Changing in the face of invasion and urbanization: meta-analytical support for context-dependent morphological adaptation in Anolis lizards

Employing a meta-regression analytical approach, we aimed to identify patterns of morphological change based on the impacts of anthropizing habitat pressures and the competition between native and invasive congeners. We harvested data from records for two species of Anolis lizards: Green Anoles ( Anolis carolinensis ), native to the southeastern USA, and invasive Cuban Brown Anoles ( Anolis sagrei ). We compared forest and urban habitats and for A. sagrei , native and invasive ranges. Our model analyzed variation in patterns of morphological size from 126 sex-specific samples measured in snout–vent lengths (SVL). We used two temporal scales: collection intervals (grouped in 5-year bins) and the estimated length since regional establishment of invasive A. sagrei (measured in decades). In post-hoc weighted regression analyses we evaluated the impact of island size on native and invasive populations. We found males were consistently larger than females and invasives were larger than natives. Island native anoles’ size correlated negatively with island area while invasive populations showed no correlation. Temporal predictors counteracted each other. We interpret these contradictions to show patterns of publication bias (5-year interval) and time since invasive establishment showing pressure driven morphological change. In forested habitats, invasives A. sagrei increase in size the longer the congeners coexist while A. carolinensis appear to shrink. In urban habitats, both congeners decrease in size the longer they coexist.