Moving to Stay Alive

When predatory lizards were introduced onto islands in the Bahamas, their prey, Anolis lizards like the one pictured above, shifted from short grass to tall grass habitats, according to a recent study.

Thomas Schoener from the University of California, Davis and colleagues found that on islands without the introduced predator that primarily hunts on the ground, Anolis lizards survive better in habitats with shorter vegetation. But on islands with the introduced predator, Anolis lizards do better in habitats with taller vegetation.

According to the authors, the experiment is the first to directly link a population process (lizard survival) to a key feature of the biogeography of an island (vegetation type).

The study was detailed in the Dec. 16, 2005 issue of the journal Science.

--LiveScience Staff

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Credit: : Science