Table Of ContentCopyright' 2000 impMbianandReptileComertation. K\\rightsreser\ed.ARC Amphibian and Reptile Conservation 2(1):32.
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Book Reviews
Lizards in the stream
BRIAN A. MAURER1
Department ofFisheries and Wildlife, Michigan State University, East Lansing,
Michigan 48824-1222. USA
Roughgarden, Jonathan. 1995. Anolis Lizards ofthe Carib-
bean: ecology, evolution, and plate tectonics. Oxford Uni-
versity Press, NewYork. 200 p. + xvi. (ISBN: 0-19-506731-2).
Keywords.Lizards,Anolis, Caribbean, ecology,evolution,platetectonics,
islands, history,foraging, coexistence, mmmurtities
Ecologists most often study phenomenathat occurwithin the tory ofdifferent islands. So on a longertime scale and larger
lifetimeoftheobserver.Thesephenomenaarecaused,however, spatial scale, patternsofdistribution andecologyofthesespe-
byprocessesthatspanahugerangeofsCJMes, fromthesecond ciesreflectgeological history, andthese patterns are superim-
by second behavior ofindividual animamto the processes of posedonthemorelocalpatternsofcoexistenceofspeciesdeter-
platetectonicsthatspanmillionsofyears.J^owonegoesabout minedbytheirimmediateecology.
untanglingsuchprocessesisadifficultprof|em forecologists, Thus,afascinatingstoryofhistoryandecologyinteracting
but one, as Roughgarden shows, that is not unsurmountable. emergesfromRoughgarden'snarrativethatshowsjusthowcom-
This monograph is a compilation ofmany years ofstudy by plex ecological systems like lizard communities can get. The
Roughgardenandcolleaguesofth^lizards inthegenusAnoHs* underlyingmessage ofthe monograph isthat itis indeed pos-
thatliveintheCaribbeanregion. m^. sibleto untanglemany aspects ofthis complexity bytaking a
Roughgardenbeginsbyconsideringhowanorganismsuch rigorousandmulti-scaledapproachtothepatternsobserved in
asalizard,withitsabilitytomakedecisionsregardingitschoice nature. Although Roughgardendescribes theresultsofseveral
ofprey items, can maximize its rate of fieldexperimentsthathelpelucidatecer-
energy intakewhenconstrainedbyfood tain aspects ofAnolis ecology, the real
abundances, body mpl, and other im- meatofthestoryliesinweavingtogether
portantaspectsoflizardbiology.Theabil- evidencefromawidevarietyofstudies.
ity oflizards to forage profitably is re- Soecologywithouthistoryisincomplete,
lated totheirfitness, which in turn, can whilehistorywithoutecologyisinexpli-
be related to the presence ofother spe- cable. Melding together the two, how-
ciesoflizardsthatusesimilarresources. ever,yieldsdeepinsightsintothenature
Usingempiricallybasedestimatesoffor- ofspeciesassemblagesthatcannotbehad
agingratesRoughgardenshowsthatitis frominvestigationsoflimitedscope.Her-
notunreasonabletoassumethatmuchof petologistsandecologistsalikehavemuch
lizard diversity, especially on small is- to gain from examiningRoughgarden's
(DNmioasrltero)ip,ctsL,astBCreuloeipvziaedso,n(CAopatryuiosl flaonrdasg,inisgaofcdoinfsfeerqeunetn-sciezeodfscpoencsitersaiansttshoeny broad, sweepingapproach. NCpuaocxrutolapos,BuannCiia,foyruompipsDei(rsmtarRliaecs)t-,,
S1t9af9f8o)rd,PchooutroteshyyoPfetTehre interacttogether. Roughgardensketches Furthersuggestedreadings: bByelPiezteer(ApStraiflfo1r9d9,7)c.ouPrhtoetsoy
.NLaotnudroanlHistoryMuseum, outareasonablepictureofhowthesein- soefuTmh,eLNoantduorna.lHistoryMu-
teractionsvaryspatiallyfromoneisland Crothebre,anBrAimapnhiIb.i(aendsitaorn)d.R1ep9t9i9l.es.CaArciab-demic Press, San Diego,
to the next, and how one might begin to make predictions of California. 495 p. (ISBN: 0-12-197955-5).
whichspeciesshouldbefoundtogetheronwhichislands.Cov- Powell, R. and Henderson, Robert W. (editors). 1996. Contribu-
eringthe literature on pairs oflizard species foundtogether in tionsto WestIndianHerpetology: atributetoAlbertSchwartz,
differentcombinationsondifferentislands,Roughgardenbuilds contributions to herpetology, volume 12. Society for the
aconvincingcasethatresource-basedcompetitionbetweendif- Study ofAmphibians and Reptiles, Ithaca, New York. 457 p.
ferentspeciesis likely to explain many aspects ofAnolis ecol- (ISBN: 0-916984-37-0).
ogyintheCaribbean. Rivero, Juan A. 1976. Los Anfibios y Reptiles de Puerto Rico.
Butthereismuchmoretothestory,asRoughgardengoes University of Puerto Rico Press'. (ISBN: 0-8477-2317-8).
on to show in laterchapters. Lizards evolve atrelatively slow Schettino, Lourdes Rodriguez, (editor). 1999. The Iguanid Lizards
rates, and Roughgarden shows how certain aspects ofthe his- ofCuba. University Press ofFlorida, Gainesville, Florida. 384
tory ofthe Caribbean basin can be traced by examining the p. (ISBN: 0-8130-1647-9). Availability: see inside cover ad.
relationshipsamongdifferentspeciesoflizardswithintheCar- Schwartz, Albert and Henderson, Robert W. 1991. Amphibians and
ibbean dwelling species. Many aspects ofthe distribution of Reptiles ofthe WestIndies: descriptions, distributions, andnatu-
Anolisspeciesamongislandscannotbeexplainedbyrarecoloni- ralhistory. University Press ofFlorida, Gainesville, Florida. 736
zationevents,butmustbeaconsequenceofthegeological his- p. (ISBN: 0-8130-1049-7). Availability: see inside cover ad.
i -f '"-"-'
'Correspondence. Tel: (517) 353-947H; fax: (517) 432- {B2a4c-kAgurgouustn-d19s9c9r)e.enPhpohtootocgoruarpthe:syAonfolFiastheerreArlmeajnannidr(omaJl.eS),anCcihaelzesM,uPnuoezr,toPaRsitcoro
1699; email: maurerb®msu.edu ofSaintAnne'sParish, Saint Thomas. U.S. VirginIslands.
SUBMITTING BOOKSFORREVIEW. Pleasesendonedeskcopylo:BookReviews.Amphibian
andReptile Conservation, 2525IowaAvenue, Modesto, California 95358-9467. USA.
