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Behavioral Ecology Advance Access originally published online on November 21, 2007
Behavioral Ecology 2008 19(1):163-168; doi:10.1093/beheco/arm119
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© The Author 2007. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the International Society for Behavioral Ecology. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org

Density, social information, and space use in the common lizard (Lacerta vivipara)

Julien Cotea,b, Simon Boudsocqc and Jean Cloberta,d

a Laboratoire Fonctionnement et Evolution des Systèmes Ecologiques UMR 7625, Université Pierre et Marie Curie, 7, quai Saint-Bernard, 75005 Paris, France b Equipe Ecologie Evolutive, Université de Bourgogne, UMR CNRS 5561 BioGéoSciences, 6 Bld Gabriel, 21000 Dijon, France c UMR 137-LEST Laboratoire d'Ecologie des sols tropicaux, IRD, 32 Avenue H. Varagnat 93143 Bondy Cedex d Station d'Ecologie Expérimentale du CNRS à Moulis USR 2936, 09200 Saint-Girons, France

Address correspondence to J. Cote. E-mail: julien.cote{at}u-bourgogne.fr.


  Abstract

Socially acquired information is widespread in the animal kingdom. Many individuals make behavioral decisions based on such social information. In particular, individuals may decide to leave or select their habitat based on social information. Few studies have investigated the role of density-related information, a potential social cue about habitat quality in dispersal. Here, we tested for the possibility that the phenotype of intruder common lizards (Lacerta vivipara) may inadvertently carry information about their natal population density. We found that such information use is likely. The behavior of focal lizard was influenced by the natal population density of the intruder it was interacting with. This suggests that individuals may use the behavior of others to acquire appropriate information about surroundings and to base spatial decisions on this information. Density-related information may then affect individual movement decisions and thus metapopulation dynamics.

Key words: common lizard, dispersal, population density, social information, social interaction.

Received 2 August 2007; revised 8 October 2007; accepted 16 October 2007.


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