Founder Effects Persist Despite Adaptive Differentiation: A Field Experiment with Lizards.

The article discusses a study of the presence of founder effects and natural selection in differentiating populations of brown anoles (Anolis sagrei) introduced on several islands of the Bahamas from randomly-selected pairs of lizards. The researchers found variations between the island populations in their genetic and morphological traits such as hindlimb length, despite the fact that the lizards were adapting to similar habitats with narrow vegetation. These results indicate that founder effects are a significant influence on the evolutionary divergence of populations, even in the face of pressures from natural selection.