Meeting Abstract
Extreme morphological divergence on islands is well documented, particularly among lizards in the genus Anolis. These lizards diversify into specific morphotypes on some islands, which results in speciation and niche differentiation. However, some islands such as Dominica have populations of Anoles that experience selective pressures resulting in different ecotypes, yet maintain a level of gene flow that precludes complete speciation. Anolis oculatus is the sole endemic anole species on the island of Dominica and it exhibits four morphologically-distinct ecotypes. These populations are easily distinguished based upon morphology and we set forth to determine if these morphological differences are mirrored by physiological differences in metabolic rate and its sensitivity to temperature. While Dominica is relatively small, it is thermally heterogenous, with cool mountainous regions and warm coastal regions and thermal vents. We measured oxygen consumption as a proxy for metabolic rate and determined its sensitivity to temperature in each of the four Anolis oculatus ecootypes at ecologically-relevant temperatures. We hypothesize that these differences in metabolism and temperature sensitivity is in part responsible for maintaining loose geographic segregation among ecootypes.
