BIOLOGY

Island Lizards Shift to

Evolutionary Fast-
Track after Invasive
Goats and Rats Are
Eradicated
In just one year lizards on remote Redonda Island may be
changing
Anthony Herrel measures a ground lizard ( Pholidoscelis atratus ) to see how Redonda lizards might have changed after the numerous goats and rats that had ravaged the island were removed. Credit: Geoffrey Giller

A year ago when I arrived here by helicopter with researchers Colin Donihue and
Anthony Herrel, this small Caribbean island was a moonscape. A mile long, Redonda is
a rock nub protruding up from the sea; its steep, windy cliffs dropping into the sapphire
water below.

Accounts from various explorers indicate that over the last century its surface had been
gradually eaten bare of vegetation by invasive goats. Guano miners in the 1800s may
have brought the animals as a source of fresh meat, although there’s mention of goats as
early as 1745. The island we saw was also overrun with rats, likely survivors of
shipwrecks, which would eat just about anything the goats didn’t—including at least two
of the three species of lizards found only here.

But thanks to a concerted effort between the government of Antigua and Barbuda (of
which Redonda is part), along with several local and international nonprofit
organizations, this island has been reborn. Over the course of several months last year
officials led the removal of about 50 goats, most flown to Antigua, where they are valued
for their supposed ability to survive drought. Conservationists and rock climbers
dispensed rat poison in bait stations across the island to clear out the rodents, too.

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Today the landscape is covered in green grasses, tree saplings and flowering plants—all
able, for the first time in decades, to flourish. The quick recovery was a surprise for us
during our return trip in March 2018, but has apparently been an even greater delight
for the lizards—they are flourishing. And their bodies seem to be changing in short
order.

Donihue, a postdoctoral fellow at Harvard University, and Herrel, based at France’s

National Museum of Natural History, are the first to study how endemic species like
lizards change in real time as an island recovers after the eradication of invasive
mammals. Donihue says that after just a year he has witnessed some unexpected
changes.
Helicopter is the preferred way to reach Redonda Island in the Caribbean; steep cliffs
make access by boat nearly impossible. Credit: Geoffrey Giller
Of course, the number of lizards has risen sharply now that more plants support more
insects for them to eat—and fewer rats are eating them. Last year during several surveys
around the island, Herrel counted an average of 67 so-called tree lizards, a species of
anole named Anolis nubilis. A year later, almost to the day, the number had jumped to
169.
The number of ground lizards, Pholidoscelis atratus—shiny, jet-black and with
incredibly long tails—had likewise risen from 92 to 136. Using another population
estimation method, which involves catching lizards, marking them and then catching in
the same area a few days later to see what appears, the estimated number of anoles in
one spot went from 12 in 2017 to 41 in 2018. The prevalence of the third species, a
pygmy gecko that looks like a yellow rubber fishing lure, does not appear to have
changed much.
A male tree anole (Anolis nubilis) sits on the branch of one of the island’s few trees, which
should start to rebound. Credit: Geoffrey Giller

In the absence of trees the anoles had been using boulders to sun themselves and to
display in search of mates. As trees begin to prosper again, Donihue expects to see the
various gray, green and brown-colored anoles thrive. “They have the name Redonda tree
lizard for a reason,” he says.
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The ground lizards have provided the greatest surprise. On three different occasions
during our March visit we saw a ground lizard chase down and catch an anole, running
off with its prize to devour it elsewhere, like a dog that had grabbed a juicy hunk of
meat. We had never seen such behavior before. “There’s a new resource, and they’re just
going for it,” Herrel says. “There’s a lot of really high-quality food that wasn’t really
available before,” Donihue adds. Now that the rats are gone, the ground lizards may be
reclaiming their rightful place at the top of the food web. Donihue and Herrel also saw
an adult ground lizard catch and start to eat a juvenile of its own species. That behavior
represents not only a change in the type of prey the lizards are seeking, but in their
ability to actually catch it.
It also appears the ground lizards have had shifts in some body measurements—
specifically in the length of their forelimbs, which appear to be slightly longer, on
average, than they were a year ago. Herrel says there are several possible explanations
for such a shift. Longer front legs could help the lizards maneuver better through the
returning undergrowth—helpful if they’re chasing down or fleeing from their fellow
lizards. So lizards with longer forelimbs might have survived better over the past year.
Or lizards hatched in the last year just have more resources, enabling them to grow
longer forelimbs. The eradication of rats means the average limb length could be
shifting simply because the predatory selective pressure related to rats has been
removed, says biologist Yoel Stuart of The University of Texas at Austin who studies
rapid evolution in lizards but was not involved in this project.

Anthony Herrel uses an extendible carbon-fiber pole with a string loop to harmlessly
catch an anole at the edge of a Redonda cliff. Credit: Geoffrey Giller

Holly Jones, an ecologist at Northern Illinois University who studies island restoration,
agrees that “the removal of invasive species from islands is a good candidate for
sparking rapid evolution.” Drastic changes in animals after the removal of goats and rats
is common, she says, and will likely lead to more changes in the lizards as they adapt to
the new paradigm. Stuart concurs: “I do think all the ingredients are there” for rapid
evolution. But he cautions a lot more work needs to be done to prove that is happening.
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Figuring out the exact cause of an evolutionary change is nearly impossible without
extensive experimentation, including raising lizards in the lab and setting up control
areas. Donihue and Herrel acknowledge such an undertaking is beyond the scope of
their current work. But they want to continue visiting Redonda in coming years to
confirm whether morphological changes in the lizards take place over multiple
generations, which would provide more support for evolution.
The two experts expect Redonda’s transformation to continue for decades. As trees
mature they will shade out grasses and shrubs that have sprung up, and further stabilize
the island’s soil and slow its erosion into the sea. And as the anoles return to those trees,
Herrel says, he expects to see bigger toe pads and longer forelimbs for holding on to
branches, for example. More trees will also mean more seabirds—especially tree-nesting
red-footed boobies and frigate birds.
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Eventually the Antiguan Department of Environment hopes to reintroduce burrowing

owls to the island. And they hope to designate Redonda, and the waters around it, as a
protected area. That way the lizards can continue to evolve unbothered by mammals—
humans included.