Title

Egg Incubation Temperature Affects Male Reproductive Success But Not Display Behaviors In Lizards

Keywords

Aggressive behavior; Amphibolurus muricatus; Selection gradient; Submissive behavior; Temperature-dependent sex determination; Video playback experiment

Abstract

The complex ritualized displays of males in many territorial species suggest that selection has shaped male behaviors in ways that affect fitness. In this study, we evaluated the link between display behavior during male-male interactions and reproductive success in the Australian jacky dragon (Amphibolurus muricatus), a lizard species that uses a complex series of movement patterns for communication. We quantified variation in male display behaviors by using video playback experiments in the laboratory, and subsequently assessed variation in male reproductive success by paternity analyses of offspring. Because the lizards used in this study came from eggs incubated under three thermal environments, we also could evaluate the impact of developmental temperature on adult behavior and reproductive success. Incubation temperature had a strong effect on male reproductive success; males produced under intermediate temperatures sired more offspring than those produced under extreme developmental temperatures. However, incubation temperature did not affect male display behavior, nor was male behavior associated with reproductive success. Our findings do not support the common assumption that display behaviors used during male-male interactions affect reproductive success. © Springer-Verlag 2009.

Publication Date

4-1-2010

Publication Title

Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology

Volume

64

Issue

5

Number of Pages

803-813

Document Type

Article

Personal Identifier

scopus

DOI Link

https://doi.org/10.1007/s00265-009-0897-0

Socpus ID

77950543895 (Scopus)

Source API URL

https://api.elsevier.com/content/abstract/scopus_id/77950543895

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