Friesen Lab PhD student Chris Boccia’s work on semi-aquatic Anolis lizards (from his MSc thesis at the University of Toronto) has now been published in Current Biology! Chris found a fascinating novel behaviour that these streamside lizards perform while diving–‘rebreathing’! Semi-aquatic anoles exhale and reinhale air bubbles during predator evasion dives; Chris’s results suggest that this behaviour likely allows semi-aquatics to remain submerged for longer durations (up to 18 minutes!). Incredibly, this behaviour has evolved multiple (at least five) times in the Anolis genus, a spectacular instance of convergent evolution! Diving anoles might be using their rebreathing bubbles to clear carbon dioxide, make full use of their oxygen resources by incorporating air trapped in the ‘deadspace’ of their respiratory system, and gain dissolved oxygen from the water via diffusion (the bubble may be operating as a ‘physical gill’!).
Check out the ‘pop science’ blog Chris wrote on the discovery, the full publication in Current Biology, and the awesome video (embedded above) made by Day’s Edge Productions that summarizes the phenomenon!
This story has also received a variety of press coverage; examples include: National Geographic, Mongabay, Smithsonian Magazine, IFLS, and Daily Mail UK.
Congrats Chris!
