Blogging the Anolis Symposium. . . .

The Museum of Comparative Zoology at Harvard University is presently (Oct. 2-4) hosting the 4th edition of the "Anolis Symposium," the definitive international meeeting of Anolis biologists worldwide. This edition, my first, seems particularly poignant as it has been accompanied by a dedication of the MCZ Herpetology Library to esteemed former herpetology curator and grandfather to the study of Anolis lizards, Ernest Williams. As a consequence the meeting has been so far highlighted by a series of informal speeches by a prestigious list of former Williams students at last night's dinner. These include, but are not limited to Paul Hertz, Ray Huey, George Gorman, Bob Holt, Richard Etheridge, and (as an undergraduate student in the 1980s), my former advisor, Jonathan Losos. Talk highlights of the day include prominent theoretical ecologist Bob Holt's "aesthetically impaired" but fascinating talk relating his graduate work under Williams in the 1970s on the introduced species pair of Anolis aenus and A. trinitatis on Trinadad; as well as an immensely entertaining talk by Manuel Leal on homing in Anolis gundlachi (evidently they do it very well, but we don't know how!). At right is a picture featuring Steve Poe's opening slide (in the upper panel), and me blogging about Steve Poe's fascinating talk (in the lower panel).