Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-r5zm4 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-06-25T23:56:57.714Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Early Holocene turnover, followed by Stability, in a Caribbean lizard assemblage

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Melissa E. Kemp  and
Elizabeth A. Hadly
Melissa E. Kemp*
Affiliation:
Department of Biology, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305-5020, USA
Elizabeth A. Hadly
Affiliation:
Department of Biology, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305-5020, USA
*
⁎Corresponding author at: Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA. E-mail address:mkemp@fas.harvard.edu (M.E. Kemp).
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Understanding how communities are impacted by environmental perturbations is integral for addressing the ongoing biodiversity crisis that impacts ecosystems worldwide. The fossil record serves as a window into ancient interactions and the responses of communities to past perturbations. Here, we re-examine paleontological data from Katouche Bay, Anguilla, a Holocene site in the Lesser Antilles. We reveal that the site was more diverse than previously indicated, with long-term, continuous records of three genera of extant lizards (Anolis, Ameiva, and Thecadactylus), and the early Holocene presence of Leiocephalus, a large ground-dwelling lizard that has since been completely extirpated from the Lesser Antilles. The disappearance of Leiocephalus from Katouche Bay resulted in high turnover, decreased evenness, and decreased species richness—a trend that continues to the present day. Our body size reconstructions for the most abundant genus, Anolis, are consistent with the presence of only one species, Anolis cf. gingivinus, at Katouche Bay throughout the Holocene, contrary to previously published studies. Additionally, we find no evidence of dwarfism in A. cf. gingivinus, which contrasts with a global study of contemporary insular lizards. Our data reveal that the impacts of diversity loss on lizard communities are long lasting and irreversible over millennia.

Keywords

LizardsCaribbeanPaleoecologyVertebrate paleontology
Type
Original Articles
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 85 , Issue 2 , March 2016 , pp. 255 - 261
Copyright
University of Washington

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Bell, C.J., Gauthier, J.A., Bever, G.S. (2010). Covert biases, circularity, and apomorphies: a critical look at the North American Quaternary herpetofaunal stability hypothesis. Quaternary International 217, 30–36.Google Scholar
Blois, J.L., McGuire, J.L., Hadly, E.A. (2010). Small mammal diversity loss in response to late-Pleistocene climatic change. Nature 465, 771–U775.Google Scholar
Bochaton, C., Grouard, S., Cornette, R., Ineich, I., Lenoble, A., Tresset, A., Bailon, S. (2015). Fossil and subfossil herpetofauna from Cadet 2 Cave (Marie-Galante, Guadeloupe Islands, F. W. I.): evolution of an insular herpetofauna since the Late Pleistocene. Comptes Rendus Palevol 14, 101–110.Google Scholar
Carder, N., Reitz, E.J., Crock, J.G. (2007). Fish communities and populations during the post-Saladoid period (AD 600/800"1500), Anguilla, Lesser Antilles. Journal of Archaeological Science 34, 588–599.Google Scholar
Cox, P.A., Elmqvist, T. (2000). Pollinator extinction in the Pacific Islands. Conservation Biology 14, 1237–1239.Google Scholar
Daza, J.D., Bauer, A.M., Snively, E.D. (2014). On the Fossil Record of the Gekkota. The anatomical record: advances in integrative anatomy and evolutionary biology 297, 433–462.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Dirzo, R., Young, H.S., Galetti, M., Ceballos, G., Isaac, N.J.B., Collen, B. (2014). Defaunation in the Anthropocene. Science 345, 401–406.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Etheridge, R. (1964). Late Pleistocene lizards from Barbuda, British West Indies. Bulletin of the Florida State Museum Biological Sciences 9, 43–75.Google Scholar
Fay, L.P. (1988). Late Wisconsinan Appalachian herpetofaunas: relative stability in the midst of change. Annals of Carnegie Museum 57, 189–220.Google Scholar
Grayson, D.K. (1973). Methodology of faunal analysis. American Antiquity 38, 432–439.Google Scholar
Hite, J.L., Gomez, C.A.R., Larimer, S.C., Diaz-Lameiro, A.M., Powell, R. (2008). Anoles of St. Vincent (Squamata: Polychrotidae): population densities and structural habitat use. Caribbean Journal of Science 44, 102–115.Google Scholar
Holman, J.A. (1991). North American Pleistocene herpetofaunal stability and its impact on the interpretation of recent faunas, a synthesis.Purdue, J.R., Klippel, W.E., Styles, B.W. Beamers, Bobwhites, and Bluepoints. Tributes to the Career of Paul W Parmalee vol. 23, Illinois State Museum Scientific Papers, 227–235.Google Scholar
Koch, P.L., Barnosky, A.D. (2006). Late quaternary extinctions: state of the debate. Annual Review of Ecology, Evolution, and Systematics 215–250.Google Scholar
Koehler, G., Vesely, M. (2011). A new species of Thecadactylus from Sint Maarten, Lesser Antilles (Reptilia, Squamata, Gekkonidae). Zookeys 97–107.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lazell, J.D.J. (1972). The anoles (Sauria, Iguanidae) of the Lesser Antilles. Bulletin of the Museum of Comparative Zoology 143, 1–115.Google Scholar
Losos, J.B. (1990). A phylogenetic analysis of character displacement in Caribbean Anolis lizards. Evolution 44, 558–569.Google Scholar
Losos, J.B. (2009). Lizards in an Evolutionary Tree: Ecology and Adaptive Radiation of Anoles.Google Scholar
Losos, J.B., Schoener, T.W., Spiller, D.A. (2004). Predator-induced behaviour shifts and natural selection in field-experimental lizard populations. Nature 432, 505–508.Google Scholar
McFarlane, D.A., MacPhee, R.D.E., Ford, D.C. (1998). Body size variability and a Sangamonian extinction model for Amblyrhiza, a West Indian megafaunal rodent. Quaternary Research 50, 80–89.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Oksanen, J., Blanchet, F.G., Kindt, R., Legendre, P., Minchin, P.R., O'Hara, R.B., Simpson, G.L., Solymos, P., Stevens, M.H.H., Wagner, H.(R package version 2.2-1)Community ecology package, Vegan.http://cran.r-project.org/package=veganGoogle Scholar
Paine, R.T. (1966). Food web complexity and species diversity. American Naturalist 100, 65(-+)Google Scholar
Paine, R.T. (1969). A note on trophic complexity and community stability. American Naturalist 103, 91(-&)Google Scholar
Powell, R. (2004). Conservation of iguanas (Iguana delicatissima and I. iguana) in the Lesser Antilles. Iguana 11, 238–246.Google Scholar
Pregill, G. (1981). Late Pleistocene Herpetofaunas From Puerto Rico. University of Kansas Museum of Natural History, 1–72.Google Scholar
Pregill, G. (1986). Body size of insular lizards " a pattern of Holocene dwarfism. Evolution 40, 997–1008.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Pregill, G.K. (1992). Systematics of the West Indian Lizard Genus Leiocephalus (Squamata: Iguania: Tropiduridae). University of Kansas Museum of Natural History, 1–69.Google Scholar
Pregill, G.K., Olson, S.L. (1981). Zoogeography of West-Indian vertebrates in relation to Pleistocene climatic cycles. Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics 12, 75–98.Google Scholar
Pregill, G.K., Steadman, D.W., Watters, D.R. (1994). Late Quaternary vertebrate faunas of the Lesser Antilles: historical components of Caribbean biogeography. Bulletin of Carnegie Museum of Natural History 30, 1–51.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
R Core Team, (2014). R: A Language and Environment for Statistical Computing. R Foundation for Statistical Computing, Vienna, Austria.(URL http://www.R-project.org/)Google Scholar
Reed, F.A., Kontanis, E.J., Kennedy, K.A.R., Aquadro, C.F. (2003). Brief communication: ancient DNA prospects from Sri Lankan highland dry caves support an emerging global pattern. American Journal of Physical Anthropology 121, 112–116.Google Scholar
Reimer, P.J., Bard, E., Bayliss, A., Beck, J.W., Blackwell, P.G., Ramsey, C.B., Buck, C.E., Cheng, H., Edwards, R.L., Friedrich, M., Grootes, P.M., Guilderson, T.P., Haflidason, H., Hajdas, I., Hatte, C., Heaton, T.J., Hoffmann, D.L., Hogg, A.G., Hughen, K.A., Kaiser, K.F., Kromer, B., Manning, S.W., Niu, M., Reimer, R.W., Richards, D.A., Scott, E.M., Southon, J.R., Staff, R.A., Turney, C.S.M., van der Plicht, J. (2013). INTCAL13 AND MARINE13 radiocarbon age calibration curves 0"50,000 years cal BP. Radiocarbon 55, 1869–1887.Google Scholar
Roughgarden, J. (1995). Anolis Lizards of the Caribbean: Ecology, Evolution, and Plate Tectonics.Google Scholar
Sallan, L.C., Kammer, T.W., Ausich, W.I., Cook, L.A. (2011). Persistent predator"prey dynamics revealed by mass extinction. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 108, 8335–8338.Google Scholar
S"terberg, T., Sellman, S., Ebenman, B. (2013). High frequency of functional extinctions in ecological networks. Nature 499, 468(-+)Google Scholar
Schoener, T.W., Slade, J.B., Stinson, C.H. (1982). Diet and sexual dimorphism in the very catholic lizard genus, Leiocephalus of the Bahamas. Oecologia 53, 160–169.Google Scholar
Schoener, T.W., Spiller, D.A., Losos, J.B. (2002). Predation on a common Anolis lizard: can the food-web effects of a devastating predator be reversed?. Ecological Monographs 72, 3 383–407.Google Scholar
Simpson, G.L. (2007). Analogue methods in palaeoecology: using the analogue package. Journal of Statistical Software 22, 1–29.Google Scholar
Simpson, G.L., Oksanen, J. (2013). Analogue: analogue matching and Modern Analogue Technique transfer function models (R package version 0.12-0).http://cran.r-project.org/package=analogueGoogle Scholar
Stuiver, M., Reimer, P.J., Reimer, R.W. (2005). CALIB 5.0. [program and documentation].http://calib.qub.ac.uk/calib/Google Scholar
Wittebolle, L., Marzorati, M., Clement, L., Balloi, A., Daffonchio, D., Heylen, K., De Vos, P., Verstraete, W., Boon, N. (2009). Initial community evenness favours functionality under selective stress. Nature 458, 623–626.Google Scholar
Supplementary material: PDF

Kemp and Hadly supplementary material

Supplementary Material

Download Kemp and Hadly supplementary material(PDF)
PDF 414.9 KB