In this groundbreaking, exceptionally researched installment of the
award-winning Scientists in the Field series, discover how lizards
rapidly adapt to life in the Caribbean islands, allowing scientists to
study Charles Darwin's theory of evolution by natural selection in real
time.
Award-winning author Dorothy Hinshaw Patent joins forces with
scientists/filmmakers Neil Losin and Nate Dappen, whose work is detailed
in the Smithsonian Channel documentary "Laws of the Lizard," to explore
how the small but mighty lizards we call "anoles" are used by scientists
to study basic principles of evolution and ecology.
Travel with the team to Florida and the Caribbean as they research how
anoles followed similar but independent evolutionary paths on the four
major islands of the Greater Antilles (Puerto Rico, Hispaniola, Jamaica,
and Cuba). So while anoles on different islands may look like close
relatives, they often are not! This is Darwin's principle of natural
selection at work.
And it makes anoles the perfect subjects for experiments that study how
animals adapt to new challenges--such as climate change--in this
exciting and timely addition to a celebrated series.