Lizards on newly created islands independently and rapidly adapt in morphology and diet

• DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1709080114
• Publication Date: 2017-08-01T00:50:22Z
• Authors: Mariana Eloy de A...; Thomas W. Schoener; Guilherme Ramalho...; Anna Carolina Ram...; Jonah Piovia-Scott; Reuber Albuquerqu...
• Keywords: Mainland; Gecko; Extinction (optical mineralogy); Morphology

Significance We report for island populations of the termite-eating common gecko species Gymnodactylus amarali rapid parallel morphological and ecological change in response to human-caused environmental disturbance. The islands were formerly part an extensive terrestrial ecosystem; 1997, area was flooded construct a reservoir, fragmenting higher portions into separate islands. Populations on all five studied have proportionally larger heads than at nearby mainland sites. new morphology is accompanied by increase dietary niche breadth, mainly via expansion toward prey. This likely due greater availability such prey newly formed after extinction there four lizard that typically also included termites their diets.