Shouting the odds: vocalization signals status in a lizard |
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Authors: | Toby J Hibbitts Martin J Whiting Devi M Stuart-Fox |
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Institution: | (1) School of Animal, Plant, and Environmental Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Private Bag 3, Wits, 2050, South Africa;(2) Present address: Texas Cooperative Wildlife Collection, Department of Wildlife and Fisheries Sciences, Texas A&M University, 2258 TAMU, College Station, TX 77843-2258, USA |
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Abstract: | Many species possess multiple sexually dimorphic traits, which incorporate different sensory modalities (e.g., acoustic, olfactory
and visual), although their relative roles in sexual selection and in determining reproductive success are still poorly understood
for most taxa. We assessed the role of multiple male traits, including one acoustic (dominant call frequency) and one visual
(yellow throat patch) trait, in residency advertisement, contest behavior, and breeding success in barking geckos (Ptenopus garrulus garrulus). We show that male barking geckos maintain largely exclusive home ranges, with a trend for larger males to maintain larger
home ranges. We also show that larger males have a lower dominant calling frequency. When aggressive behavior was elicited
in the field using a recorded call of average frequency, resident males with low frequency calls were more likely to respond
aggressively and charge the speaker compared to males with high frequency calls. However, body size and small relative throat
patch size, rather than call frequency, were the best predictors of overall aggressiveness. Body size was also the best predictor
of whether males bred. We suggest that call frequency in this crepuscular species constitutes an effective long-range signal
of body size, used by males for remote rival assessment and to advertise home range boundaries in low-light environments. |
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Keywords: | Lizard Acoustic communication Multiple signals Sensory modalities Home range size Male contests Breeding success |
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