Resource variability and the collapse of a dominance hierarchy in a colour polymorphic species
In: BehaviourSearch for other papers by Dawson M. Brown in
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Abstract
Intraspecific social dominance hierarchies should be influenced by environmental variation; however, in colour polymorphic species, dominance hierarchies are often assumed fixed, and thus insensitive to environmental variability. We ran a series of experiments using the colour polymorphic long-tailed brush lizard (Urosaurus graciosus) to challenge this assumption. We staged contests between orange and yellow morph males over a single heated perch, two perches at the same temperature, or two perches differing in temperature. Our first experiment revealed that orange-throated males are socially dominant. However, this hierarchy collapsed in our other experiments as yellow males became more aggressive. Interestingly, both males only ever secured their own perch where the perches differed in temperature. These findings mirror observations of morph behavioural flexibility in nature and studies of behaviour–environment interactions in non-polymorphic taxa. We conclude that colour morphs may have an underappreciated ability to assess resource-level changes and respond with concomitant flexibility in behaviour.
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| All Time | Past 365 days | Past 30 Days | |
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Resource variability and the collapse of a dominance hierarchy in a colour polymorphic species
In: BehaviourSearch for other papers by Dawson M. Brown in
Current site
Google Scholar
PubMed
Search for other papers by Matthew S. Lattanzio in
Current site
Google Scholar
PubMed
Abstract
Intraspecific social dominance hierarchies should be influenced by environmental variation; however, in colour polymorphic species, dominance hierarchies are often assumed fixed, and thus insensitive to environmental variability. We ran a series of experiments using the colour polymorphic long-tailed brush lizard (Urosaurus graciosus) to challenge this assumption. We staged contests between orange and yellow morph males over a single heated perch, two perches at the same temperature, or two perches differing in temperature. Our first experiment revealed that orange-throated males are socially dominant. However, this hierarchy collapsed in our other experiments as yellow males became more aggressive. Interestingly, both males only ever secured their own perch where the perches differed in temperature. These findings mirror observations of morph behavioural flexibility in nature and studies of behaviour–environment interactions in non-polymorphic taxa. We conclude that colour morphs may have an underappreciated ability to assess resource-level changes and respond with concomitant flexibility in behaviour.
| All Time | Past 365 days | Past 30 Days | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Abstract Views | 906 | 157 | 10 |
| Full Text Views | 206 | 4 | 3 |
| PDF Views & Downloads | 43 | 4 | 2 |
