Lizard ecology: The evolutionary consequences of foraging mode

Abstract

The foraging mode of lizards has been a central theme in guiding research in lizard biology for three decades. Foraging mode has been shown to be a pervasive evolutionary force molding the diet, ecology, behavior, anatomy, biomechanics, life history, and physiology of lizards. This 2007 volume reviews the knowledge on the effects of foraging mode on these and other organismal systems to show how they have evolved, over a wide taxonomic survey of lizard groups. The reviews presented here reveal the continuous nature of foraging strategies in lizards and snakes, providing the reader with a review of the field, and will equip researchers with fresh insights and directions for the sit-and-wait vs. wide foraging paradigm. This will serve as a reference book for herpetologists, evolutionary biologists, ecologists and animal behaviorists.