We have a new paper out today from the Greek Island system! As readers know, we’ve been tracking the Aegean Wall lizards introduced to the Greek experimental islets back in 2014. The experimental islets are predator-free, and so the lizard populations have really taken off. With this increase in lizard numbers, we’ve been finding signs … More Rapid and repeated shifts in chemical signals in Greece
One of the mind-blowing advantages of living in Paris for the year is being able to take a short flight or train ride to another country! My wife and I have been fortunate to do quite a bit of traveling this year but we hadn’t made it to Italy yet. With the year winding down … More An Italian lizard on a wall
The last of the five experimental introduction islands is Kambana. Again, situated between Paros and Antiparos (just like Petalida). It’s been our biggest producer in terms of lizards, consistently having the largest population ever since 2015. I hope you’ve enjoyed the “Meet the islands” series. I’ll squish all five videos into one and post it … More Meet the islands: Kambana
Claire’s back in Paris so I’ve mostly spent this week entering data, finalizing one manuscript (more on that very soon), and submitting another. It’s been busy, but not pretty. I did get out into the field for a bit though to catch some last lizards for a project with Kinsey and snapped some shots. Here … More Some recent photos from the field
This last Saturday was the 75th anniversary of the Fenway Victory Gardens so the Garden society hosted a terrific party. I caught a couple of lizards in the compost pile the day before and had them on display for visitors to learn about the Italian Wall Lizards in Boston. I need to work on the … More FensFest 2017
Greece came and went this year faster than it ever has before. I think it had to do with the fact that it was the third of my field expeditions this spring. Maybe it had something to do with the only three days at home between returning from the Bahamas and leaving for Athens. Much … More Back from Greece!
It’s Red Sox opening day and we’re finally getting some sun and warm temperatures. Baseball fans aren’t the only ones defrosting down in the Fenway; I just got word that an Italian Wall Lizard, our “Green Monster,” poked its head out of one of the compost piles it most likely over-wintered in. Go Red Sox and … More The Green Monster is back!
This weekend a great article about the Italian Wall Lizards in Greenwich was published in the Greenwich Time. Give it a look here. Thanks to Peregrine Frissell for the interview. I’m excited because new tips are starting to roll in about lizards in Southern CT and New York. It turns out lizard diversity in the area … More More leads on lizards in CT
Many lizard species are known to bolster their diet with vegetation. The practice is particularly common among species that live on islands, given how scarce food resources often are. It was a bit surprising then that Podarcis erhardii, a lizard found plentifully all through the small aegean islands, hadn’t been observed eating plants. This summer, while … More Lizards eating an orange?!
As I’ve mentioned before, one of my primary research interests is how these lizards change in different contexts. So far I’ve measured a whole lot of morphological traits like limb length and head width on lizards from islands all over the cyclades. I’ve also measured a whole-organism performance trait, namely bite force, which relies on … More Lizard sprint speed
Colin Donihue 