Search

Some of the most important insights into the ecological and evolutionary processes of diversification and speciation have come from studies of island adaptive radiations, yet relatively little research has examined how these radiations initiate. We suggest that Anolis sagrei is a candidate for understanding the origins of the Caribbean Anolis adaptive radiation and how a colonizing anole species begins to undergo allopatric diversification, phenotypic divergence and, potentially, speciation. We undertook a genomic and morphological analysis of representative populations across the entire native range of A. sagrei, finding that the species originated in the early Pliocene, with the deepest divergence occurring between western and eastern Cuba. Lineages from these two regions subsequently colonized the northern Caribbean. We find that at the broadest scale, populations colonizing areas with fewer closely related competitors tend to evolve larger body size and more lamellae on their toepads. This trend follows expectations for post‐colonization divergence from progenitors and convergence in allopatry, whereby populations freed from competition with close relatives evolve towards common morphological and ecological optima. Taken together, our results show a complex history of ancient and recent Cuban diaspora with populations on competitor‐poor islands evolving away from their ancestral Cuban populations regardless of their phylogenetic relationships, thus providing insight into the original diversification of colonist anoles at the beginning of the radiation. Our research also supplies an evolutionary framework for the many studies of this increasingly important species in ecological and evolutionary research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The pace of phenotypic diversification during adaptive radiation should decrease as ecological opportunity declines. We test this prediction using phylogenetic comparative analyses of a wide range of morphological traits in Greater Antillean Anolis lizards. We find that the rate of diversification along two important axes of Anolis radiation-body size and limb dimensions-decreased as opportunity declined, with opportunity quantified either as time elapsed in the radiation or as the diversity of competing anole lineages inferred to have been present on an island at different times in the past. Most previous studies of the ecological opportunity hypothesis have focused on the rate of species diversification; our results provide a complementary perspective, indicating that the rate of phenotypic diversification declines with decreasing opportunity in an adaptive radiation., (© 2010 The Author(s). Journal compilation © 2010 The Society for the Study of Evolution.)

Recent advances in ecological niche modeling (ENM) algorithms, in conjunction with increasing availability of geographic information system (GIS) data, allow species' niches to be predicted over broad geographic areas using environmental characteristics associated with point localities for a given species. Consequently, the examination of how niches evolve is now possible using a regionally inclusive multivariate approach to characterize the environmental requirements of a species. Initial work that uses this approach has suggested that niche evolution is characterized by conservatism: the more closely related species are, the more similar are their niches. We applied a phylogenetic approach to examine niche evolution during the radiation of Cuban trunk-ground anoles (Anolis sagrei group), which has produced 15 species in Cuba. We modeled the niche of 11 species within this group using the WhyWhere ENM algorithm and examined the evolution of the niche using a phylogeny based on approximately 1500 base pairs of mitochondrial DNA. No general relationship exists between phylogenetic similarity and niche similarity. Examination of species pairs indicates some examples in which closely related species display niche conservatism and some in which they exhibit highly divergent niches. In addition, some distantly related species exhibit significant niche similarity. Comparisons also revealed a specialist-generalist sister species pair in which the niche of one species is nested within, and much narrower than, the niche of another closely related species.

Sympatric speciation is often proposed to account for species-rich adaptive radiations within lakes or islands, where barriers to gene flow or dispersal may be lacking. However, allopatric speciation may also occur in such situations, especially when ranges are fragmented by fluctuating water levels. We test the hypothesis that Miocene fragmentation of Cuba into three palaeo-archipelagos accompanied species-level divergence in the adaptive radiation of West Indian Anolis lizards. Analysis of morphology, mitochondrial DNA (mt DNA) and nuclear DNA in the Cuban green anoles (carolinensis subgroup) strongly supports three pre dictions made by this hypothesis. First, three geographical sets of populations, whose ranges correspond with palaeo-archipelago boundaries, are distinct and warrant recognition as independent evolutionary lineages or species. Coalescence of nuclear sequence fragments sampled from these species and the large divergences observed between their mtDNA haplotypes suggest separation prior to the subsequent unification of Cuba ca. 5 Myr ago. Second, molecular phylogenetic relationships among these species reflect historical geographical relationships rather than morphological similarity. Third, all three species remain distinct despite extensive geographical contact subsequent to island unification, occasional hybridization and introgression of mtDNA haplotypes. Allopatric speciation initiated during partial island submergence may play an important role in speciation during the adaptive radiation of Anolis lizards.

A genetic paradox exists in invasion biology: how do introduced populations, whose genetic variation has probably been depleted by population bottlenecks, persist and adapt to new conditions? Lessons from conservation genetics show that reduced genetic variation due to genetic drift and founder effects limits the ability of a population to adapt, and small population size increases the risk of extinction. Nonetheless, many introduced species experiencing these same conditions during initial introductions persist, expand their ranges, evolve rapidly and become invasive. To address this issue, we studied the brown anole, a worldwide invasive lizard. Genetic analyses indicate that at least eight introductions have occurred in Florida from across this lizard's native range, blending genetic variation from different geographic source populations and producing populations that contain substantially more, not less, genetic variation than native populations. Moreover, recently introduced brown anole populations around the world originate from Florida, and some have maintained these elevated levels of genetic variation. Here we show that one key to invasion success may be the occurrence of multiple introductions that transform among-population variation in native ranges to within-population variation in introduced areas. Furthermore, these genetically variable populations may be particularly potent sources for introductions elsewhere. The growing problem of invasive species introductions brings considerable economic and biological costs. If these costs are to be mitigated, a greater understanding of the causes, progression and consequences of biological invasions is needed.

Niche conservatism--the tendency for closely related species to be ecologically similar--is widespread. However, most studies compare closely related taxa that occur in allopatry; in sympatry, the stabilizing forces that promote niche conservatism, and thus inhibit niche shifts, may be countered by natural selection favouring ecological divergence to minimize the intensity of interspecific interactions. Consequently, the relative importance of niche conservatism versus niche divergence in determining community structure has received little attention. Here, we examine a tropical lizard community in which species have a long evolutionary history of ecological interaction. We find that evolutionary divergence overcomes niche conservatism: closely related species are no more ecologically similar than expected by random divergence and some distantly related species are ecologically similar, leading to a community in which the relationship between ecological similarity and phylogenetic relatedness is very weak. Despite this lack of niche conservatism, the ecological structuring of the community has a phylogenetic component: niche complementarity only occurs among distantly related species, which suggests that the strength of ecological interactions among species may be related to phylogeny, but it is not necessarily the most closely related species that interact most strongly.