The researchers say in their paper that their data contributes to the growing knowledge in which factors such as behavior, temperature, and competition work to influence the success of an invasive species.
The rise in temperatures globally can affect the competitive interactions between invasive and native species. Researchers Julie E. Rej and Alex R. Gunderson, of the the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at Tulane University in Louisiana have studied the interactions between the invasive brown anole (Anolis sagrei) and the native green anole (A. carolinensis). They studied aggressive behaviors and how these two species respond to each other in five ecologically relevant temperature regimes, from cool springs to hot summers. They also studied whether the brown anole disrupts the thermoregulation of the green anole.
David Byron Keener/Shutterstock
What they found was interesting. The brown anole was more aggressive than the green anole in all the temperature regimes the researchers tested. The higher the temperature, the more aggressive the brown anole became. They also found that the brown anole did not disrupt the thermoregulation traits of the green anole.
They determined that as temperatures rise, the aggression of the brown anole over the green anole will increase and that this increased aggression at the higher temperatures could be an important mechanism for the success of the invasive lizards. Invasive species worldwide have been shown to successfully outcompete native species. They compete with native species for the limited resources, resources that the native species did not have to readily compete for prior tom the introduction of the invasive species.
A previous study of the green anole, which has had much of its territory disrupted by the more aggressive brown anole, evolved to better compete with the invasive reptile in Florida. That 2014 study pointed to the green anole’s feet evolving over several generations to better climb higher in trees to avoid the invasive brown anole.
The researchers say in their paper that their data contributes to the growing knowledge in which factors such as behavior, temperature, and competition work to influence the success of an invasive species.
The complete paper, High temperatures amplify aggressiveness of an invasive lizard toward a native congener” can be read on the ScienceDirect.com website.
