Meeting Abstract
Intra-specific competition is strongly influenced by population density, and can have profound effects on individuals and populations. For example, spatial and temporal variation in population density can influence phenotypic variation via numerous mechanisms (e.g. natural selection, phenotypic plasticity). Prior research from long-term population monitoring at our field site indicates that adult lizard density strongly influences hatchling survival and patterns of natural selection. Additionally, laboratory experiments show hatchling lizards modify behaviors in response to adult densities. In this large-scale field experiment, we spatially manipulate adult population densities, and leverage naturally occurring temporal changes in hatchling density to evaluate the effects of conspecific densities on early life phenotypes and survival in Anolis sagrei. We released marked hatchling lizards onto small islands where we experimentally manipulated the population densities such that there were either high or low densities of adult anoles. We released these hatchlings early in the season, when hatchling densities are naturally low, and later in the season, when hatchling densities are naturally high. We sampled the populations at the end of the breeding season (prior to winter) and again the following spring. These data will allow us to investigate the importance of timing of hatching, and patterns of growth and selection under differing population densities.
