Ongoing field obeservations

1. The organism I plan to study is the common wall lizard (Pordarcis muralis).
2.  Location 1: Near the stairway that leads to the main door used to enter my house. This area gets lots of sunlight while also providing ample areas of shade. This is where I have observed the most lizards since my study began.

Location 2: Concrete pad used for seating. This area does not offer much shade and is in direct sunlight for most of the day. I have seen many lizards here, but when I get close they often scurry off into location 3.

Location 3: Area near the fence with lots of grass and plants. While this area does offer lots of sun, it is likely the most shaded area of the three. I have seen lots of lizards in this area, whether they are running away from me or they are just enjoying the sun or shade of the area.

I have noticed that most of the time when I see lizards, they are running away very fast into the shade from an area of rich sunlight. On the occasions when I see the lizard before they see me, they are usually just basking in the sunlight. The most common lizard that I see in my areas of observation is the invasive common wall lizard, which is often an ashy brown color with some green on their backs. These lizards are also rather slender and fast. The native lizard species in the area is the Northern Alligator Lizard, which as a species is typically more robust in shape with a richer brown colour. It is fairly easy to visually distinguish the two species using only the naked eye. Northern Alligator Lizards are also more commonly found in cooler, undisturbed environments, whereas the Common Wall Lizards enjoy more urban environments. These two species compete for food, as they both eat insects, spiders, and millipedes. They have been known to coexist, and I believe that both species have been identified in my yard.

3. My hypothesis: I hypothesize that location three, which is the most shaded and cool area, is home to more native lizard species, whereas locations one and two, which are far sunnier, have higher numbers of invasive lizards.

Both species of lizards that are found in my community have been known to coexist, and I have been able to see both species in my yard. I believe there is an abundance of the invasive Common Wall Lizard, but their presence has not fully compromised the native lizards. Location three is the most shaded area of my observation, and it is the only area in which I have found a Northern Alligator Lizard during this study.

4. Response Variable: Number of lizards that are invasive versus native. This is continuous, as it will be a count of each lizard species.

Explanatory Variable: Location and exposure to sun in each location. This is categorical, as it will within each of the three locations.