Ecological release in White Sands lizards

Ecology and Evolution

S. Des Roches²  J. M. Robertson¹  L. J. Harmon² 

[1] Department of Biological Sciences, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, Colorado;Department of Biological Sciences, University of Idaho, Moscow

关键词: Adaptation;    colonization;    density compensation;    ecological opportunity;    ecological release;    natural selection;    reptiles;    selection;    speciation;    White Sands;   

DOI  :  10.1002/ece3.50

来源: Wiley

【 摘 要 】

Abstract

Ecological opportunity is any change that allows populations to escape selection from competition and predation. After encountering ecological opportunity, populations may experience ecological release: enlarged population size, broadened resource use, and/or increased morphological variation. We identified ecological opportunity and tested for ecological release in three lizard colonists of White Sands, New Mexico (Sceloporus undulatus, Holbrookia maculata, and Aspidoscelis inornata). First, we provide evidence for ecological opportunity by demonstrating reduced species richness and abundance of potential competitors and predators at White Sands relative to nearby dark soils habitats. Second, we characterize ecological release at White Sands by demonstrating density compensation in the three White Sands lizard species and expanded resource use in White Sands S. undulatus. Contrary to predictions from ecological release models, we observed directional trait change but not increased trait variation in S. undulatus. Our results suggest that ecological opportunity and ecological release can be identified in natural populations, especially those that have recently colonized isolated ecosystems.

【 授权许可】

CC BY-NC   
© 2011 The Authors. MicrobiologyOpen published by Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited and is not used for commercial purposes.