EASTERN COLLARED LIZARD

Abstract

The foreground shows a glade on Stegall Mountain that was colonized by collared lizards after prescribed woodland fires were initiated. Thorny Mountain is in the background, showing the glades imbedded in the woodland matrix. The Thorny Mountain glades were colonized by lizards from Stegall Mountain after the fire management area was expanded to include Thorny Mountain and the valley between Stegall and Thorny Mountains. Photograph by Alan Templeton. The eastern collared lizard (Crotaphytus collaris collaris) lives on Ozark glades habitats of exposed bedrock imbedded in a woodland matrix. Effective fire suppression began in the 1940s in the Stegall and Thorny Mountain region of the Ozarks. The unburned woodlands became a barrier to lizard dispersal between glades, leading to extinction by 1980. Starting in 1984 we translocated lizards onto restored glades. The translocated populations persisted, but did not disperse. In 1994 woodland fires were initiated, which unleashed much dispersal. The populations underwent a dramatic transition from isolated fragments, to a nonequilibrium colonizing metapopulation, and finally to a stable metapopulation. A collared lizard hatchling. Hatchlings have a low probability of dispersal during the colonizing phase, but once a stable metapopulation has been established, ~50% of the hatchlings disperse, and they disperse long distances. All dispersal between mountains was mediated by hatchlings. This photograph also illustrates the main capture technique of noosing lizards with a dental floss noose tied to a fishing pole. Photograph by Jennifer L. Neuwald. A gravid adult collared lizard female. Female shave bright orange stripes and spots induced by hormonal changes after their eggs are fertilized. Adult females have the lowest probabilities of dispersal and the lowest dispersal distances. Photograph by Alan Templeton. Adult male collared lizards. About 25% of adult males disperse once a stable metapopulation has been established, and they disperse long distances, although they always remain on the same mountain. A male showing the more typical male coloration. This male lizard has more yellow coloration. The increase in the frequency of these yellowish males was associated with the founding of populations on Thorny Mountain by a small number of lizards dispersing from Stegall Mountain. Photographs by Alan Templeton. An adult male/female pair of collared lizards. Both males and females are territorial, but male territories typically include several female territories. Territories are aggressively defended, particularly by males against other males. Photograph by Alan Templeton. These photographs illustrate the article “The transition from isolated patches to a metapopulation in the eastern collared lizard in response to prescribed fires” by Alan R. Templeton, Hilary Brazeal, and Jennifer L. Neuwald, tentatively scheduled to appear in Ecology 92(9), September 2011. [doi: 10.1890/10-1994.1].