Herrel A, Vanhooydonck B, Joachim R, Irschick D J
Department of Biology, University of Antwerp, Universiteitsplein 1, 2610, Antwerp, Belgium.
Oecologia. 2004 Jun;140(1):160-8. doi: 10.1007/s00442-004-1558-7. Epub 2004 Apr 27.
As more data have become available on lizard diets in the past few decades, researchers have stressed the importance of lizards as pollinators and seed dispersers. Whereas large body size has been traditionally put forward as a major biological factor "allowing" herbivory and frugivory in lizards, a recent review of frugivory and seed dispersal by lizards showed that frugivory might be considered to be a typical island phenomenon, independent of body size. Here we show that frugivory is correlated with lizard body size among a group of syntopic Anolis species in Jamaica, with larger species eating more fruit. Additionally, the size of the fruits consumed is significantly related to lizard body size. Multiple regression analyses show that this is largely a pure body size effect as head shape or residual bite force are uncorrelated to overall fruit size. Moreover, we demonstrate that among polychrotid (Anolis-like) lizards in general, those that consume fruit are on average larger than those that do not. Lizards from the mainland were not significantly different in body size from island species. We thus suggest that fruit consumption in polychrotid lizards is mediated by large body size whether living on islands or not.
在过去几十年里，随着越来越多关于蜥蜴饮食的数据可用，研究人员强调了蜥蜴作为传粉者和种子传播者的重要性。传统观点认为，较大的体型是蜥蜴能够进行食草和食果行为的主要生物学因素，然而最近一篇关于蜥蜴食果和种子传播的综述表明，食果行为可能被视为一种典型的岛屿现象，与体型无关。在此我们表明，在牙买加一组同域分布的安乐蜥物种中，食果行为与蜥蜴体型相关，体型较大的物种食用更多果实。此外，所食用果实的大小与蜥蜴体型显著相关。多元回归分析表明，这在很大程度上是纯粹的体型效应，因为头部形状或剩余咬合力与果实总体大小无关。而且，我们证明，一般来说，在变色树蜥（安乐蜥类）中，食果的蜥蜴平均体型比不食果的蜥蜴大。来自大陆的蜥蜴与岛屿物种在体型上没有显著差异。因此我们认为，无论生活在岛屿还是大陆，变色树蜥的食果行为都由大体型介导。
