Lizards in North America at Risk of Population Decline Due to Deforestation, Climate Change [Study]

Lizards are adept at evolution. However, no matter how good they are at evolving themselves for survival, those in North America are reportedly at risk due to climate change and deforestation.

Lizards At Risk of Severe Population Decline

Researchers from the University of Colorado Boulder and Tel Aviv University in Israel discovered in a new study that one in five species of lizards in North America could start losing numbers. The effects of climate change and deforestation are reportedly to blame, affecting 84 percent of the lizards in the country by the end of this century.

Using computer models, the researchers discovered that since lizards prefer warmer climates, even a small amount of global warming may benefit those living in colder or higher elevations. However, it might start to impact them negatively when combined with deforestation. According to the study, a decline in a tree can harmonize the species, especially as the temperature increases.

Because they are cold-blooded, lizards have few ways to regulate their body temperature. Several lizard species depend on climbing trees to take advantage of the sun's warmth and to reach higher altitudes in the trees when they require shade. Thus, with weather patterns becoming increasingly intense due to climate change, deforestation and its repercussions could seriously threaten the species.

"What's really interesting about lizards is that they just need to be able to move a short distance around the tree trunk to get to a very different climate and habitat environment," Keith Musselman, an assistant professor in the Department of Geography and CU Boulder's Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research, said in a summary of the findings.

"These microhabitats are particularly important when we think about how we modify our natural environment and make conservation decisions."

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Lizards in Puerto Rico Evolve, Expand Their Territories

Biology professor Kristin Winchell of New York University in the United States claims they have observed Puerto Rican lizards' evolution firsthand. They reported in their recent study that the crested anole (Anolis cristatellus) has evolved new scales that allow it to stick to smoother surfaces, such as windows and smooth walls in towns and cities. The discovery was published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Their legs get longer, seem stronger, and grow new scales. They can run across wide spaces without getting caught by a predator.

According to the team, genetic modifications were occurring. The Anolis cristatellus genome contains more than 30 genes linked to urbanization.

According to Winchell, if physical and genomic change occurs in urban populations, it may be possible to forecast the population's response to urbanization based on genetic markers.

Although lizards are good at evolution, they are inferior to snakes in this area. University of Michigan biologists looked into snakes' genetic makeup and eating patterns.

The scientists learned using DNA analysis that the evolution of snakes happened up to three times faster than that of lizards. About 100 million years ago, a group of lizards broke apart to become a species of legless lizards. These newly formed crawling reptiles also developed flexible heads to swallow their prey whole as they evolved to become skilled hunters. That is how snakes came to be. Following that, the diversity of snake species grew to the point where there are around 4,000 types of snakes on Earth today. The study also observed notable changes in the snakes' perceptions, eating patterns, and locomotion.

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