School of the Environment, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06511, USA
| | - Andrew P Hendry
- Department of Biology, Redpath Museum, McGill University, Montreal, QC H3A 0C4, Canada
| | - Marc T J Johnson
- Department of Biology, Centre for Urban Environments, University of Toronto Mississauga, Mississauga, ON L5L 1C6, Canada
| | - Amy M Savage
- Department of Biology and Center for Computational & Integrative Biology, Rutgers University-Camden, Camden, NJ 08103, USA
| | | | - Kiyoko M Gotanda
- Department of Biological Sciences, Brock University, St. Catharines, ON L2S 3A1, Canada; Département de Biologie, Université de Sherbrooke, Sherbrooke, QC J1K 2R1, Canada
| | - Lynn Govaert
- Leibniz Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries, 12587 Berlin, Germany
| | - Lindsay S Miles
- Center for Biological Data Science, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA 23284, USA
| | - L Ruth Rivkin
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON L5L 1C6, Canada; Department of Biological Sciences, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, MB R3T 2N2, Canada
| | - Kristin M Winchell
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08544, USA
| | - Kristien I Brans
- Department of Biology, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, 3000 Leuven, Belgium
| | - Cristian Correa
- Instituto de Conservación Biodiversidad y Territorio, Centro de Humedales Río Cruces, Universidad Austral de Chile, Valdivia, 5090000, Chile
| | - Sarah E Diamond
- Department of Biology, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH 44106, USA
| | - Ben Fitzhugh
- Department of Anthropology, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195, USA
| | - Nancy B Grimm
- School of Life Sciences, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85287, USA
| | - Sara Hughes
- School for Environment and Sustainability, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA
| | - John M Marzluff
- School of Environmental and Forest Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195, USA
| | - Jason Munshi-South
- Louis Calder Center & Department of Biological Sciences, Fordham University, Armonk, NY 10504, USA
| | - Carolina Rojas
- Instituto de Estudios Urbanos y Territoriales, Centro de Desarrollo Sustentable CEDEUS, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, El Comendador 1916, Providencia, 7500000, Santiago, Chile
| | - James S Santangelo
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON L5L 1C6, Canada
| | - Christopher J Schell
- Department of Environmental Science, Policy, and Management, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA
| | - Jennifer A Schweitzer
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN 37917, USA
| | - Marta Szulkin
- Centre of New Technologies, University of Warsaw, Banacha 2c, 02-097, Warsaw, Poland
| | - Mark C Urban
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology & Center of Biological Risk, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT 06269, USA
| | - Yuyu Zhou
- Department of Geological and Atmospheric Sciences, Iowa State University, Ames, IA 50011, USA
| | - Carly Ziter
- Department of Biology, Concordia University, Montreal, QC H4B 1R6, Canada
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Acevedo MA, Clark D, Fankhauser C, Toohey JM. No evidence of predicted phenotypic changes after hurricane disturbance in a shade-specialist Caribbean anole. Biol Lett 2022; 18:20220152. [PMID: 35920030 PMCID: PMC9346363 DOI: 10.1098/rsbl.2022.0152] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/22/2022] [Accepted: 07/18/2022] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Extreme climatic events (ECEs) such as hurricanes have been hypothesized to be a major driving force of natural selection. Recent studies argue that, following strong hurricane disturbance, Anolis lizards in the Caribbean undergo selection for traits such as longer forelimbs or smaller body sizes that improve their clinging ability to their substrates increasing their chances of surviving hurricane wind gusts. Some authors challenge the generalization of this hypothesis arguing that other mechanisms may explain these phenotypic changes or that they may not necessarily be generalizable across systems. To address this issue, we compared body size and relative forelimb length of Anolis gundlachi, a trunk-ground anole living in closed-canopy forests in Puerto Rico, before, four months after, and 15 months after Hurricanes Irma and Maria in 2017. Overall, our results show no clear evidence of a temporal decrease in body size or increase forelimb length (relative to body size) challenging the generalizability of the clinging ability hypothesis. Understanding how animals adapt to ECE is an emerging field. Still, we are quickly learning that this process is complex and nuanced.
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Affiliation(s)
- Miguel A. Acevedo
- Department of Wildlife Ecology and Conservation, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611-7011, USA
| | - David Clark
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA 15261, USA
| | - Carly Fankhauser
- Department of Wildlife Ecology and Conservation, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611-7011, USA
| | - John Michael Toohey
- Department of Wildlife Ecology and Conservation, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611-7011, USA
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Garner AM, Wilson MC, Wright C, Russell AP, Niewiarowski PH, Dhinojwala A. Parameters of the adhesive setae and setal fields of the Jamaican radiation of anoles (Dactyloidae: Anolis): potential for ecomorphology at the microscopic scale. Biol J Linn Soc Lond 2022. [DOI: 10.1093/biolinnean/blac084] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/13/2022]
Abstract
Abstract
The subdigital adhesive pads of Caribbean Anolis lizards are considered to be a key innovation that permits occupation of novel ecological niches. Although previous work has demonstrated that subdigital pad morphology and performance vary with habitat use, such investigations have only considered the macroscale aspects of these structures (e.g. pad area). The morphological agents of attachment, however, are arrays of hair-like fibres (setae) that terminate in an expanded tip (spatula) and have not been examined in a similar manner. Here we examine the setal morphology and setal field configuration of ecologically distinct species of the monophyletic Jamaican Anolis radiation from a functional and ecological perspective. We find that anoles occupying the highest perches possess greater setal densities and smaller spatulae than those exploiting lower perches. This finding is consistent with the concept of contact splitting, whereby subdivision of an adhesive area into smaller and more densely packed fibres results in an increase in adhesive performance. Micromorphological evidence also suggests that the biomechanics of adhesive locomotion may vary between Anolis ecomorphs. Our findings indicate that, in a similar fashion to macroscale features of the subdigital pad, its microstructure may vary in relation to performance and habitat use in Caribbean Anolis.
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Affiliation(s)
- Austin M Garner
- Integrated Bioscience Program, The University of Akron , Akron, OH , USA
- Department of Biology, The University of Akron , Akron, OH , USA
| | - Michael C Wilson
- School of Polymer Science and Polymer Engineering, The University of Akron , Akron, OH , USA
| | - Caitlin Wright
- Department of Biology, The University of Akron , Akron, OH , USA
| | - Anthony P Russell
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Calgary , Calgary, AB, CA
| | - Peter H Niewiarowski
- Integrated Bioscience Program, The University of Akron , Akron, OH , USA
- Department of Biology, The University of Akron , Akron, OH , USA
| | - Ali Dhinojwala
- Integrated Bioscience Program, The University of Akron , Akron, OH , USA
- School of Polymer Science and Polymer Engineering, The University of Akron , Akron, OH , USA
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