IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/oup/beheco/v25y2014i6p1325-1337..html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Wall lizards display conspicuous signals to conspecifics and reduce detection by avian predators

Author

Listed:
  • Kate L.A. Marshall
  • Martin Stevens

Abstract

Visual signals are often under conflicting selection to be hidden from predators while being conspicuous to mates and rivals. Here, we investigated whether 3 different island populations of Aegean wall lizards (Podarcis erhardii) with variable coloration among diverse island habitats exhibit simultaneous camouflage and sexual signals. We examined whether signals appear better tuned to conspecific vision as opposed to that of avian predators, and whether background-matching camouflage and sexual signals are partitioned to specific body regions. This could facilitate both covert sexual signaling and camouflage according to the viewing perspectives of predators and conspecifics. We found that lizards typically appeared twice as conspicuous to conspecifics than to avian predators against the same visual background, largely due to lizards’ enhanced sensitivity to ultraviolet, suggesting that P. erhardii signals are tuned to conspecific vision to reduce detection by predators. Males were more conspicuous than females to both predators and conspecifics. In 2 populations, male backs were relatively more camouflaged to predators compared to signaling flanks, whereas in females, exposed and concealed surfaces were camouflaged to predators and generally did not differ in background matching. These findings indicate that lizard coloration evolves under the competing demands of natural and sexual selection to promote signals that are visible to conspecifics while being less perceptible to avian predators. They also elucidate how interactions between natural and sexual selection influence signal detectability and partitioning to different body regions, highlighting the importance of considering receiver vision, viewing perspectives, and signaling environments in studies of signal evolution.

Suggested Citation

  • Kate L.A. Marshall & Martin Stevens, 2014. "Wall lizards display conspicuous signals to conspecifics and reduce detection by avian predators," Behavioral Ecology, International Society for Behavioral Ecology, vol. 25(6), pages 1325-1337.
  • Handle: RePEc:oup:beheco:v:25:y:2014:i:6:p:1325-1337.
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1093/beheco/aru126
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Stacey L. Weiss, 2006. "Female-specific color is a signal of quality in the striped plateau lizard (Sceloporus virgatus)," Behavioral Ecology, International Society for Behavioral Ecology, vol. 17(5), pages 726-732, September.
    2. James P. Higham & Lauren J. N. Brent & Constance Dubuc & Amanda K. Accamando & Antje Engelhardt & Melissa S. Gerald & Michael Heistermann & Martin Stevens, 2010. "Color signal information content and the eye of the beholder: a case study in the rhesus macaque," Behavioral Ecology, International Society for Behavioral Ecology, vol. 21(4), pages 739-746.
    3. Carlos Alonso-Alvarez & Claire Doutrelant & Gabriele Sorci, 2004. "Ultraviolet reflectance affects male-male interactions in the blue tit (Parus caeruleus ultramarinus)," Behavioral Ecology, International Society for Behavioral Ecology, vol. 15(5), pages 805-809, September.
    4. Graeme D. Ruxton & Guy Beauchamp, 2008. "Time for some a priori thinking about post hoc testing," Behavioral Ecology, International Society for Behavioral Ecology, vol. 19(3), pages 690-693.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Elizabeth G Postema & Mia K Lippey & Tiernan Armstrong-Ingram, 2023. "Color under pressure: how multiple factors shape defensive coloration," Behavioral Ecology, International Society for Behavioral Ecology, vol. 34(1), pages 1-13.
    2. Guillem Pérez i de Lanuza & Enrique Font, 2015. "Differences in conspicuousness between alternative color morphs in a polychromatic lizard," Behavioral Ecology, International Society for Behavioral Ecology, vol. 26(5), pages 1432-1446.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Lindsay J. Henderson & Britt J. Heidinger & Neil P. Evans & Kathryn E. Arnold, 2013. "Ultraviolet crown coloration in female blue tits predicts reproductive success and baseline corticosterone," Behavioral Ecology, International Society for Behavioral Ecology, vol. 24(6), pages 1299-1305.
    2. Elizabeth Bastiaans & Gen Morinaga & José Gamaliel Castañeda Gaytán & Jonathon C. Marshall & Barry Sinervo, 2013. "Male aggression varies with throat color in 2 distinct populations of the mesquite lizard," Behavioral Ecology, International Society for Behavioral Ecology, vol. 24(4), pages 968-981.
    3. John Skelhorn & Graeme D. Ruxton, 2013. "Size-dependent microhabitat selection by masquerading prey," Behavioral Ecology, International Society for Behavioral Ecology, vol. 24(1), pages 89-97.
    4. Dominic Montagu & Katie Giessler & Michelle Kao Nakphong & Kali Prasad Roy & Ananta Basudev Sahu & Kovid Sharma & Cathy Green & May Sudhinaraset, 2020. "Results of a person-centered maternal health quality improvement intervention in Uttar Pradesh, India," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 15(12), pages 1-14, December.
    5. Kaspar Delhey & Valdemar Delhey & Bart Kempenaers & Anne Peters, 2015. "A practical framework to analyze variation in animal colors using visual models," Behavioral Ecology, International Society for Behavioral Ecology, vol. 26(2), pages 367-375.
    6. Yoo-Jin Go & Dong-Ho Kang & Hyun-Jin Park & Jun-Hyuk Lee & Jin-Kie Shim, 2024. "Meta-Analysis of Life Cycle Assessment Studies for Polyethylene Terephthalate Water Bottle System," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(2), pages 1-22, January.
    7. Ozcan, Mustafa, 2019. "Factors influencing the electricity generation preferences of Turkish citizens: Citizens' attitudes and policy recommendations in the context of climate change and environmental impact," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 132(C), pages 381-393.
    8. Anupama Singh & Papia Raj, 2019. "Sustainable recycling model for municipal solid waste in Patna," Energy & Environment, , vol. 30(2), pages 212-234, March.
    9. Boris Milavic & Johnny Padulo & Zoran Grgantov & Mirjana Milić & Stefania Mannarini & Gian Mauro Manzoni & Luca Paolo Ardigò & Alessandro Rossi, 2019. "Development and factorial validity of the Psychological Skills Inventory for Sports, Youth Version – Short Form: Assessment of the psychometric properties," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 14(8), pages 1-17, August.
    10. Jessika Morales Fournier & Debora Acosta Álvarez & Anadelys Alonso Aenlle & Antonio José Tenza-Abril & Salvador Ivorra, 2020. "Combining Reclaimed Asphalt Pavement (RAP) and Recycled Concrete Aggregate (RCA) from Cuba to Obtain a Coarse Aggregate Fraction," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(13), pages 1-16, July.
    11. Laura R. Crothers & Molly E. Cummings, 2015. "A multifunctional warning signal behaves as an agonistic status signal in a poison frog," Behavioral Ecology, International Society for Behavioral Ecology, vol. 26(2), pages 560-568.
    12. Cesar Ivan Aviles Gonzalez & Doris Marina Cerchiaro Fernandez & Martha Esther Guerra Munoz & Robert Romero Ramirez & Yessika Madelaine Abarca Arias & Maria Veronica Brasesco & Gian Mario Migliaccio & , 2024. "Mental Health Professionals’ Perception of Respect for Human Rights and Organizational Well-Being in Three Countries of South America," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 21(2), pages 1-12, February.
    13. Thomas Clauss & Ricarda B. Bouncken & Sven Laudien & Sascha Kraus, 2019. "BUSINESS MODEL RECONFIGURATION AND INNOVATION IN SMEs: A MIXED-METHOD ANALYSIS FROM THE ELECTRONICS INDUSTRY," International Journal of Innovation Management (ijim), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 24(02), pages 1-35, April.
    14. Nausheen SODHI & Upinder SAWHNEY, 2023. "Governance in Indian States: An Inter and Intra State Analysis," Journal of Economic Policy Researches, Istanbul University, Faculty of Economics, vol. 10(1), pages 61-86, January.
    15. Paul Bilokon & Burak Gunduz, 2023. "C++ Design Patterns for Low-latency Applications Including High-frequency Trading," Papers 2309.04259, arXiv.org.
    16. Maciel, Everton A. & Martins, Valeria F. & de Paula, Mateus D. & Huth, Andreas & Guilherme, Frederico A.G. & Fischer, Rico & Giles, André & Barbosa, Reinaldo I. & Cavassan, Osmar & Martins, Fernando R, 2021. "Defaunation and changes in climate and fire frequency have synergistic effects on aboveground biomass loss in the brazilian savanna," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 454(C).
    17. Lucía Segura & Jesús F. Estévez & Estefanía Estévez, 2020. "Empathy and Emotional Intelligence in Adolescent Cyberaggressors and Cybervictims," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(13), pages 1-14, June.
    18. Peters, Frank, 2018. "The business of video games is a multi-player game : Essays on governance choices and performance in a two-sided market in the cultural industries," Other publications TiSEM 886b3148-4bbb-4ea4-b666-0, Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management.
    19. Tony H Grubesic & Kelly M Durbin, 2020. "The complex geographies of telelactation and access to community breastfeeding support in the state of Ohio," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 15(11), pages 1-26, November.
    20. Samuel P Caro & Léo Pierre & Matthieu Bergès & Raldi Bakker & Claire Doutrelant & Francesco Bonadonna, 2021. "Mutual mate preferences and assortative mating in relation to a carotenoid-based color trait in blue tits," Behavioral Ecology, International Society for Behavioral Ecology, vol. 32(6), pages 1171-1182.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:oup:beheco:v:25:y:2014:i:6:p:1325-1337.. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Oxford University Press (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://academic.oup.com/beheco .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.