6 results
Preface
-
- By Stephen M. Reilly, Professor, Department of Biological Sciences; Director, Ohio Center for Ecology and Evolutionary studies Ohio University, Lance D. McBrayer, Assistant Professor, Department of Biology Georgia Southern University; Curator of Herpetology, Savannah Science Museum Collections Georgia Southern University, Donald B. Miles, Professor, Department of Biological Sciences Ohio University
- Edited by Stephen M. Reilly, Ohio University, Lance B. McBrayer, Georgia Southern University, Donald B. Miles, Ohio University
-
- Book:
- Lizard Ecology
- Published online:
- 04 August 2010
- Print publication:
- 12 July 2007, pp xi-xiv
-
- Chapter
- Export citation
-
Summary
Investigations into the natural history of lizards have been a major source of discovery in many disciplines of biology, including, but not limited to, morphology, physiology, ecology, and evolution. Although lizards serve as model organisms for a variety of research topics, the group has figured prominently in ecological studies. In particular, the 1960s witnessed a proliferation of theoretical and quantitative studies in population and community ecology that were based on data collected from lizards. As a survey of papers from the past 40 years will attest, squamate reptiles continue to serve as key organisms in ecological research. The evolution and ecology of feeding behavior is one area of ecology in which conclusions emerging from studies based on lizards were most influential. Two early papers are especially relevant to the study of feeding ecology in lizards. The study of community structure and habitat use of North American desert lizards by Pianka (1966) was one of the first to suggest a classification of species into either sit-and-wait or “constantly moving” in an attempt to link resource exploitation, habitat structure and species diversity. A few years later, Schoener (1969a, b, 1971) presented models of optimal predator size based in part on “idealized” lizard predators that corresponded to “sit-and-wait” and “widely foraging” species.
Subsequently, Huey and Pianka (1981) considered the question of which ecological traits were potentially affected by differences in foraging mode.
I - Organismal patterns of variation with foraging mode
-
- By Stephen M. Reilly, Professor, Department of Biological Sciences; Director, Ohio Center for Ecology and Evolutionary studies Ohio University, Lance D. McBrayer, Assistant Professor, Department of Biology Georgia Southern University; Curator of Herpetology, Savannah Science Museum Collections Georgia Southern University, Donald B. Miles, Professor, Department of Biological Sciences Ohio University
- Edited by Stephen M. Reilly, Ohio University, Lance B. McBrayer, Georgia Southern University, Donald B. Miles, Ohio University
-
- Book:
- Lizard Ecology
- Published online:
- 04 August 2010
- Print publication:
- 12 July 2007, pp 11-12
-
- Chapter
- Export citation
9 - Patterns of head shape variation in lizards: morphological correlates of foraging mode
-
- By Lance D. McBrayer, Department of Biology Georgia Southern University, Clay E. Corbin, Department of Biological and Allied Health Sciences Bloomsburg University
- Edited by Stephen M. Reilly, Ohio University, Lance B. McBrayer, Georgia Southern University, Donald B. Miles, Ohio University
-
- Book:
- Lizard Ecology
- Published online:
- 04 August 2010
- Print publication:
- 12 July 2007, pp 271-301
-
- Chapter
- Export citation
-
Summary
Introduction
The relationship between cranial morphology, diet, and feeding performance has been explored in most vertebrate classes. In fact, key biomechanical elements and regions of the skull are known to be associated with various prey types in a wide range of species (Radinsky, 1981; Kiltie, 1982; Lauder, 1991; Zweers et al., 1994; Perez-Barberia and Gordon, 1999). Numerous examples in teleosts have linked form, function, and diet (Lauder, 1991; Turingan et al., 1995; Wainwright, 1996); in birds, beak morphology and lever mechanics have been correlated with various dietary patterns (Beecher, 1962; James, 1982; Barbosa and Moreno, 1999). In mammals, the rostrum (snout) often becomes narrower and incisor tooth structure changes as dietary selectivity increases (Radinsky, 1981; Solounias, 1988; Gordon and Illius, 1994; Biknevicius, 1996).
In lizards (non-ophidian squamates), there are relatively few quantitative and comparative studies relating diet to skull morphology, especially with regard to foraging modes (McBrayer, 2004). Classic works provide descriptions of lizard skull and muscle morphology (see, for example, Haas, 1973; Gomes, 1974). Some functional morphological studies have detailed particularly interesting forms such as the outgroup to lizards, Sphenodon (Gorniak et al., 1982), durophagous species (Wineski and Gans, 1984; Gans et al., 1985; Gans and De Vree, 1986, 1987), carnivorous species (Smith, 1982, 1984; Throckmorton and Saubert, 1982), ovophagous species (Herrel et al., 1997b), and herbivorous species (Throckmorton, 1976, 1978, 1980; Herrel and De Vree, 1999; Herrel et al., 1999a).
II - Environmental influences on foraging mode
-
- By Stephen M. Reilly, Professor, Department of Biological Sciences; Director, Ohio Center for Ecology and Evolutionary studies Ohio University, Lance D. McBrayer, Assistant Professor, Department of Biology Georgia Southern University; Curator of Herpetology, Savannah Science Museum Collections Georgia Southern University, Donald B. Miles, Professor, Department of Biological Sciences Ohio University
- Edited by Stephen M. Reilly, Ohio University, Lance B. McBrayer, Georgia Southern University, Donald B. Miles, Ohio University
-
- Book:
- Lizard Ecology
- Published online:
- 04 August 2010
- Print publication:
- 12 July 2007, pp 369-370
-
- Chapter
- Export citation
17 - The evolution of the foraging mode paradigm in lizard ecology
-
- By Lance D. McBrayer, Department of Biology Georgia Southern University, Donald B. Miles, Department of Biological Sciences Ohio University, Stephen M. Reilly, Department of Biological Sciences Ohio University
- Edited by Stephen M. Reilly, Ohio University, Lance B. McBrayer, Georgia Southern University, Donald B. Miles, Ohio University
-
- Book:
- Lizard Ecology
- Published online:
- 04 August 2010
- Print publication:
- 12 July 2007, pp 508-521
-
- Chapter
- Export citation
-
Summary
Always question the paradigm
Carl Gans, 1986Sometimes a straightforward natural history observation initiates the development of a major area of research in ecology or evolutionary biology. The observation that species numbers increase with island area is one such example. Another is the description by Pianka (1966) and Schoener (1969) of two “distinct” behavioral morphs that differed in their feeding behavior forty years ago. Although other studies described the behavior (see, for example, Kennedy, 1956; Rand, 1967), it was the early publications of Pianka and Schoener that demonstrated the ecological significance of the search strategies. Ostensibly a species' movement behavior affected its foraging success and consequently was a potential mechanism for resource partitioning. Hence, understanding variation in foraging mode was a foundation for key papers in theoretical and empirical analyses of species interactions (Schoener, 1971). However, ecologists quickly realized the numerous ramifications inherent in the differences between species that ambush prey vs. those that widely search an environment for elusive or concealed prey (see, for example, Eckhardt, 1979).
In a seminal paper, Huey and Pianka (1981) formalized the foraging mode paradigm. Their study elaborated on the potential ecological consequences of variation in search behavior and presented a summary of the traits that were expected to be affected by foraging mode. Using data collected from Kalahari lizards, they corroborated several of the hypothesized differences between ambush and widely foraging lizards. One may ask why their publication was so important.
10 - Prey capture and prey processing behavior and the evolution of lingual and sensory characteristics: divergences and convergences in lizard feeding biology
-
- By Stephen M. Reilly, Program in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Department of Biological Sciences Ohio University, Lance D. McBrayer, Department of Biology Georgia Southern University
- Edited by Stephen M. Reilly, Ohio University, Lance B. McBrayer, Georgia Southern University, Donald B. Miles, Ohio University
-
- Book:
- Lizard Ecology
- Published online:
- 04 August 2010
- Print publication:
- 12 July 2007, pp 302-333
-
- Chapter
- Export citation
-
Summary
Introduction
Prey location, capture, and subsequent processing are fundamentally important behaviors critical to the assimilation of food resources. All three of these behaviors involve movements of the tongue and jaws and it is well known that both tongue movements and tongue morphology vary widely among lizards (Schwenk, 2000). A central element of the sit-and-wait (ambush) vs. wide foraging paradigm involves the trade-off between prey capture function and chemosensory acuity. In general, ambush feeders are thought to use the tongue primarily to capture prey located visually, whereas wide foragers are thought to have traded tongue-based prey capture for tongue-flicking, which is critical to locating widely dispersed prey by using chemoreception (Pianka and Vitt, 2003; Cooper, 1997a). The switch to chemosensory tongue function among scleroglossan lizards is certainly linked to their wide-foraging strategy; in fact, this transition has enabled wide foragers to dominate lizard communities worldwide (Vitt et al., 2003). In this chapter we examine the trade-off between feeding behaviors (prey capture and subsequent prey processing) and chemosensory function in lizards with data available to date. First, we present new data and a review of kinematic patterns of “prey capture” behaviors. This analysis illustrates three basic prey capture modes used by lizards. Next, we review patterns of post-capture prey processing behavior that reveal three evolutionary transitions in lizard “chewing” behavior. Finally, we compare changes in lizard feeding behavior with quantified characteristics of the vomeronasal system, tongue morphology, prey discrimination ability, and foraging behavior from the literature to examine how changes in feeding function correlate with changes in chemosensory function.