Habituation to low-risk predators improves body condition in lizards |
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Authors: | Iñaki Rodríguez-Prieto José Martín Esteban Fernández-Juricic |
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Institution: | 1. Departamento de Ecología Evolutiva, Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales, CSIC, José Gutiérrez Abascal 2, 28006, Madrid, Spain 2. Department of Biological Sciences, Purdue University, 915 W. State Street, West Lafayette, IN, 47907, USA
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Abstract: | Habituation to nonlethal predation stimuli may provide benefits for animals living in areas with frequent encounters with
low-risk predators. On the other hand, individuals can be very consistent in their antipredator responses, with shy individuals
showing greater degree of responsiveness than bold individuals. However, the link between habituation or boldness and individual
benefits has not been thoroughly investigated. We established whether and how two behavioral components associated with antipredator
responses (habituation and boldness, and their interaction) would influence body condition, which is a parameter related to
fitness. We conducted an outdoor semi-natural experiment with Iberian wall lizards (Podarcis hispanica). Individual boldness was consistent across contexts, but we did not find any effect of boldness or the interaction between
boldness and habituation on body condition. However, those individuals that habituated more readily to a frequent predatory
stimulus were able to increase their body condition more relative to lizards that habituated less. This finding highlights
the importance of individual differences in behavioral plasticity, which could influence traits related to fitness. Habituation
can provide benefits for individuals exposed to low-risk predators; however, individuals more prone to habituation could also
experience mortality costs by wrongly habituating to a dangerous predator. |
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