Compensatory changes in escape and refuge use following autotomy in the lizard Sceloporus virgatus

Author:

Cooper, Jr. W.E.1

Affiliation:

1. Department of Biology, Indiana University – Purdue University Fort Wayne, Fort Wayne, IN 46805-1499, USA (e-mail: cooperw@ipfw.edu).

Abstract

Following autotomy of a body part to escape from a predator, prey may alter antipredatory strategies to compensate for the inability to use autotomy and impaired escape ability. Because prey that have been captured may increase their assessment of risk posed by a predator, effects of capture may have been attributed to autotomy. I conducted an experiment using three groups of striped plateau lizards ( Sceloporus virgatus Smith, 1938): control, captured, and autotomized. Captured and autotomized lizards were less active on the day after autotomy than controls. Flight initiation distance and distance fled were greater in both experimental groups than in the control group, but did not differ between experimental groups. Flight initiation distance was greater in autotomized than in captured lizards only in males. No sex difference occurred for distance fled. Autotomized lizards entered refuges more than other groups. Escape strategy changed after autotomy to increased reliance on refuge and, in males, to increased flight initiation distance; behaviours that are appropriate to compensate for impaired escape ability. Decreased activity and increased distance fled might erroneously have been considered effects of autotomy, had effects of capture not been assessed. Predictions of escape theory that flight initiation distance and distance fled increase with predation risk were supported.

Publisher

Canadian Science Publishing

Subject

Animal Science and Zoology,Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics

Reference75 articles.

1. Arnold, E.N. 1988. Caudal autotomy as a defense. In Biology of the Reptilia. Vol. 16. Ecology B. Defenses and life history. Edited by C. Gans and R.B. Huey. Alan R. Liss, New York. pp. 235–273.

2. Escape Tactics and Vulnerability to Predation Associated with Reproduction in the Lizard Lacerta vivipara

3. Effect of Caudal Autotomy on Locomotor Performance of Wall Lizards (Podarcis muralis)

4. Effect of caudal autotomy on locomotor performance in a viviparous skink, Niveoscincus metallicus

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