Payton Phillips and iEcoLab members and collaborators made the cover of Diversity and Distributions with their article titled “Dispersal restriction and facilitation in species with differing tolerance to development: A landscape genetics study of native and introduced lizards.”
Phillips et al. discovered that the influence of urbanization on lizard species varies. The native gecko, Phyllodactylus martini, is highly sensitive to development and faces significant barriers due to roads while the introduced gecko, Hemidactylus mabouia, is remarkably resilient and even benefits from human-facilitated movement. The native Anolis lineatus presented a more neutral response to development occasionally benefiting from human facilitated long-distance dispersal. These findings help understand how we can better manage and protect wildlife in our rapidly urbanizing world.
Cover photo credits to Dr. Matthew Helmus