title: Rapid evolution of a native species following invasion by a congener.
abstract: In recent years, biologists have increasingly recognized that evolutionary change can occur rapidly when natural selection is strong; thus, real-time studies of evolution can be used to test classic evolutionary hypotheses directly. One such hypothesis is that negative interactions between closely related species can drive phenotypic divergence. Such divergence is thought to be ubiquitous, though well-documented cases are surprisingly rare. On small islands in Florida, we found that the lizard Anolis carolinensis moved to higher perches following invasion by Anolis sagrei and, in response, adaptively evolved larger toepads after only 20 generations. These results illustrate that interspecific interactions between closely related species can drive evolutionary change on observable time scales.
authors.affiliation: Museum of Comparative Zoology and Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA. yestuart@utexas.edu.
authors.forename: Y E
authors.initials: YE
authors.lastname: Stuart
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, University of Tampa, Tampa, FL, USA.
authors.forename: T S
authors.initials: TS
authors.lastname: Campbell
authors.affiliation: Department of Biological Sciences and Institute for Bioinformatics and Evolutionary Studies, University of Idaho, Moscow, ID, USA.
authors.forename: P A
authors.initials: PA
authors.lastname: Hohenlohe
authors.affiliation: Museum of Comparative Zoology and Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA. Department of Biology, University of Massachusetts, Boston, MA, USA.
authors.forename: R G
authors.initials: RG
authors.lastname: Reynolds
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, University of Massachusetts, Boston, MA, USA.
authors.forename: L J
authors.initials: LJ
authors.lastname: Revell
authors.affiliation: Museum of Comparative Zoology and Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA.
authors.forename: J B
authors.initials: JB
authors.lastname: Losos
mesh_terms: D025041:Animal Migration; D000818:Animals; D019143:Evolution, Molecular; D005431:Florida; D014644:Genetic Variation; D058865:Introduced Species; D008116:Lizards / Q000235:genetics*; D010802:Phylogeny; D012641:Selection, Genetic; D013997:Time Factors