Microhabitat choice in island lizards enhances camouflage against avian predators

Scientific Reports
Kate L A MarshallMartin Stevens

Abstract

Camouflage can often be enhanced by genetic adaptation to different local environments. However, it is less clear how individual behaviour improves camouflage effectiveness. We investigated whether individual Aegean wall lizards (Podarcis erhardii) inhabiting different islands rest on backgrounds that improve camouflage against avian predators. In free-ranging lizards, we found that dorsal regions were better matched against chosen backgrounds than against other backgrounds on the same island. This suggests that P. erhardii make background choices that heighten individual-specific concealment. In achromatic camouflage, this effect was more evident in females and was less distinct in an island population with lower predation risk. This suggests that behavioural enhancement of camouflage may be more important in females than in sexually competing males and related to predation risk. However, in an arena experiment, lizards did not choose the background that improved camouflage, most likely due to the artificial conditions. Overall, our results provide evidence that behavioural preferences for substrates can enhance individual camouflage of lizards in natural microhabitats, and that such adaptations may be sexually dimorphic and d...Continue Reading

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Citations

Nov 30, 2016·Ecology and Evolution·Jolyon TrosciankoMartin Stevens
Jun 22, 2018·Biological Reviews of the Cambridge Philosophical Society·Martin Stevens, Graeme D Ruxton
Aug 12, 2018·The Journal of Animal Ecology·Genevieve MatthewsDavid G Chapple
Oct 6, 2017·Proceedings. Biological Sciences·Yang NiuHang Sun
Dec 31, 2019·Evolution; International Journal of Organic Evolution·William L AllenYlenia Chiari
Oct 3, 2019·Proceedings. Biological Sciences·Pim EdelaarAída Jordán-Andrade
Apr 1, 2020·The Journal of Animal Ecology·Ossi NokelainenZbyszek Boratyński
Oct 21, 2016·BMC Evolutionary Biology·Rafael C DuarteAugusto A V Flores
Oct 3, 2018·Communications Biology·Olivia C Walton, Martin Stevens
Feb 10, 2017·Biology Letters·Danielle A KlompTerry J Ord
Jul 7, 2018·The Journal of Experimental Biology·David WilbyJames J Foster
Sep 25, 2020·The Journal of Experimental Biology·Cedric P van den BergKaren L Cheney
Jan 29, 2021·The Journal of Experimental Biology·Austin M GarnerPeter H Niewiarowski

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