Thermal ecology drives alternate responses to rising temperatures in Caribbean anoles.

Caribbean anole lizards on Hispaniola, Jamaica, and Puerto Rico show habitat-linked responses to warming: closed-canopy species increased heat tolerance by 2 °C on average over the past decade.

• Why it matters: Rising temperatures threaten ectotherms, especially in tropical biodiversity hotspots, but it remains unclear whether thermal-ecology principles can predict contemporary changes in behavior and heat tolerance.
• What they did: A decadal resurvey across anole species compared seasonal patterns and measured heat tolerance changes, supported by acclimation and laboratory-rearing experiments.
• The result: Species in thermally heterogeneous open/edge habitats behaviorally thermoregulate and showed little to no increase in heat tolerance, while thermally homogeneous closed-canopy species increased heat tolerance, implying thermal ecology—not phylogeny or spatial proximity—tracks warming responses.

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