One Year after Hurricane Maria: Are Anoles Recovering?

Many challenges certainly still face the residents of the island, but it was starting to look more like the Puerto Rico I knew. So it was quite a shock when I visited the newly re-opened El Yunque National Park. El Yunque was hit particularly hard by the hurricane as the first landfall was just south of the forest near Yabucoa. Strong bands of wind pummeled the area, leading to massive landslides that closed the rainforest for months. The national park website said that only La Coca falls and Yokahu Tower were open to visitors, but I found a park ranger who informed me that the Mt. Britton trail was open (and the road to the peak of El Yunque had been cleared as well, though not the cloud forest trail).

As I drove up the mountainside to the Mt. Britton trailhead I was shocked at how open the forest was. When we arrived at the trailhead, my jaw dropped. The canopy had not recovered at all. The palms seemed to be the only trees that survived. I’ve hiked this trail many times, but this was the first time I did not wear a long-sleeve shirt – it was hot and dry. Perhaps the lack of animals shouldn’t have come as a surprise then. I didn’t hear a single coqui call while hiking the trail, where in the past we would hear many different species along the route. I also did not see a single Anolis gundlachi, where before my favorite trick was to tell someone that I could make lizards appear on demand then reach out and snatch one off a tree – they were that common! I did see a handful of Anolis evermanni, but only a few. Below are a couple of before and after photos of the same portions of the trail.

The impacts of hurricanes on wildlife

Recent research has shown that the insect populations of El Yunque have been declining for years, and certainly hurricane Maria did not help this situation. Perhaps the anole and coqui populations have suffered because of a collapse of food resources? Or perhaps the microclimatic shifts were too much for the lizards to handle? Anolis gundlachi does have a strong affinity for cool and dry habitats and it seems quite likely that with the current state of El Yunque, very little suitable climatic habitat exists for this species. Or perhaps the hurricane itself reduced the anole populations. Recent research on Anolis scriptus found that hurricanes can pose strong selective pressures leading to phenotypic change. Whatever the reason for the apparent decline, I am eager to check back in with the lizards in a few months when I visit again and even more eager to hear about the research of those studying herpetofaunal hurricane recovery.

No A. gundlachi to be found at El Yunque 14 months after the hurricane, but quite a few A. evermanni like the one seen here.

Are you studying the effects of hurricanes on lizards? Are you studying the recovery of Puerto Rican herpetofauna after Maria? We would love to hear more about it! Let us know in the comments, or consider contributing a blog post to Anole Annals.