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Digit ratio, polychromatism and associations with endurance and antipredator behaviour in male painted dragon lizards

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Author

Summary, in English

Variation in sex hormone exposure during early embryonic development contributes to individual differences in behaviour and cognitive abilities later in life. Digit ratio has gained considerable interest as a putative marker for early androgen/oestrogen exposure in behavioural ecology research. Studying digit ratio in nonhuman laboratory as well as wild vertebrate species may be useful to assess whether different traits may be influenced by a common (e. g. endocrine-related) mechanism and whether digit ratio might be used as a phenotypic indicator for behavioural or fitness-related traits. We examined whether digit ratio (third-to-fourth toe ratio; 3D:4D) may indicate a common mechanism underlying endurance and antipredator behaviour in male painted dragon lizards, Ctenophorus pictus. We have previously shown that 3D:4D is associated with the presence/absence of a yellow throat patch (bib), with males with bibs having higher 3D:4D than those without bibs. In this study we found that 3D: 4D predicted antipredator behaviour with individuals with higher 3D:4D having shorter escape response times; however, 3D:4D was not associated with endurance. Endurance and antipredator behaviour were also associated with male coloration. Males expressing a bib had shorter escape response times and lower endurance than those without a bib. Moreover, males with orange head colour had lower endurance compared to yellow-headed and uncoloured males. On the basis of these results, we speculate that the associations between antipredator behaviour, endurance, 3D:4D and male sexual coloration are caused, at least partly, by different underlying mechanisms. (C) 2012 The Association for the Study of Animal Behaviour. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Publishing year

2012

Language

English

Pages

1261-1269

Publication/Series

Animal Behaviour

Volume

84

Issue

5

Document type

Journal article

Publisher

Elsevier

Topic

  • Biological Sciences

Keywords

  • androgen
  • antipredator behaviour
  • colour polymorphism
  • Ctenophorus
  • pictus
  • digit ratio
  • endurance
  • oestrogen
  • painted dragon
  • prenatal

Status

Published

Research group

  • Molecular Ecology and Evolution Lab

ISBN/ISSN/Other

  • ISSN: 1095-8282