James Stroud

Working with lizards to better understand how species adapt and evolve, James Stroud studies natural selection in the field and explores how ecological and evolutionary processes at the microscale may shape biodiversity at the macroscale. 

An evolutionary biologist, Stroud combines ecological, evolutionary, physiological and biomechanical methods with field studies to better understand how species adapt and evolve. 

His research investigates the many factors that may lead to rapid adaptation and evolution within populations, including species coexistence, resource partitioning and community structure. Stroud’s studies on anole lizards have shown how natural selection and competition drive similar species to diverge in their body characteristics to facilitate their ability to coexist in the same place, a phenomenon known as character displacement. For example, through field observations on invasive species, Stroud has documented character displacement when very similar lizards from different Caribbean islands first came into contact in south Florida. Stroud’s observation has broad implications, as it connects how natural selection operating at short timescales may drive broader patterns of species diversity across space and through time. Direct tests of the hypothesis of divergent natural selection driving character displacement in the wild are rare, but Stroud is focused on using field observations and experiments to test such major hypotheses in evolution.

Committed to training the next generation of field herpetologists, Stroud developed “Lizards on the Loose,” a community science project in collaboration with Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden’s Fairchild Challenge. Middle school students from over 100 schools across south Florida contributed thousands of lizard identification records to the online science initiative iNaturalist.  Learn more about Stroud’s work here.