Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Experimental evidence that competition strength scales with ecological similarity: a case study using Anolis lizards

  • Highlighted Student Research
  • Published:
Oecologia Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Interspecific competition is widely considered a powerful process underlying species coexistence and ecological community structure. Although coexistence theory predicts stronger competition between more ecologically similar species, empirical support has largely relied on inferring competition from patterns of species co-occurrence. Coexistence theory also posits that species can only coexist when individuals compete more with conspecifics than with other species, however, few field studies—particularly in reptiles—have simultaneously estimated the strength of both intra- and interspecific competition among co-occurring species. Using an array of 12 experimental plots, we manipulated species presence and population size by plot of three native Anolis lizard species to empirically estimate the strength of competition on one anole species driven by two other species of varying ecological similarity. We observed that the strength of competition—as determined by relative growth rates and gravidity—was highly predictable and correlated to ecological similarity. Interspecific competition was strongest among species of highest ecological similarity, and intraspecific competition—induced by the addition or removal of conspecifics—was consistently the most intense. By employing direct experimental manipulations, our study provides an empirical investigation of the strength of competition as it relates to ecological similarity.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4

Similar content being viewed by others

Data availability

The data used in this manuscript were deposited in the Open Science Framework at https://osf.io/vgf2h/?view_only=9adbfd4e00bb4f00bdccfa962f77f485.

Code availability

The code used for analyses and figures in this manuscript were deposited in the Open Science Framework at https://osf.io/vgf2h/?view_only=9adbfd4e00bb4f00bdccfa962f77f485.

References

  • Adler PB, Smull D, Beard KH, Choi RT, Furniss T, Kulmatiski T, Meiners JM, Tredennick AT, Veblen KE (2018) Competition and coexistence in plant communities: intraspecific competition is stronger than interspecific competition. Ecol Lett 21:1319–1329

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Allen ML, Roberts NM, Bauder JM (2020) Relationships of catch-per-unit-effort metrics with abundance vary depending on sampling method and population trajectory. PLoS ONE 15:e0233444

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Andrews RM (1985) Oviposition frequency of Anolis carolinensis. Copeia 1985:259–262

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Andrews R, Rand S (1974) Reproductive effort in anoline lizards. Ecology 55:1317–1327

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bloch N, Irschick DJ (2005) Toe-clipping dramatically reduces clinging performance in a pad-bearing lizard (Anolis carolinensis). J Herpetol 37:293–298

    Google Scholar 

  • Boulangeat I, Gravel D, Thuiller W (2012) Accounting for dispersal and biotic interactions to disentangle the drivers of species distributions and their abundances. Ecol Lett 15:584–593

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Brazeau HA, Schamp BS (2019) Examining the link between competition and negative co-occurrence patterns. Oikos 128:1358–1366

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brown LD, Cai TT, DasGupta A (2001) Interval estimation for binomial proportion. Stat Sci 16:101–133

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Calsbeek R, Cox RM (2010) Experimentally assessing the relative importance of predation and competition as agents of selection. Nature 465:613–616

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Calsbeek R, Bonneaud C, Prabhu S, Manoukis N, Smith TB (2007) Multiple paternity and sperm storage lead to increased genetic diversity in Anolis lizards. Evol Ecol Res 9:495–503

    Google Scholar 

  • Campbell TS (2000) Analyses of the effects of an exotic lizard (Anolis sagrei) on a native lizard (Anolis carolinensis) in Florida, using islands as experimental units. Ph.D. Dissertation, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN

  • Chesson P (2000) General theory of competitive coexistence in spatially-varying environments. Theor Popul Biol 58:211–237

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Cohen J (1988) Statistical power analysis for the behavioral sciences, 2nd edn. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Publishers, Hillsdale, NJ

    Google Scholar 

  • Colwell RK, Futuyma DJ (1971) On the measurement of niche breadth and overlap. Ecology 52:567–576

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Connell JH (1983) On the prevalence and relative importance of interspecific competition: evidence from field experiments. Am Nat 122:661–696

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cook EG (2019) Characterizing territoriality and the mechanisms that mediate it in female Anolis gundlachi lizards. Unpublished Ph.D. Thesis. Univeristy of Missouri-Columbia, MO

  • Courtois EA, Lelong C, Calvez O, Loyau A, Schmeller DS (2013) The use of visible implant alpha tags for anuran tadpoles. Herpetological Review 44:230–233

    Google Scholar 

  • Dufour CMS, Herrel A, Losos JB (2018) Ecological character displacement between a native and an introduced species: the invasion of Anolis cristatellus in Dominica. Biol J Lin Soc 123:43–54

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gillespie RG, Bennett GM, De Meester L, Feder JL, Fleischer RC, Harmon LJ, Hendry AP, Knope ML, Mallet J, Martin C, Parent CE, Patton AH, Pfennig KS, Rubinoff D, Schluter D, Seehausen O, Shaw KL, Stacy E, Stervander M, Stroud JT, Wagner C, Wogan GOU (2020) Comparing adaptive radiations across space, time, and taxa. J Hered 111:1–20

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Grainger TN, Letten AD, Gilbert B, Fukami T (2019) Applying modern coexistence theory to priority effects. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 118:6205–6210

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hall JM, Mitchell TS, Thawley CJ, Stroud JT, Warner DA (2020) Adaptive seasonal shift towards investment in fewer, larger offspring: evidence from field and laboratory studies. J Anim Ecol 89(5):1242–1253

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Halsey LG (2019) The reign of the p-value is over: what alternative analyses could we employ to the fill the power vacuum? Biol Let 15:20190174

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hamlett GWD (1952) Notes on breeding and reproduction in the lizard Anolis carolinensis. Copeia 1952:183–185

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hastings A (1987) Can competition be detected using species co-occurrence data? Ecology 68:117–123

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hernandez-Salinas U, Ramirez-Bautista A, Cruz-Elizalde R, Meiri S, Berriozabal-Islas C (2018) Ecology of the growth of Anolis nebulosus (Squamata: Dactyloidae) in a seasonal tropical environment in the Chamela region, Jalisco, Mexico. Ecol Evol 9:2061–2071

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hess NE, Losos JB (1991) Interspecific aggression between Anolis cristatellus and A. gundlachi: comparison of sympatric and allopatric populations. J Herpetol 25:256–259

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • HilleRisLambers J, Adler PB, Harpole WS, Levine JM, Mayfield MM (2012) Rethinking community assembly through the lens of coexistence theory. Annu Rev Ecol Evol 43:227–248

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Huey RB, Webster TP (1976) Thermal biology of Anolis lizards in a complex fauna: the Christatellus Group on Puerto Rico. Ecology 57:985–994

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jenssen TA (2002) Spatial awareness by the lizard Anolis cristatellus: why should a non-ranging species demonstrate homing behavior. Herpetologica 58:364–371

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jenssen TA, Marcellini DL, Pague CA, Jenssen LA (1984) Competitive interference between two Puerto Rican lizards, Anolis cooki and A. cristatellus. Copeia 1984:853–862

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Johnson MA (2007) Behavioral ecology of Caribbean Anolis lizards: a comparative approach. Unpublished Ph.D. Thesis. Washington University in St. Louis, MO

  • Kotrlik JW, Williams HA, Jabor MK (2011) Reporting and interpreting effect size in quantitative agricultural education research. J Agric Educ 52(1):132–142. https://doi.org/10.5032/jae.2011.01132

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Leal M, Rodriguez-Robles JA, Losos JB (1998) An experimental study of interspecific interactions between two Puerto Rican Anolis lizards. Oecologia 117:273–287

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Levis NA, Martin RA, O’Donnell KA, Pfennig DW (2017) Intraspecific adaptive radiation: competition, ecological opportunity, and phenotypic diversification within species. Evolution 71:2496–2509

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Losos JB (1994) Integrative approaches to evolutionary ecology: Anolis lizards as model systems. Annu Rev Ecol Syst 25:467–493

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Losos JB (2009) Lizards in an evolutionary tree: ecology and adaptive radiation of anoles. University of California Press, California

    Google Scholar 

  • Losos JB, Spiller DA (1999) Differential colonization success and asymmetrical interactions between two lizard species. Ecology 80:252–258

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Losos JB, Glor RE, Kolbe JJ, Nicholson K (2006) Adaptation, speciation, and convergence: a hierarchical analysis of adaptive radiation in Caribbean Anolis lizards. Ann Mo Bot Gard 93:24–33

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lugo AE, Castro LM, Vale A, del Mar Lopez T, Hernandez Prieto E, Garcia Martino A, Puente Rolon AR, Tossas AG, McFarlane DA, Miller T, Rodriguez A, Lundberg J, Thomlinson J, Colon J, Schellekens JH, Ramos O, and Helmer E (2001) Puerto Rican Karst—a vital resource. United States Department of Agriculture, Forest Service. Gen. Tech. Report WO-65

  • Mahler DL, Revell LJ, Glor RE, Losos JB (2010) Ecological opportunity and the rate of morphological evolution in the diversification of greater Antillean anoles. Evolution 64:2731–2745

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • McMillan DM, Irschick DJ (2010) Experimental test of predation and competition pressures on the green anole (Anolis carolinensis) in varying structural habitats. J Herpetol 44:272–278

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Muff S, Nilsen EB, O’Hara RB, Nater CR (2022) Rewriting results sections in the language of evidence. Trends Ecol Evol 37:203–210

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Muñoz MM, Frishkoff LO, Pruett J, Mahler DL (2023) Evolution of a model system: new insights from the study of Anolis lizards. Annu Rev Ecol Evol Syst 54:475–503

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nakagawa S, Cuthill IC (2007) Effect size, confidence interval and statistical significance: a practical guide for biologists. Biol Rev 82:591–605

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Nathan R, Monk CT, Arlinghaus R, Adam T, Also J, Assaf M, Baktoft H, Beardsworth CE, Bertram MG, Bijleveld AI, Brodin T, Brooks JL, Campos-Candela A, Cooke SJ, Gjelland KØ, Gupte PR, Harel R, Hellstrom G, Jeltsch F, Killen SS, Klefoth T, Langrock R, Lennox RJ, Lourie E, Madden JR, Orchan Y, Pauwels IS, Riha M, Roeleke M, Schlagel UE, Shohami D, Signer J, Toledo S, Vilk O, Westrelin S, Whiteside MA, Jaric I (2022) Big-data approaches lead to an increased understanding of the ecology of animal movement. Science 375:eabg1780

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Navidi W, Murphy WS Jr, Hereman W (1998) Statistical methods in surveying by trilateration. Comput Stat Data Anal 27:209–227

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nicholson KE, Richards PM (2011) Home-range size and overlap within an introduced population of the Cuban Knight Anole, Anolis equestris (Squamata: Iguanidae). Phyllomedusa 10:65–73

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nicholson DJ, Knell RJ, McCrea RS, Neel LK, Curlis JD, Williams CE, Chung AK, McMillan WO, Garner TWJ, Cox CL, Logan ML (2022) Climate anomalies and competition reduce establishment success during island colonization. Ecol Evol 12:e9402

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Ord T (2021) Costs of territoriality: a review of hypotheses, meat-analysis, and field study. Oecologia 197:615–631

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Otero LM, Huey RB, Gorman GC (2015) A few meters mater: local habitats drive reproductive cycles in a tropical lizard. Am Nat 186:E72–E80

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Pacala SW, Roughgarden J (1982) Resource partitioning and interspecific competition in two two-species insular Anolis lizard communities. Science 217:444–446

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Pacala SW, Roughgarden J (1985) Population experiments with the Anolis lizards of St. Maarten and St. Eustatius. Ecology 66:129–141

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rafferty AR, Reina RD (2012) Arrested embryonic development: a review of strategies to delay hatching in egg-laying reptiles. Proc R Soc B 279:2299–2308

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Rand AS (1964) Ecological distribution of anoline lizards of Puerto Rico. Ecology 45:745–752

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rand AS (1967) Communal egg laying in anoline lizards. Herpetologica 23:227–300

    Google Scholar 

  • Reagan DP (1996) Anoline lizards. In: Reagan DP, Waide R (eds) The food web of a tropical rain forest. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, pp 321–345

    Google Scholar 

  • Roughgarden J, Pacala S, Rummel J (1984) Strong present-day competition between the Anolis lizard populations of St. Maarten (Neth. Antilles). In: Shorrocks B (ed) Evolutionary ecology. Blackwell Scientific, Oxford, pp 203–220

    Google Scholar 

  • RStudio Team (2020) RStudio: integrated development for R. RStudio, PBC, Boston, MA. http://www.rstudio.com/

  • Salzburg MA (1984) Anolis sagrei and Anolis cristatellus in southern Florida: a case study in interspecific competition. Ecology 65:14–19

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schamp BS, Aarssen LW, Piggott GSJ, Dante SK (2016) The impact of non-reproductive plant species on assessments of community structure and species co-occurrence patterns. J Veg Sci 27:668–678

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schoener TW (1983) Field experiments on interspecific competition. Am Soc Nat 122:240–285

    Google Scholar 

  • Schoener TW, Schoener A (1978) Estimating and interpreting body-size growth in some Anolis lizards. Copeia 1978:390–405

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Simpson GG (1953) The major features of evolution. Columbia University Press, New York

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Skalski JR, Ryding KE, Millspaugh JJ (2005) 8—Analysis of population indices. In: Skalski JR, Ryding KE, Millpaugh JJ (eds) Wildlife demography. Academic Press, pp 359–433

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Skalski JR, Townsend RL, Gilbert BA (2007) Calibrating statistical population reconstruction models using catch-effort and index data. J Wildl Manag 71:1309–1316

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Stamps J, Tanaka S (1981) The influence of food and water on growth rates in a tropical lizard (Anolis aeneus). Ecology 62:33–40

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Stroud JT, Losos JB (2020) Bridging the process-pattern divide to understand the origins and early stages of adaptive radiation: a review of approaches with insights from studies of Anolis lizards. J Hered 111:33–42

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Thomson JD (1980) Implications of different sorts of evidence for competition. Am Nat 116:719–726

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Williams EE (1972) The origin of faunas. Evolution of lizard congeners in a complex island fauna: a trial analysis. In: Dobzhansky T, Hecht MK, Steere WC (eds) Evolutionary biology. Springer, New York. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4684-9063-3_3

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

We thank A. Puente Rolon and S. Vega Castillo for their generosity in allowing this study to take place on their private land. We thank M. Acosta Leon, P. Amador Hernández, J. Arbelo Santiago, V. Barreto Bermúdez, D. Carlo Mejías, L. Carrero, T. Clayton, A. del Mar Valle Hernández, R. Fradera González, A. Myredis Caro Ruiz, R. Pérez Salas, C. Pérez Santos, D. Pozzi Maldonado, A. Quiñones Vega, A. Rivera Amador, J. Rivera Bonilla, N. Rivera Figueroa, A. Rodriguez Roman, A. Vázquez Custodio, E. Vélez Torres, and A. Vera Colón for assisting with data collection. We also thank H. Lynch, R. D’Andrea, and J. Stroud for their feedback on the manuscript, as well as L. Frishkoff for their advice and guidance. We thank the American Museum of Natural History, Herpetological Conservation International, the Association for Tropical Biology and Conservation, the Stony Brook Department of Ecology and Evolution, the Stony Brook Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies, and the Stony Brook Graduate Student Organization for funding this work. Lastly, we thank M. Laird for her artistic renditions of our three study species used in Fig. 2.

Funding

Grants from the American Museum of Natural History, Herpetological Conservation International, the Association for Tropical Biology and Conservation, the Stony Brook Department of Ecology and Evolution, the Stony Brook Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies, and the Stony Brook Graduate Student Organization.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Ecology and Evolution, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY, 11790, USA

    Anna Thonis & H. Reşit Akçakaya

Authors
  1. Anna Thonis
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. H. Reşit Akçakaya
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Contributions

AT and HRA conceived and designed the study and wrote and revised the manuscript. AT collected, analyzed, and visualized the data, and acquired the necessary funding.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Anna Thonis.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of interest

Not applicable.

Ethics approval

All work using live animals were approved by the Departamento de Recursos Naturales y Ambientales (DRNA Permit Number: 2021-EPE-002) and by Stony Brook University (IACUC: IRBNet #1556562).

Consent to participate

Not applicable.

Consent for publication

Not applicable.

Additional information

Communicated by Jean-François Le Galliard .

Oecologia Highlighted Student Paper statement: The lead and corresponding author on this manuscript, Anna Thonis (PhD Candidate), conducted field experiments and observations during the summer of 2021 with a team of 21 University of Puerto Rico undergraduate biology students who she independently recruited, trained, and worked with throughout the summer. With this large team, Anna collected a vast amount of data for a single summer on three species of Anolis lizard. Using these data, Anna shows that competitive strength scales with ecological similarity, as is predicted under coexistence theory. Anna chose to use an open-plot design—rather than using lab chambers or a closed-plot design—to allow anoles to move freely into and out of plots, in an effort to make her results as ecologically meaningful as possible.

Supplementary Information

Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.

Supplementary file1 (PDF 371 KB)

Rights and permissions

Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Thonis, A., Akçakaya, H.R. Experimental evidence that competition strength scales with ecological similarity: a case study using Anolis lizards. Oecologia 204, 451–465 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-023-05507-6

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-023-05507-6

Keywords

Search

Navigation