Powered by OpenAIRE graph
Found an issue? Give us feedback
Herpetologicaarrow_drop_down
Herpetologica
Article . 2019 . Peer-reviewed
Data sources: Crossref
Herpetologica
Article . 2019 . Peer-reviewed
Data sources: Crossref
Herpetologica
Article . 2019 . Peer-reviewed
Data sources: Crossref
Herpetologica
Article . 2019 . Peer-reviewed
Data sources: Crossref
ZENODO
Article . 2019
Data sources: ZENODO
ZENODO
Article . 2019
Data sources: ZENODO
versions View all 7 versions
addClaim

This Research product is the result of merged Research products in OpenAIRE.

You have already added 0 works in your ORCID record related to the merged Research product.

Body Color and Morphological Correlates of Fitness in Eastern Fence Lizards (Sceloporus undulatus): A Spectrophotometric Approach

Authors: Goodlett, Cambre; Stephenson, Barry P.;

Body Color and Morphological Correlates of Fitness in Eastern Fence Lizards (Sceloporus undulatus): A Spectrophotometric Approach

Abstract

Many lizards use colorful badges in displays with conspecifics during courtship and aggressive interactions. In Eastern Fence Lizards (Sceloporus undulatus), males and females reveal sexually dimorphic ventral abdominal coloration during social interactions and use these features to signal sex and perhaps other characteristics. However, the extent to which ventral badges or other chromatic features of males and females signal quality remains unresolved in this species. Additionally, adult S. undulatus exhibit temperature-dependent color change of their abdominal badges, a potential confounding variable in studies of the function of these badges. Here, we examined the relationship between spectral variables of ventral and dorsal skin color and morphometric traits linked to fitness in adult male and female S. undulatus under standardized temperature conditions. For males, ventral patch hue tended to decrease (i.e., was blue-shifted) as body size increased, whereas dorsal hue was unrelated to male size. In contrast, there was no relationship between ventral hue and body size in females, and dorsal hue increased (i.e., was red-shifted) with body size. In males, lower ultraviolet (UV) chroma and greater blue chroma of ventral abdominal badges predicted increasing body size. In females, UV chroma of the ventral abdomen was inversely related to body size and better body condition, whereas blue chroma was inversely related to body condition only. Dorsal UV chroma decreased with increasing body size in both males and females, but brightness was not a significant predictor of any morphometric trait in either sex. Overall, these results indicate that both blue and UV reflectance of ventral and dorsal abdominal skin are indices of size and thus age, and could therefore serve as indices of signaler quality in this species.

Related Organizations
Keywords

Biodiversity, Taxonomy

  • BIP!
    Impact byBIP!
    citations
    This is an alternative to the "Influence" indicator, which also reflects the overall/total impact of an article in the research community at large, based on the underlying citation network (diachronically).
    12
    popularity
    This indicator reflects the "current" impact/attention (the "hype") of an article in the research community at large, based on the underlying citation network.
    Top 10%
    influence
    This indicator reflects the overall/total impact of an article in the research community at large, based on the underlying citation network (diachronically).
    Average
    impulse
    This indicator reflects the initial momentum of an article directly after its publication, based on the underlying citation network.
    Top 10%
Powered by OpenAIRE graph
Found an issue? Give us feedback
citations
This is an alternative to the "Influence" indicator, which also reflects the overall/total impact of an article in the research community at large, based on the underlying citation network (diachronically).
BIP!Citations provided by BIP!
popularity
This indicator reflects the "current" impact/attention (the "hype") of an article in the research community at large, based on the underlying citation network.
BIP!Popularity provided by BIP!
influence
This indicator reflects the overall/total impact of an article in the research community at large, based on the underlying citation network (diachronically).
BIP!Influence provided by BIP!
impulse
This indicator reflects the initial momentum of an article directly after its publication, based on the underlying citation network.
BIP!Impulse provided by BIP!
12
Top 10%
Average
Top 10%
Upload OA version
Are you the author? Do you have the OA version of this publication?