Marine subsidies change short-term foraging activity and habitat utilization of terrestrial lizards

Resource pulses are brief periods of unusually high resource abundance. While population and community responses to resource pulses have been relatively well-studied, how individual consumers respond to resource pulses has received less attention. Local consumers are the first to respond to a resource pulse, and the form and timing of individual responses may influence how the effects of the pulse are transmitted throughout the community. Previous studies in Bahamian food webs have shown that detritivores associated with pulses of seaweed wrack provide an alternative prey source for lizards. When seaweed is abundant, lizards (Anolis sagrei) shift to consuming more marine-derived prey and increase in density, which has important consequences for other components of the food web. We hypothesized that the diet shift requires individuals to alter their habitat use and foraging activity, and that such responses may happen very rapidly. In this study, we investigated the immediate responses o...