Browsing by Author "Losos, Jonathan B"
Now showing 1 - 2 of 2
Results Per Page
Sort Options
Item Open Access Favorable Climate Change Response Explains Non-Native Species' Success in Thoreau's Woods(2010) Willis, Charles G; Ruhfel, Brad R; Primack, Richard B; Miller-Rushing, Abraham J; Losos, Jonathan B; Davis, Charles CInvasive species have tremendous detrimental ecological and economic impacts. Climate change may exacerbate species invasions across communities if non-native species are better able to respond to climate changes than native species. Recent evidence indicates that species that respond to climate change by adjusting their phenology (i.e., the timing of seasonal activities, such as flowering) have historically increased in abundance. The extent to which non-native species success is similarly linked to a favorable climate change response, however, remains untested. We analyzed a dataset initiated by the conservationist Henry David Thoreau that documents the long-term phenological response of native and non-native plant species over the last 150 years from Concord, Massachusetts (USA). Our results demonstrate that non-native species, and invasive species in particular, have been far better able to respond to recent climate change by adjusting their flowering time. This demonstrates that climate change has likely played, and may continue to play, an important role in facilitating non-native species naturalization and invasion at the community level.Item Open Access The genome of the green anole lizard and a comparative analysis with birds and mammals.(Nature, 2011-08-31) Alföldi, Jessica; Di Palma, Federica; Grabherr, Manfred; Williams, Christina; Kong, Lesheng; Mauceli, Evan; Russell, Pamela; Lowe, Craig B; Glor, Richard E; Jaffe, Jacob D; Ray, David A; Boissinot, Stephane; Shedlock, Andrew M; Botka, Christopher; Castoe, Todd A; Colbourne, John K; Fujita, Matthew K; Moreno, Ricardo Godinez; ten Hallers, Boudewijn F; Haussler, David; Heger, Andreas; Heiman, David; Janes, Daniel E; Johnson, Jeremy; de Jong, Pieter J; Koriabine, Maxim Y; Lara, Marcia; Novick, Peter A; Organ, Chris L; Peach, Sally E; Poe, Steven; Pollock, David D; de Queiroz, Kevin; Sanger, Thomas; Searle, Steve; Smith, Jeremy D; Smith, Zachary; Swofford, Ross; Turner-Maier, Jason; Wade, Juli; Young, Sarah; Zadissa, Amonida; Edwards, Scott V; Glenn, Travis C; Schneider, Christopher J; Losos, Jonathan B; Lander, Eric S; Breen, Matthew; Ponting, Chris P; Lindblad-Toh, KerstinThe evolution of the amniotic egg was one of the great evolutionary innovations in the history of life, freeing vertebrates from an obligatory connection to water and thus permitting the conquest of terrestrial environments. Among amniotes, genome sequences are available for mammals and birds, but not for non-avian reptiles. Here we report the genome sequence of the North American green anole lizard, Anolis carolinensis. We find that A. carolinensis microchromosomes are highly syntenic with chicken microchromosomes, yet do not exhibit the high GC and low repeat content that are characteristic of avian microchromosomes. Also, A. carolinensis mobile elements are very young and diverse-more so than in any other sequenced amniote genome. The GC content of this lizard genome is also unusual in its homogeneity, unlike the regionally variable GC content found in mammals and birds. We describe and assign sequence to the previously unknown A. carolinensis X chromosome. Comparative gene analysis shows that amniote egg proteins have evolved significantly more rapidly than other proteins. An anole phylogeny resolves basal branches to illuminate the history of their repeated adaptive radiations.