Here is a snapshot of the parking lot of our hotel in Motrois, Haiti. Our truck is the silver Mitsubishi sandwiched between the UN security and red cross vehicles. Suffice to say that we haven't come across many tourists during our field work in Haiti. We just arrived back in Port-au-Prince after our trip north. Along the way, we resampled a transect that was part of one of the first molecular genetic studies of cryptic species (see Webster and Burns 1973 Evolution paper on variation in A. brevirostris).
Monday, August 10, 2009
Haiti: Not a Tourist Destination
Here is a snapshot of the parking lot of our hotel in Motrois, Haiti. Our truck is the silver Mitsubishi sandwiched between the UN security and red cross vehicles. Suffice to say that we haven't come across many tourists during our field work in Haiti. We just arrived back in Port-au-Prince after our trip north. Along the way, we resampled a transect that was part of one of the first molecular genetic studies of cryptic species (see Webster and Burns 1973 Evolution paper on variation in A. brevirostris).
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Webster and Burns' paper is also notable for being one of the first really detailed analyses demonstrating a pattern of reproductive character displacement. Unfortunately, the paper, published in Evolution in 1973, hasn't gotten the attention it deserves.
We'll have to read that one in my Anolis class this fall!
I'm hoping to post photos of those species and their dewlaps when I have a minute. Could definitely be a nice example of character displacement, but I think some alternatives have yet to be considered in sufficient detail (i.e., the possibility that dewlap color and pattern represent adaptations to local environmental conditions). Habitat can change pretty quickly in this region. I wish we had more time to try to seek out adjacent or sympatric localities. Webster and Burn left a 5+ km between the southern most websteri and northern most caudalis localities. There is also a huge gap between their samples from caudalis and brevirostris.
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