Univ. of Rhode Island

A University of Rhode Island biologist who released lizards on tiny uninhabited islands in the Bahamas has shed light on the interaction between evolutionary processes that are seldom observed.

Jason Kolbe, a URI assistant professor of biological sciences, and colleagues from Duke University, Harvard University and the University of California at Davis, found that the lizards’ genetic and morphological traits were determined by both natural selection and a phenomenon called founder effects, which occur when species colonize new territory.