Whereas studying experiences on the colonization occasions of the brown anole and its impacts on native fauna, I by no means thought I might have the prospect to see this lizard, so attention-grabbing from an ecological viewpoint, within the wild. Nevertheless, years in the past, because of an invite from a colleague in Guayaquil, I participated within the first report of the prevalence of Anolis sagrei in Ecuador. At the moment, just a few people have been seen, and encounters have been informal in two particular areas. Nevertheless, since 2018, I’ve had the chance to start out monitoring the brown anole in Guayaquil, Guayas province.
In previous experiences looking for native anoles over 5 years in forests and different vegetation formations in Ecuador, I knew the native anoles are animals that disguise lots and usually are not seen regularly. I used to be used to recording few encounters over lengthy distances (discovering 5 or at greatest 10 people after a number of days and nights of looking). To my shock, the situation modified in Guayas. Throughout our first tour, we discovered greater than ten people in 5 minutes inside an space of 5 sq. meters in the course of town. These animals didn’t disguise or attempt to escape; as a substitute, they initiated shows.
This marked the start of our efforts to seek for them not solely within the areas reported by Amador et al. (2017) but additionally in numerous locations all through town. This included backyard areas and concrete parks, in addition to remnants of forest discovered within the metropolis’s outskirts. Thanks to those observations, we gathered data on their eating regimen, behavioral exercise, and ecology, which can absolutely assist us perceive why they’re so profitable in these environments.
On this examine, we managed to report not solely the websites the place we personally searched but additionally integrated informal observations from residents utilizing citizen science instruments like iNaturalist. Because of this, we now know that the species has unfold to totally different provinces within the nation (Esmeraldas and Manabí provinces), together with one within the Amazon area (Orellana province). It’s attention-grabbing that because of this instrument, we included factors the place we’d not have thought to search for them. Moreover, the brown anole may be very charismatic, and many individuals have felt an affinity and attraction to the little creatures that transfer their dewlaps, therefore happily, the data supplied by residents have been of fine high quality, permitting us to corroborate identification and knowledge accuracy.
The adaptability of this lizard is obvious in its capacity to occupy totally different areas, together with city areas resembling parks, gardens, and pure areas alongside riverbanks. Consequently, new questions come up: the place did these animals come from? How way back did they arrive? Does their present distribution outcome from one or a number of introduction occasions? What affect will this lizard have on native species by way of displacement or competitors? We all know it’s a dominant species, however we nonetheless lack indications of its impact, notably in Isla Santay reserve, the place two different native species are present in sympatry (Cruz-García et al. 2023). Since we registered that a number of households of bugs which might be thought of agricultural pests are a part of their eating regimen, could they’ve a constructive or damaging affect on people? (Narvaez et al. 2020)
We really feel obligated to evaluate how the dispersal processes of this lizard could be managed. Nevertheless, extra data on the species’ actions is required to start out recommending management measures or different actions on the native stage. These lizards have been present in nurseries across the metropolis, that are additionally used to help reforestation efforts in areas of native vegetation, facilitating the dispersal processes and the attainable ecological penalties related to their unfold.
In sum, now we have a love-hate relationship with the brown anole. As behavioral ecologists, we acknowledge that Anolis sagrei represents a superb mannequin for finding out the organic invasion course of, and we hope to share extra about our findings from the previous seven years quickly. Nevertheless, we’re additionally involved about the way to handle this species. Most likely, containment or eradication measures could should be established to stop issues skilled in different areas from occurring with Ecuadorian anoles.
We need to share our expertise with different fans of this fascinating invader and our efforts to grasp its dispersal mechanisms, ecological and behavioral variations, and the methods urged for its administration. By doing so, we hope to collaborate and contribute to a broader understanding and efficient administration of the brown anole.
You possibly can learn the complete article right here.
I wish to acknowledge the invaluable contribution of Fernando Ayala-Varela to this weblog.
REFERENCES
Amador, L., Ayala-Varela, F., Nárvaez, A. E., Cruz, Okay., & Torres-Carvajal, O. (2017). First report of the invasive brown anole, Anolis sagrei Duméril & Bibron, 1837 (squamata: iguanidae: dactyloinae), in South America. Test Record, 13(2), 2083-2083.
Cruz-García, Okay., Barreno, M., Cuadrado, S., Moretta-Urdiales, M. D. M., Molina-Moreira, N., Salas, J. A., … & Narváez, A. E. (2023). Amphibians and reptiles of Isla Santay (Durán, Ecuador). Test Record, 19(3), 347-369.
Narváez, A. E., Ghia, T., Moretta-Urdiales, M. M., & Moreira, N. M. (2020). Feeding habits of Anolis sagrei, an launched species, in city ecosystems of Guayas Province. City Ecosystems, 23(6), 1371-1376.
Narváez, A. E., Ayala-Varela, F., Cuadrado, S., Cruz-García, Okay., Yánez-Muñoz, M. H., & Amador, L. (2024). Up to date distribution of the brown anole in continental Ecuador: a case of city areas favoring the institution of an opportunistic unique species. BioInvasions Data, 13(2), 373-384.
Associated