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Biogeographic patterns of predation in West Indian snakes
... (Uetz et al. 2020). The Caribbean Watersnake (Fig. 1) is one of two aquatic West Indian snakes; the other is the Salt Marsh Snake, Nerodia clarkii compressicauda (Natricidae) (Neill 1965;Henderson and Crother 1989;Schwartz and Henderson 1991;Henderson and Powell 2009). Of the five currently recognized subspecies of T. variabilis, four are from the Cuban Archipelago and one occurs on Grand Cayman, the Cayman Islands (Schwartz and Henderson 1991;Henderson and Powell 2009;Estrada 2012;Rodríguez et al. 2013;Fig. ...
... v. binghami) pursuing small fishes by "snapping randomly right and left amidst the darting schools," in the saltwater of a deep ditch in southern Mayabeque Province. Other authors (Vogel 1965;Henderson and Crother 1989;Seidel and Franz 1994;Sampedro and Rodríguez 2003;Díaz and Cádiz 2008) merely listed aquatic invertebrates, fishes, amphibians and their larvae, and small lizards among the prey of this snake, without providing any additional details. Herein we report four instances of predation and one of foraging behavior by Caribbean Watersnakes (T. ...
The Caribbean Watersnake, Tretanorhinus variabilis (Dipsadidae) is one of two aquatic West Indian snakes. Despite being a relatively common species in Cuba and the Cayman Islands, its feeding habits have been poorly studied. Herein we report several new instances of predation by this species on fishes, frogs, and a freshwater crab. The latter represents the first record of durophagy in this species and the third snake reported as a crab eater in the West Indies.
... Por el contrario, las publicaciones dirigidas solo al estudio de la biología de ofidios son aún escasas (exceptuando a la familia Boidae) y se refieren principalmente a la cría en cautiverio y los parásitos, así como algunas notas que abordan la dieta, los cambios de coloración y la reproducción, entre otros pocos aspectos (ver la revisión completa en Henderson y Powell, 2009). Henderson y Crother (1989) y Henderson y Sajdak (1996) incluyeron datos sobre las especies cubanas en sus trabajos sobre alimentación de colúbridos antillanos. Schwartz y Henderson (1991) reunieron toda la información existente de cada una de las especies conocidas en aquel momento, incorporando sus datos y observaciones fortuitas, información que fue actualizada y ampliada por Henderson y Powell (2009). ...
... p<0.05), sugiriendo la separación en dos grupos, uno formado por las especies de la familia Tropidophiidae (con colas cortas y tendencia a ser más robustos) y el otro por las de Dipsadidae (con colas más largas y menos pesados) ( fig. 4). Estas agrupaciones no parecen estar relacionadas directamente con el microhábitat utilizado ni con la alimentación de estas especies, la que es básicamente similar (Henderson y Crother, 1989;Henderson y Powell, 2009), pero otros aspectos ecológicos no estudiados pudieran revelar alguna afinidad. ...
Los ofidios constituyen el segundo grupo en importancia dentro de los reptiles en las Antillas, pero la ecología de sus especies no ha sido muy estudiada. El propósito de este trabajo es dar a conocer algunos aspectos de la historia natural de cuatro especies de ofidios de Cuba (familias Dipsadidae y Tropidophiidae), acumulados durante ocho años de observación en 27 localidades y 11 tipos de hábitats. Las cuatro especies viven en una amplia diversidad de hábitats, incluyendo algunos con alta influencia humana. La especie de menor plasticidad ecológica fue Tropidophis wrighti, la que se encontró solo en el 45.4% de los hábitats y tuvo menor tolerancia por los ambientes antropizados. Todas las especies usan mayormente microhábitats terrestres, pero Cubophis cantherigerus y T. melanurus utilizan, en alguna medida, los substratos arbóreos. Dos especies (las de la familia Dipsadidae) tienen actividad diurna y parecen ser heliófilas, mientras que las otras dos (las de la familia Tropidophiidae) parecen tener poca actividad diurna y pueden considerarse como especies umbrófilas. Se detectaron dos agrupaciones morfológicas que parecen tener bases filogenéticas, ya que están poco relacionadas con el microhábitat o la alimentación.
... Anole lizards, for example, vary in their use of thermoregulatory behavior: species found on Caribbean islands tend to thermoregulate more than species found on mainland Latin America (van Berkum 1986;Salazar et al. 2019). Thermoregulatory patterns among landmasses reflect, in turn, differences in predation/competition pressures and climatic variability afforded by their relative habitats (Greene 1988;Henderson and Crother 1989;Losos 2009;Velasco et al. 2018). Consistent with the Bogert effect, heightened thermoregulation in island anoles is associated with a threefold reduction in the rate of heat tolerance evolution when compared to mainland counterparts (Salazar et al. 2019). ...
Behavior is one of the major architects of evolution: by modifying how organisms interact with their environments, behavior can influence natural selection, amplifying it in some cases and dampening it in others. In one of the earliest issues of Evolution, Charles Bogert (1949) proposed that regulatory behaviors (namely thermoregulation) shield organisms from selection and limit physiological evolution. Here, I trace the history surrounding the origin of this concept (now known as the ‘Bogert effect’ or ‘behavioral inertia’), and its implications for physiological and evolutionary research throughout the 20th century. A key follow‐up study in the early 21st century galvanized renewed interest in Bogert's classic ideas, and established a focus on slowdowns in the rate of evolution in response to regulatory behaviors. I illustrate recent progress on the Bogert effect in evolutionary research, and discuss the ecological variables that predict whether and how strongly the phenomenon unfolds. Based on these discoveries, I provide hypotheses for the Bogert effect across several scales: patterns of trait evolution within and among groups of species, spatial effects on the phenomenon, and its importance for speciation. I also discuss the inherent link between behavioral inertia and behavioral drive through an empirical case study linking the phenomena. Modern comparative approaches can help put the macroevolutionary implications of behavioral buffering to the test: I describe progress to date, and areas ripe for future investigation. Despite many advances, bridging microevolutionary processes with macroevolutionary patterns remains a persistent gap in our understanding of the Bogert effect, leaving wide open many avenues for deeper exploration. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved
... Mainland and island anoles may interact differently with their thermal environments, reflecting the distinct selective pressures these lizards experience. Mainland predators are more diverse than island predators (Greene 1988;Henderson and Crother 1989) and anole mortality rates are higher on the mainland (Andrews 1979;McLaughlin and Roughgarden 1989). Correspondingly, mainland anoles spend considerably less time moving around their habitats than island species, and are generally more cryptic in their behavior (Perry 1999;Irschick et al. 2000;Cooper 2005;Johnson et al. 2008;Losos 2009). ...
Phenotypic evolution is often exceptionally rapid on islands, resulting in numerous, ecologically diverse species. Although adaptive radiation proceeds along various phenotypic axes, the island effect of faster evolution has been mostly tested with regards to morphology. Here, we leveraged the physiological diversity and species richness of Anolis lizards to examine the evolutionary dynamics of three key traits: heat tolerance, body temperature, and cold tolerance. Contrary to expectation, we discovered slower heat tolerance evolution on islands. Additionally, island species evolve towards higher optimal body temperatures than mainland species. Higher optima and slower evolution in upper physiological limits are consistent with the Bogert effect, or evolutionary inertia due to thermoregulation. Correspondingly, body temperature is higher and more stable on islands than on the American mainland, despite similarity in thermal environments. Greater thermoregulation on islands may occur due to ecological release from competitors and predators, as compared to mainland environments. By reducing the costs of thermoregulation, ecological opportunity on islands may actually stymie, rather than hasten, physiological evolution. Our results emphasize that physiological diversity is an important axis of ecological differentiation in the adaptive radiation of anoles, and that behavior can impart distinct macroevolutionary footprints on physiological diversity on islands and continents.
This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved
Le numéro 09 d’HERP me! consacré à l’herpétofaune de la Guadeloupe vient clore le projet CLEF porté par la Société Herpétologique de France – SHF et grâce à des fonds de l’Office français de la biodiversité.
À travers une clé de détermination illustrée et des cartes de répartition, il permet d’offrir une vision actualisée de l’état de conservation de la faune de la Guadeloupe et des îles périphériques (Marie-Galante, la Désirade, les Saintes). Une bibliographie très complète est également présentée afin de permettre au lecteur d’aller plus loin dans l’étude de cette faune.
En 2024, l’herpétofaune de la Guadeloupe et de ses dépendances se compose de 6 espèces d’amphibiens, de 9 espèces de tortues (incluant les cinq espèces marines) et de 21 espèces de squamates (lézards et serpents). Parmi les 31 espèces terrestres que l’on peut observer en Guadeloupe, 15 sont indigènes : la moitié des espèces a donc une origine exotique. Il est malheureusement prévisible que ce ratio évolue dans les prochaines années avec l’arrivée de nouvelles espèces « envahissantes » comme le démontre la découverte récente d’une population introduite d’Anolis de la Sagra.
Amphibians and Reptiles of Martinique: identification, distribution and bibliography.
Herein we document several new instances of predation on frogs of the genus Eleutherodactylus in western and central Cuba and provide a review of all predators reported for these frogs in Cuba.
Interspecific interactions affect habitat use and subsequent morphological adaptation in Anolis lizards. We examined populations of two species of Anolis lizards that evolved in the species-rich communities of Cuba and are now widespread in the Bahamas. Because the species occupy islands in the Bahamas that vary in the number of lizard species present and other characteristics, we predicted that directional selection should have led to morphological differentiation. In particular, we expected that populations on one-species islands should have evolved toward a generalist morphology because of the lack of competitors. Divergence in both species has been adaptive; populations that use wider perches have longer legs. Nonetheless, these differences are relatively minor, and none of the populations appears to have differentiated from its ancestral "ecomorph" type toward a more generalized morphology. This stasis mirrors a trend observed in the radiation of Caribbean anoles, which exhibits repeated instances of evolutionary specialization, but few or no cases of reversion to a more generalized condition. The explanation for this directionality of evolution is not obvious but probably involves the tendency of specialized species to continue using and further adapting the niches for which they are specialized even as conditions change.
Island ecosystems are, in general, more vulnerable to change than are those on continents, and the West Indies are no exception. In the past 155 years a minimum of 7-12 extinctions and 12-13 extirpations of amphibians and reptiles have occurred in the West Indies. In the Lesser Antilles (and other small islands), most extirpations can be attributed to the introduction of alien predators (primarily the mongoose, but also cats and dogs). Certain species appear more sensitive to predator introductions than others (e.g., teiid lizards of the genus Ameiva and colubrid snakes of the genera Alsophis and Liophis). On mongoose-infested islands, other factors were investigated (human population density, island area, physiographic complexity), but none absolved the mongoose as the primary agent of extirpation. In the Greater Antilles, although introduced predators have had a negative impact, extinctions due to habitat destruction appear more likely due to the potentially stenoecious adaptation of many taxa (e.g., tree crown-, buttress-, and bromeliad-dwelling species).
ResearchGate has not been able to resolve any references for this publication.