Post-hurricane shifts in the morphology of island lizards

Abstract

Hurricanes are expected to increase in both frequency and intensity as a result of climate change, but the impacts of these disturbances on the evolutionary trajectories of the species they affect are not yet well understood. In this project, we investigated population-level changes in morphology in the lizard Anolis carolinensis after Hurricane Irma in 2017. We found that anole populations were morphologically distinct after the hurricane, exhibiting significantly longer forelimbs and hindlimbs compared with pre-hurricane measurements. These morphological changes were consistent across two replicate islands and between males and females. The observed morphological shifts were potentially driven by positive selection from Hurricane Irma on clinging capacity. In this opportunistic study, we documented post-hurricane changes in the morphology of island lizards and suggest the potential for increasingly frequent and intense hurricanes to play an important role in natural selection and anole evolution.