What Island Lizards Reveal about Introduced Predators and their Prey (IMAGE)

Princeton University

What Island Lizards Reveal about Introduced Predators and their Prey

Caption

To study the impacts of invading predators, a research team led by Princeton's Rob Pringle used three lizard species: one predator, the curly-tailed lizard (Leiocephalus carinatus, bottom left), and two prey species, green anoles (Anolis smaragdinus, top) and brown anoles (Anolis sagrei, bottom right). Their results appear in the June 6 issue of Nature. They found that the anoles could coexist peacefully, but introducing predators drove the brown anoles into the trees with the green anoles, intensifying competition and undermining their ability to coexist. Their results therefore challenge the generality of the keystone-predation hypothesis and support refuge competition.

Credit

Jonathan Losos, Washington University (bottom right) and Kiyoko Gotanda, McGill University (bottom left and top)

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