Behavioral Ecology Advance Access originally published online on July 8, 2008
Behavioral Ecology 2008 19(6):1326-1332; doi:10.1093/beheco/arn072
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Courtship attention in sagebrush lizards varies with male identity and female reproductive state
Department of Biology and Center for the Integrative Study of Animal Behavior, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN 47405, USA
Address correspondence to M. Ruiz. E-mail: mayruiz{at}indiana.edu.
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Abstract |
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Previous experiments suggest that males spend more time with the more receptive of 2 novel females or the one with the higher fitness potential. However, males often court individual females repeatedly over a season; for example, male lizards sequentially visit familiar females as they patrol territorial boundaries. It may benefit males to vary display intensity as they move between multiple females. In this study, we explored the factors influencing amount of male courtship to familiar females in the sagebrush lizard, Sceloporus graciosus. We tested whether males vary the amount of courtship exhibited due to individual differences among males, female reproductive state, or female fitness potential. Each male was allowed to interact separately, but repeatedly, with 2 females until both females laid eggs. Male courtship behavior with each of the 2 females was assayed at an intermediate point, after 3 weeks of interaction. We found that individual differences among males were considerable. The number of male courtship displays was also positively correlated with female latency to lay eggs, with males displaying more often toward females with eggs that had not yet been fertilized. Courtship behavior was not well predicted by the number of eggs laid or by female width, both measures of female quality. Thus, male S. graciosus appear to alter courtship intensity more in response to signals of female reproductive state than in response to variation in potential female fitness.
Key words: courtship, male choice, mate choice, reproductive state, Sceloporus graciosus, sexual selection.
Received 21 January 2008; revised 23 May 2008; accepted 23 May 2008.