Life-History Patterns of Lizards of the World

Abstract

Identification of mechanisms that promote variation in life-history traits is critical to understand the evolution of divergent reproductive strategies. Here we compiled a large life-history data set (674 lizard populations, representing 297 species from 263 sites globally) to test a number of hypotheses regarding the evolution of life-history traits in lizards. We found significant phylogenetic signal in most life-history traits, although phylogenetic signal was not particularly high. Climatic variables influenced the evolution of many traits, with clutch frequency being positively related to precipitation and clutches of tropical lizards being smaller than those of temperate species. This result supports the hypothesis that in tropical and less seasonal climates, many lizards tend to reproduce repeatedly throughout the season, producing smaller clutches during each reproductive episode. Our analysis also supported the hypothesis that viviparity has evolved in lizards as a response to cooler climates. Finally, we also found that variation in trait values explained by clade membership is unevenly distributed among lizard clades, with basal clades and a few younger clades showing the most variation. Our global analyses are largely consistent with life-history theory and previous results based on smaller and scattered data sets, suggesting that these patterns are remarkably consistent across geographic and taxonomic scales.

A biogeographic reversal in sexual size dimorphism along a continental temperature gradient

“…It could also act indirectly, via traits like head size; larger heads increase bite force and combat success in lizards (Herrel et al 1999, Scharf and Meiri 2013, Lopez-Darias et al 2014. Female lizards tend to have more clutches, spread through the year, in warm, aseasonal, environments (Mesquita et al 2016), which fits with this hypothesis and suggests that gradients in male sexual selection are not decoupled from female fecundity selection. Female lizards tend to have more clutches, spread through the year, in warm, aseasonal, environments (Mesquita et al 2016), which fits with this hypothesis and suggests that gradients in male sexual selection are not decoupled from female fecundity selection.…”

“…When the breeding season is short, fecundity selection should favour larger clutches and/or offspring to maximize reproductive output during the limited reproductive season (Shine 1988, Pincheira-Donoso andTregenza 2011). If females in aseasonal environments lay many clutches throughout the year (Meiri et al 2012, Mesquita et al 2016, then sexual selection in males may be stronger as there are greater benefits to long-term control of high-quality territories or mates than if reproduction occurs in a short burst (Machado et al 2016). The strength of sexual selection via male-male competition may also vary with climate and may depend on female reproductive strategies.…”

“…We test predictions of the reproductive selection hypotheses by evaluating the relationships between SSD, male and female size, clutch size and climate. Furthermore, males of many lizard species compete for mates and territories (Stamps 1983), their morphology (including size) has been linked to resource use, competition intensity, clutch size and reproductive output (Butler et al 2000, Meiri 2008, Losos 2009, Meiri et al 2012, Mesquita et al 2016, and they display a strong species richness gradient in North America (Currie 1991, Olalla-Tarraga et al 2006, Roll et al 2017). To address the potential scale dependence of the SSD-species richness relationship, we carry out our tests at three different sampling grains, with the expectation that patterns should emerge most strongly at finer grain sizes, that may better reflect the existence of sympatric competing species.…”

Nesting in the lizard Phyllopezus pollicaris (Squamata: Phyllodactylidae) and a phylogenetic perspective on communal nesting in the family

“…This pattern is probably related to the lizards to constantly invest in reproduction (Colli 1991, Mesquita 2016a, and also suggests that large Phyllodactylidae communal nests will be mostly found in the Cerrado Figure 2. Phylogenetic relationships among currently recognized genera of Phyllodactylidae (number of species know to nest communally/ number of species in the genus).…”

“…Communal nesting has evolved independently several times during the history of squamates (Doody 2009), but appears to be particularly prevalent in geckos (Graves andDuvall 1995, Doody 2009). Clutch size is a phylogenetically conserved attribute in geckos (Vitt 1986, Sinervo 1994, and most species produce only one or two eggs at a time (Mesquita , 2016a, which is a relatively small number compared to most other lizard families (Mesquita 2016b). The repeated evolution of communal nesting in geckos might be a behavioral adaptation in response to this clutch size constraint, as it potentially increases female (Blouin-Demers 2004, Radder andShine 2007).…”