摘要
Biological invasions threaten biodiversity worldwide,and therefore,understanding the traits of successful invaders could mitigate their spread.Many comm only invasive species do well in disturbed habitats,such as urban environments,and their abilities to effectively respond to disturbarices could con tribute to their invasiveness.Yet,there are non invasive species that also do well in disturbed habitats.The question remains whether urban invaders behave differently in urban environments than noninvaders,which could suggest an"urban-exploiting"phenotype.In Southern California,the co-occurrence of in vasive Italia n wall lizards Pod arc is siculus,brown anoles Anolis sagrei,and green anoles A.carolinensis,and native western fence lizards Sceloporus occidentalis offers an opportunity to test whether invasives exhibit consistent differences in risk-taking within human-altered habitats compared with a native species.We predicted that invasive lizards would exhibit more bold behavior by having shorter flight-initiation distances(FIDs)and by being found farther from a refuge(behaviors that would presumably maximize foraging in low-risk environments).Invasive populations had similar or longer FIDs,but were consistently found at distances closer to a refuge.Collectively,invasive lizards in urban habitats were not bolder than a native species.Relianee on nearby refuges might help species successfully invade urban habitats,and if a general pattern,may pose an added challenge in detecting or eliminating them.
基金
This work was supported by the Urban Nature Research Center at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County,and the National Science Foundation through a Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in Biology(DBI-1611562 to B.J.P.).
