Extinction, reintroduction, and restoration of a lizard meta-population equilibrium in the Missouri Ozarks.

In this issue of Molecular Ecology, Neuwald & Templeton (2013) report on a 22-year study of natural populations of Collared Lizards (Crotaphytus collaris) that evolved on isolated on rock outcrops (‘glades’) in the Ozark Mountains in eastern Missouri. This ecosystem was originally maintained by frequent fires that kept the forest understory open, but fire-suppression was adopted as official policy in about 1945, which led to a loss of native biodiversity, including local extinctions of some lizard populations. Policies aimed at restoring biodiversity included controlled burns and re-introductions of lizards to some glades, which began in 1984. Populations were monitored from 1984–2006, and demographic and genetic data collected from 1 679 lizards were used to documents shifts in meta-population dynamics over four distinct phases of lizard recovery: 1–an initial translocation of lizards drawn from the same source populations onto three glades that were likely part of one metapopulation; 2–a period of isolation and genetic drift associated with the absence of fires; 3–a period of rapid colonization and population increase following restoration of fire; and 4–stabilization of the meta-population under regular prescribed burning. This study system thus provides a rare opportunity to characterize the dynamics of a landscape-scale management strategy on the restoration of the meta-population of a reintroduced species; long-term case studies of the extinction, founding, increase, and stabilization of a well-defined meta-population, based on both demographic and population genetic data, are rare in the conservation, ecological, and evolutionary literature.