A Few Meters Matter: Local Habitats Drive Reproductive Cycles in a Tropical Lizard
Abstract
Reproductive phenology often varies geographically within species, driven by environmental gradients that alter growth and reproduction. However, environments can differ between adjacent habitats at single localities. In lowland Puerto Rico, both open (sunny, warm) and forested (shady, cool) habitats may be only meters apart. The lizard Anolis cristatellus lives in both habitats: it thermoregulates carefully in the open but is a thermoconformer in the forest. To determine whether reproduction differs between habitats, we compared reproductive cycles of females in open versus forest habitats at two localities for over 2 years. Open females were more likely than forest females to be reproductive throughout the year, probably because open females were able to bask and thereby achieve warmer body temperatures. These between-habitat differences in reproduction were especially marked in cool months and are equivalent in magnitude to those between populations separated by elevation. Thus, environmental differences (even on a microlandscape scale) matter to reproduction and probably to demography.
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Consequently, the degree of shade, cooling, and humidification of the habitats surrounding the Luquillo Mountains have all increased.
“Consequently, the degree of shade, cooling, and humidification of the habitats surrounding the Luquillo Mountains have all increased (128).”
From Climate-driven declines in arthropod abundance restructure a rainforest food web (2018) · cites this paper as [128]
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- Authors
- Otero, L. M., Huey, R. B., & Gorman, G. C.
- Affiliations
- University of Puerto Rico at Río Piedras (PR)
- University of Washington (US)
- Corresponding author
- Otero, Luisa M.
- Huey, Raymond B.
- Gorman, George C.
- ORCID
- Huey, Raymond B.
- Venue
- The American Naturalist
- Publisher
- University of Chicago Press
- Published
- 2015-09
- Volume
- 186
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- E72-E80
- ISSN
- 0003-0147 (ISSN-L)
- 1537-5323
- OpenAlex
- W2264316716
- Cited by
- 31
- References
- 50
- Citations by year
- 2026: 1 · 2025: 1 · 2024: 5 · 2023: 3 · 2022: 2 · 2019: 4 · 2018: 7 · 2017: 5 · 2016: 2 · 2015: 1
- FWCI
- 4.37
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- The American Naturalist (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- National Science Foundation
- University of Washington
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Global and Planetary Change › Amphibian and Reptile Biology
- Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics › Animal Behavior and Reproduction
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Ecology › Physiological and biochemical adaptations
- Keywords
- Anolis cristatellus, reproductive phenology, habitat differences, thermoregulation, basking, body temperature, thermoconformity, lizard reproduction, tropical lizards, Puerto Rico
- MeSH terms
- Animals, Body Temperature Regulation, Female, Lizards, Puerto Rico, Reproduction, Seasons, Temperature, Ecosystem, Forests
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