Predation, Competition, and Establishment Dynamics within an Insular Adaptive Radiation

适应性辐射发生在一个物种侵入一个新的环境（例如，一个岛屿），随后分化成许多物种，每一个物种都专门在新环境的一个特定部分茁壮成长。目前对适应性辐射的理解强调了资源稀缺和竞争作为多样化引擎的重要性;相反，掠食者在促进或抑制这种快速爆发的进化中的作用在很大程度上是未知的。这项研究将导致更好地了解竞争和捕食如何相互作用，以（a）确定密切相关的物种是否可以共存（适应性辐射的先决条件），（B）塑造这些物种随后的进化轨迹。这项实验将改善与入侵物种管理相关的科学，这符合国家利益。该项目还涉及STEM教育的创新，这将加强科学劳动力。对有限资源的竞争长期以来一直被认为是适应性辐射的主要驱动力，是现有理论的基础，但捕食可能在调节适应性辐射内的物种共存和多样化方面发挥同样重要的作用。该项目的重点是经典的阿诺利斯蜥蜴适应性辐射，使用16个加勒比小岛屿的整个生态系统的操作，以评估如何捕食卷尾蜥蜴（Leiocephalus carinatus）影响之间的竞争性相互作用的一个既定的居民蜥蜴物种（阿诺利斯sagrei）和实验引入的种群更树栖蜥蜴物种（阿诺利斯smaragdinus）。将监测所有三个蜥蜴种群的种群趋势、行为反应、饮食组成以及遗传和形态变化。将使用分子饮食分析（包括同位素分析）、无线电遥测和基因组学（RAD-tag和RADseq测序）来量化变量，并使用标准和贝叶斯统计方法来测试变量的相互作用和差异。 更广泛的影响包括阐明入侵岛屿人口成功或失败的机制，以及结合跨学科（包括人文学科）和基于实地的方法开发本科课程。

Adaptive radiation occurs when a single species invades a new environment (for example, an island) and subsequently diversifies into many species, each specialized to thrive in a particular segment of that new environment. Current understanding of adaptive radiation emphasizes the importance of resource scarcity and competition as the engine of diversification; in contrast, the role of predators in promoting or inhibiting such rapid bursts of evolution is largely unknown. This research will lead to better understanding of how competition and predation interact to (a) determine whether closely related species can coexist (a prerequisite for adaptive radiation), and (b) shape the subsequent evolutionary trajectories of those species. This experiment will improve science relevant to invasive-species management, which in in the national interest. This project also involves innovations in STEM education that will strengthen the scientific workforce. Competition for limiting resources has long been thought to be the primary driver of adaptive radiation, and is the foundation for existing theory, but predation may play an equally important role in mediating species coexistence and diversification within adaptive radiations. This project focuses on the classic Anolis lizard adaptive radiation, using whole-ecosystem manipulations on 16 small Caribbean islands to assess how predation by curly-tailed lizards (Leiocephalus carinatus) affects competitive interactions between an established resident lizard species (Anolis sagrei) and experimentally introduced populations of a more arboreal lizard species (Anolis smaragdinus). Population trends, behavioral responses, diet composition, and genetic and morphological changes of all three lizard populations will be monitored. Molecular diet analysis (including isotopic analyses), radio-telemetry, and genomics (RAD-tag and RADseq sequencing) will be used to quantify variables, which will be tested for interaction and differences using standard and Bayesian statistical methods. Broader impacts include illumination of mechanisms underlying the success or failure of invading populations on islands, and the development of an undergraduate course combining interdisciplinary (including humanities) and field-based approaches.