ebook img

Lizards of the Caribbean: Ecology, evolution and plate tectonics PDF

1 Pages·2000·0.63 MB·English
Save to my drive
Quick download
Download
Most books are stored in the elastic cloud where traffic is expensive. For this reason, we have a limit on daily download.

Preview Lizards of the Caribbean: Ecology, evolution and plate tectonics

Copyright' 2000 impMbianandReptileComertation. K\\rightsreser\ed.ARC Amphibian and Reptile Conservation 2(1):32. ((p0ho7op8tr)orci7og5ph0yt-i8nC4gl0e0ar;orrafnaicxn:ete(rC9ne7an!8t)eorr7,5p0Ie-nrc4s.4o,7n0aI:llleumsaReiolsp:reomwvroioodade.dcuDrtp.hy.eriDagaphpnlrv.oecprorsmi.:atMeweAbfseie0t1ei9s:2p3H;-ii4ind5t9d.9i-<.r>c/>i: Book Reviews Lizards in the stream BRIAN A. MAURER1 Department ofFisheries and Wildlife, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan 48824-1222. USA Roughgarden, Jonathan. 1995. Anolis Lizards ofthe Carib- bean: ecology, evolution, and plate tectonics. Oxford Uni- versity Press, NewYork. 200 p. + xvi. (ISBN: 0-19-506731-2). Keywords.Lizards,Anolis, Caribbean, ecology,evolution,platetectonics, islands, history,foraging, coexistence, mmmurtities Ecologists most often study phenomenathat occurwithin the tory ofdifferent islands. So on a longertime scale and larger lifetimeoftheobserver.Thesephenomenaarecaused,however, spatial scale, patternsofdistribution andecologyofthesespe- byprocessesthatspanahugerangeofsCJMes, fromthesecond ciesreflectgeological history, andthese patterns are superim- by second behavior ofindividual animamto the processes of posedonthemorelocalpatternsofcoexistenceofspeciesdeter- platetectonicsthatspanmillionsofyears.J^owonegoesabout minedbytheirimmediateecology. untanglingsuchprocessesisadifficultprof|em forecologists, Thus,afascinatingstoryofhistoryandecologyinteracting but one, as Roughgarden shows, that is not unsurmountable. emergesfromRoughgarden'snarrativethatshowsjusthowcom- This monograph is a compilation ofmany years ofstudy by plex ecological systems like lizard communities can get. The Roughgardenandcolleaguesofth^lizards inthegenusAnoHs* underlyingmessage ofthe monograph isthat itis indeed pos- thatliveintheCaribbeanregion. m^. sibleto untanglemany aspects ofthis complexity bytaking a Roughgardenbeginsbyconsideringhowanorganismsuch rigorousandmulti-scaledapproachtothepatternsobserved in asalizard,withitsabilitytomakedecisionsregardingitschoice nature. Although Roughgardendescribes theresultsofseveral ofprey items, can maximize its rate of fieldexperimentsthathelpelucidatecer- energy intakewhenconstrainedbyfood tain aspects ofAnolis ecology, the real abundances, body mpl, and other im- meatofthestoryliesinweavingtogether portantaspectsoflizardbiology.Theabil- evidencefromawidevarietyofstudies. ity oflizards to forage profitably is re- Soecologywithouthistoryisincomplete, lated totheirfitness, which in turn, can whilehistorywithoutecologyisinexpli- be related to the presence ofother spe- cable. Melding together the two, how- ciesoflizardsthatusesimilarresources. ever,yieldsdeepinsightsintothenature Usingempiricallybasedestimatesoffor- ofspeciesassemblagesthatcannotbehad agingratesRoughgardenshowsthatitis frominvestigationsoflimitedscope.Her- notunreasonabletoassumethatmuchof petologistsandecologistsalikehavemuch lizard diversity, especially on small is- to gain from examiningRoughgarden's (DNmioasrltero)ip,ctsL,astBCreuloeipvziaedso,n(CAopatryuiosl flaonrdasg,inisgaofcdoinfsfeerqeunetn-sciezeodfscpoencsitersaiansttshoeny broad, sweepingapproach. NCpuaocxrutolapos,BuannCiia,foyruompipsDei(rsmtarRliaecs)t-,, S1t9af9f8o)rd,PchooutroteshyyoPfetTehre interacttogether. Roughgardensketches Furthersuggestedreadings: bByelPiezteer(ApStraiflfo1r9d9,7)c.ouPrhtoetsoy .NLaotnudroanlHistoryMuseum, outareasonablepictureofhowthesein- soefuTmh,eLNoantduorna.lHistoryMu- teractionsvaryspatiallyfromoneisland Crothebre,anBrAimapnhiIb.i(aendsitaorn)d.R1ep9t9i9l.es.CaArciab-demic Press, San Diego, to the next, and how one might begin to make predictions of California. 495 p. (ISBN: 0-12-197955-5). whichspeciesshouldbefoundtogetheronwhichislands.Cov- Powell, R. and Henderson, Robert W. (editors). 1996. Contribu- eringthe literature on pairs oflizard species foundtogether in tionsto WestIndianHerpetology: atributetoAlbertSchwartz, differentcombinationsondifferentislands,Roughgardenbuilds contributions to herpetology, volume 12. Society for the aconvincingcasethatresource-basedcompetitionbetweendif- Study ofAmphibians and Reptiles, Ithaca, New York. 457 p. ferentspeciesis likely to explain many aspects ofAnolis ecol- (ISBN: 0-916984-37-0). ogyintheCaribbean. Rivero, Juan A. 1976. Los Anfibios y Reptiles de Puerto Rico. Butthereismuchmoretothestory,asRoughgardengoes University of Puerto Rico Press'. (ISBN: 0-8477-2317-8). on to show in laterchapters. Lizards evolve atrelatively slow Schettino, Lourdes Rodriguez, (editor). 1999. The Iguanid Lizards rates, and Roughgarden shows how certain aspects ofthe his- ofCuba. University Press ofFlorida, Gainesville, Florida. 384 tory ofthe Caribbean basin can be traced by examining the p. (ISBN: 0-8130-1647-9). Availability: see inside cover ad. relationshipsamongdifferentspeciesoflizardswithintheCar- Schwartz, Albert and Henderson, Robert W. 1991. Amphibians and ibbean dwelling species. Many aspects ofthe distribution of Reptiles ofthe WestIndies: descriptions, distributions, andnatu- Anolisspeciesamongislandscannotbeexplainedbyrarecoloni- ralhistory. University Press ofFlorida, Gainesville, Florida. 736 zationevents,butmustbeaconsequenceofthegeological his- p. (ISBN: 0-8130-1049-7). Availability: see inside cover ad. i -f '"-"-' 'Correspondence. Tel: (517) 353-947H; fax: (517) 432- {B2a4c-kAgurgouustn-d19s9c9r)e.enPhpohtootocgoruarpthe:syAonfolFiastheerreArlmeajnannidr(omaJl.eS),anCcihaelzesM,uPnuoezr,toPaRsitcoro 1699; email: maurerb®msu.edu ofSaintAnne'sParish, Saint Thomas. U.S. VirginIslands. SUBMITTING BOOKSFORREVIEW. Pleasesendonedeskcopylo:BookReviews.Amphibian andReptile Conservation, 2525IowaAvenue, Modesto, California 95358-9467. USA.

See more

The list of books you might like

Most books are stored in the elastic cloud where traffic is expensive. For this reason, we have a limit on daily download.