No need for artificial light: nocturnal activity by a diurnal reptile under lunar light

Species are commonly described as either diurnal or nocturnal, with rare reports of deviations outside their normal activity period. Observations of nocturnal activity by diurnal Anolis are limited to lizards utilizing anthropogenic light sources (night-light niche) to prolong their daily activity p...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Brisbane, Jeanelle L.K., van den Burg, Matthijs P.
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Estado:Versión publicada
Fecha de publicación:2020
País:España
Institución:Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC)
Repositorio:DIGITAL.CSIC. Repositorio Institucional del CSIC
OAI Identifier:oai:digital.csic.es:10261/235783
Acceso en línea:http://hdl.handle.net/10261/235783
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Anolis
Ecological niche
Evolutionary shift
Moon light
Moon tropism
Nightlight niche
Nocturnal activity
Temporal shift
Descripción
Sumario:Species are commonly described as either diurnal or nocturnal, with rare reports of deviations outside their normal activity period. Observations of nocturnal activity by diurnal Anolis are limited to lizards utilizing anthropogenic light sources (night-light niche) to prolong their daily activity period. Here, we report nocturnal activity by Anolis cristatellus facilitated solely by natural moonlight and discuss implications for when this behavior would be recognized as common in the future. The identification of nocturnal activity in Anolis is particularly noteworthy given, in contrast to other taxa, our extensive knowledge of this study system which will allow for future ecological studies to better test hypotheses.