Article Review: Ecology of Mediterranean house gecko

Ecology of the synanthropic mediterranean house gecko at their northern invasion front

Hemidactylus turcicus which are mediterranean house geckos, are native to southern Europe, northern Africa and were first documented in the U.S. in florida in 1910. The geckos were able to colonize because their eggs are highly desiccation tolerant. In the U.S. the mediterranean house gecko occupy building and other structure, basically are human commensals. The house geckos are also eurythermic meaning they are capable of broad thermal reaction norm to cope with seasonal thermal conditions. In this article they studied the aspects of ecology including the growth rate, reproduction, and body length in cooler more seasonal climates. The visual surveys were done at nighttime in Carbondale Illinois with temperatures ranging from N 37.72°, W 89.22° and were observed on a single building. Monthly surveys were done on eight buildings during sept 2019 and may-oct 2020. During the seven months of 19 sampling 444 were collected 555 times. the adults appeared more (n=202) following the juvenile (n=129) then the hatchling (n=113). There was no evidence of sexual size dimorphisms. The tail shedding wasn't related to SVL, a large amount of males had damaged tail even though they stated that adult sex doesn't influence tail status. The smaller individuals were growing faster than the adults which was shown in figure 7, but the sex or interaction didn't have a effect on this.

The research adds to our understanding because we are currently learning about the effect temperature has on reptiles and how they cope with the exposure. Ectoderms maintain their body temperature within the preferred temperature range to ensure near-peak performance without the risk of critical thermal limits. In their results the Mediterranean house gecko could attain the preferred temperature during the summer months but couldn't in autumn. The thermal condition suggest that their would be reduced body size, and performance including the sprint speed. The population continued to surplus possibly due to limitation of predators. For tail autonomy it is hypothesize that adults would have more time to autotomize. This work is interesting because it describes how house geckos can maintain their population even though their immune performance is effected. I would think that since they aren't able to sprint as fast, due to not being able store in as much air and heat, the population wouldn't continue to grow. The population maybe able to survive due to the placement of the building and the sun angle. If the house geckos bask during the day time while the sun is adding heat to the building, they could store in enough air to sprint and not waste energy at night. I've always wondered why reptiles such as lizards and geckos weren't normally seen on sidewalks but rather brick buildings. I personally think that sidewalks hold a lot of moisture and are currently hit with sun rays, but maybe the temperature of the sidewalks are too unbearable and highly traffic by humans would cause this reasoning. 

Dallas, Jason W., et al. “Ecology of the Synanthropic Mediterranean House Gecko (Hemidactylus Turcicus) at Their Northern Invasion Front.” Urban Ecosystems., vol. 25, no. 1, Chapman & Hall,, 2022, pp. 329–40, https://doi.org/10.1007/s11252-021-01136-0.