General Biology Laboratory Exercise
Activity I: Identifying Ecomorphs and Exploring Anole Adaptive Radiation
1. Examine the photographs of 16 species of anole lizards and sort them into as many groups as
you want according to how they appear in the photographs. Explain
how you grouped the
lizards and your rationale for the various groupings
. If you picked a body feature, speculate
about the advantages or disadvantages of such a body feature in the
environment that
species
occupies.
2. Watch the first part of the film (up until 09:48, the end of the experiment on a small rocky
island). Now that you have more information about the anoles, revise
your groupings if
you
wish. Explain any changes you made.
3. Species of Caribbean anoles can be categorized into six groups according to their body
characteristics (morphology) and the ecological niches they occupy. The groups are referred
to as ecological morphotypes, or ecomorphs. The film discusses four ecomorphs. Did
your
groupings match the ecomorphs described in the film? Why or why not?
4. Using the diagram on the left and the information from the film,
choose one ecomorph and explain how the characteristics of that body type
are adaptations to that ecomorph's particular habitat.
5. Explain how the different ecomorphs are an example of adaptive
radiation.
6. Develop a hypothesis about why similar ecomorph classes can be found on many of the
different islands in the Caribbean.
10-5


use the link in the photo and please help