Caribbean Anoles Function as Model Organisms for Evolutionary Dynamics

The small lizards adapted to unique niches among dozens of isles.

Written byAmber Dance

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NOTICE ME!: A male Anolis stratulus (barred anole) extending his dewlap in Puerto RicoPHOTO BY MICHELE JOHNSON

It’s not easy to snare a lizard. Evolutionary biologist Michele Johnson affixes a noose made of dental floss to a telescopic fishing rod to reach into the bushes and tree canopies where Caribbean anoles live. By the end of the summer field season, her students from Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas, develop a knack for it. “We almost always catch our lizards,” says Johnson.

She doesn’t just collect field measurements and observations; she’s taken 30 different species of anoles back to her lab to analyze their physiology. Anoles have become a favorite model for evolutionary biologists because of their extraordinary diversity—there are more than 400 species in genus Anolis—and because of how they originally populated the Caribbean islands. The relative scarcity of mammals, snakes, ...

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Meet the Author

Amber Dance
Amber Dance is an award-winning freelance science journalist based in Southern California. After earning a doctorate in biology, she re-trained in journalism as a way to engage her broad interest in science and share her enthusiasm with readers. She mainly writes about life sciences, but enjoys getting out of her comfort zone on occasion.
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