Preservation of museum specimens depends on chemical fixation and preservation, processes that might distort the original material. Relatively few studies have examined preservation effects in potentially susceptible soft-bodied taxa like herpetofauna, and those that have rarely extend over more than a few months. We collected six common morphological measurements from the same set of radiographed specimens of the Neotropical lizard Anolis sagrei over nearly ten years to investigate whether morphometric changes result from fixation in...

Some of the most important insights into the ecological and evolutionary processes of diversification and speciation have come from studies of island adaptive radiations, yet relatively little research has examined how these radiations initiate. We suggest that Anolis sagrei is a candidate for understanding the origins of the Caribbean Anolis adaptive radiation and how a colonizing anole species begins to undergo allopatric diversification, phenotypic divergence and, potentially, speciation. We undertook a genomic and morphological analysis...

Many plant species harbor communities of symbionts that release nutrients used by their host plants. However, the importance of these nutrients to plant growth and reproductive effort is not well understood. Here, we evaluate the relationship between the communities that colonize pitcher plant phytotelmata and the pitcher plants’ vegetative growth and flower production to better understand the symbiotic role played by phytotelma communities. We focus on the mountain variety purple pitcher plant (Sarracenia purpurea var....

1. Declines in migratory species have been linked to anthropogenic climate change through phenological mismatch, which arises due to asynchronies between the timing of life-history events (such as migration) and the phenology of available resources. Long-distance migratory species may be particularly vulnerable to phenological change in their breeding ranges, since the timing of migration departure is based on environmental cues at distant non-breeding sites. 2. Migrants may, however, be able to adjust migration speed en...

These data are from a 2018 study of larval morphology, performance, and survival in the spotted salamander (Ambystoma maculatum). We examined larvae of two egg mass color morphs: clear and white. We also quantified the density of algal (Oophila amblystomatis) cells on the egg capsules of embryos. The data correspond to our publication in Evolutionary Ecology.

Latitudinal differences in timing of breeding are well documented but how such differences carry over to influence timing of events in the annual cycle of migratory birds is not well understood. We examined geographic variation in timing of events throughout the year using light-level geolocator tracking data from 133 migratory tree swallows (Tachycineta bicolor) originating from 12 North American breeding populations. A swallow’s breeding latitude influenced timing of breeding, which then carried over to affect...

Extreme climate events such as droughts, cold snaps, and hurricanes can be powerful agents of natural selection, producing acute selective pressures very different from the everyday pressures acting on organisms. However, it remains unknown whether these infrequent but severe disruptions are quickly erased by quotidian selective forces, or whether they have the potential to durably shape biodiversity patterns across regions and clades. Here, we show that hurricanes have enduring evolutionary impacts on the morphology of...

Recent work revealed surprisingly deep mitochondrial genetic divergence in the lizard Anolis cristatellus among samples obtained from the small Caribbean island of Vieques. We sought to determine whether this had resulted from natural or anthropogenic causes, and (if the former), whether divergence occurred in a biogeographic context of allopatry followed by secondary contact, or via isolation-by-distance across the species’ historical range. We first estimated a mitochondrial gene tree for 379 samples and then genotyped 3,407...

Animal signals evolve in an ecological context. Locally adapting animal sexual signals can be especially important for initiating or reinforcing reproductive isolation during the early stages of speciation. Previous studies have demonstrated that dewlap color in Anolis lizards can be highly variable between populations in relation to both biotic and abiotic adaptive drivers at relatively large geographical scales. Here, we investigated differentiation of dewlap coloration among habitat types at a small spatial scale, within multiple...

The genus Cyclura includes nine extant species and six subspecies of West Indian Rock Iguanas and is one of the most imperiled genera of squamate reptiles globally. An understanding of species diversity, evolutionary relationships, diversification, and historical biogeography in this group is crucial for implementing sound long-term conservation strategies. We collected DNA samples from 1–10 individuals per taxon from all Cyclura taxa (n = 70 ingroup individuals), focusing where possible on incorporating individuals from different...

Genetic approaches in model organisms have consistently demonstrated that molecular traits such as gene expression are under genetic regulation, similar to clinical traits. The resulting expression quantitative trait loci (eQTL) have revolutionized our understanding of genetic regulation and identified numerous candidate genes for clinically-relevant traits. More recently, these analyses have been extended to other molecular traits such as protein abundance, metabolite levels, and miRNA expression. Here we performed global hepatic eQTL and miRNA expression quantitative...