Researcher to study lizards' bite related to throat fan size

A local biologist is digging his teeth into research of a familiar Southeast lizard species.

Through a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship, Justin Henningsen is participating in research at the Savannah River Ecology Laboratory, the University of Georgia's Savannah River Site research facility.

Henningsen's research focuses on the Carolina anole, the common green lizard that can be found around homes throughout the Southeast. His research will study signaling in Anolis lizards.

"My dissertation research examines the conspicuous dewlap or throat fan displays of male Carolina anoles. In this species of lizard, there is a significant positive correlation between dewlap size and maximum bite force. In other words, for two males of the same size the one with a larger dewlap can, on average, bite harder. This suggests that dewlap size may be a reliable signal of bite force. I am using experimental and observational approaches to determine whether male Carolina anoles use dewlap size to assess competitors and how signal and performance capacity interact to determine dominance, survival and reproductive success," Henningsen said.

¬ Henningsen is a Ph.D. candidate from the University of Massachusetts Amherst in the Organismic and Evolutionary Biology program. He is a summa cum laude graduate with a Bachelor of Science in biology from Northern Arizona University.

The research fellowship is the country's pre-eminent graduate fellowship program in STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) fields. The fellowship provides three years of support within a five-year period, which may be used at any appropriate institution in the United States or abroad.

SREL was founded in 1951 and is an international leader in ecological research and long-term environmental studies.