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Behavioral Ecology Advance Access published online on December 8, 2008
Behavioral Ecology, doi:10.1093/beheco/arn152
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© The Author 2008. 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

Conspicuousness-dependent antipredatory behavior may counteract coloration differences in Iberian rock lizards

Carlos Cabidoa, Pedro Galánb, Pilar Lópeza and José Martína

a Departamento de Ecología Evolutiva, Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales, CSIC, José Gutiérrez Abascal 2, 28006, Madrid, Spain b Departamento de Bioloxía Animal, Bioloxía Vexetal e Ecoloxía, Facultade de Ciencias, Universidade da Coruña, Campus da Zapateira, s/n. 15071-A Coruña, Spain

Address correspondence to C. Cabido. E-mail: ccabido{at}mncn.csic.es.


  Abstract

Sexual selection favors more conspicuous male displays, whereas natural selection (via predator pressure) favors less conspicuous displays. However, this trade-off might be altered if males with more conspicuous displays could compensate behaviorally for their increased conspicuousness by acting more cautiously toward predators. The aim of this study was to explore in 2 species of Iberian rock lizards whether or not conspicuous coloration was associated with antipredatory behavior and whether conspicuousness-dependent regulation of antipredatory behavior existed. Our results suggested that male lizards may compensate for the negative effects of conspicuous sexual coloration on predation risk by modulating their antipredatory behavior (time inside refuges, false alarms, etc). We found that male Iberolacerta monticola, but not male Iberolacerta cyreni, compensated for the negative effects of blue lateral ocelli, which increased visual conspicuousness. However, male lizards did not compensate for relatively unexposed ventral spots. We also found that male I. monticola in better condition and with more blue lateral ocelli were shier, whereas male I. cyreni in better condition and with more ventral spots were bolder. These 2 lizard species live in habitats that differ in refuge availability and in the number of potential predators, which may promote differences in the trade-off between predation risk and social behavior and may explain the observed interspecific differences in antipredatory behavior. This suggests that regulation of antipredatory behavior may also function as a condition-dependent cost promoting costly (honest) sexual signaling in some species.

Key words: antipredatory behavior, conspicuous coloration, predation costs, predation risk, lizards sexual signals.

Received 30 October 2007; revised 17 October 2008; accepted 4 November 2008.


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