Meeting Abstract
Biological invasion offers an opportunity to address phenotypic evolution. For instance, small propagule pressure should reduce genetic variance, and potentially change trait mean values from the original source population. Even at a small geographic scale, closed populations of introduced individuals from the same source population could rapidly differ in phenotypic mean trait value. However, the lag time between species introduction and detection and the lack of information from source populations make it difficult to test this hypothesis in the wild. Established populations of Anolis sagrei in Florida are derived from multiple sources, and exhibit high phenotypic diversity. In April 2011, brown anoles were captured in northern Florida and experimentally released on six small islands with similar ecological conditions, but with different habitat structures. The six populations were monitored twice a year until October 2017 to document patterns of survival, population growth, individual body condition and male dewlap size. We show that survival rate varies across space and time and is relatively higher for females and during non-reproductive season. Additionally, adult males with large dewlaps have higher survival. Globally, body condition was positively related to survival during the non-reproductive season, and this pattern reversed during the reproductive season. These patterns of phenotypic selection were similar among islands and were not associated with the number of individuals released, possibly due to inconsistency in phenotypic selection and fluctuation in survival rate.
