Adaptations Of Anolis Lizards

At the beginning of the lab, I sorted the lizards based on what color of skin color they had either brown or green since it was the most distinguishable at the time. However, I revised my groups later based on size of the anoles’ legs since each of the different anoles had evolved based on their habitat. By grouping based on tail length, it was easier to distinguish the differences after measuring hind lengths, tails and toe pads. Therefore, my new groups were long tails, long legs, short legs and large toe pads.

2. An adaptation is a structure or function that is common in a population because it enhances the ability to survive and reproduce in a particular environment. Provide one example and an explanation of one adaptation in the Anolis lizards.

An adaptation in the Anolis lizards were that ones who lived higher in the trees called Trunk ground anole, had larger toe pads and longer legs than the twig anole lizards in order to adapt to its
An example from the lab of an ecomorph is the anole lizard because in certain habitats, they have longer legs to help them jump in order to get food that are in high trees and to spring from one place to another. The spaniola and occultus Puerto Rico lizards are also exomorphs since they both have short legs, but with are physically looking different.

5. How is an ecomorph different from a species?

An ecomorph is different from a species since it is a sub-species within a species. An ecomorph only classifies the organism as having similar body types and habitats, however species look at other characteristics such as color or look. In this lab, the lizards are split into different ectomorphs with the same physical traits separating them from each other.

6. Explain how a particular body feature of one of the lizard ecomorphs from the virtual lab is an adaptation to their particular