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Spiegel O, Michelangeli M, Sinn DL, Payne E, Klein JRV, Kirkpatrick J, Harbusch M, Sih A. Resource manipulation reveals interactive phenotype-dependent foraging in free-ranging lizards. J Anim Ecol 2024; 93:1108-1122. [PMID: 38877691 DOI: 10.1111/1365-2656.14128] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/28/2021] [Accepted: 05/07/2024] [Indexed: 06/16/2024]
Abstract
Recent evidence suggests that individuals differ in foraging tactics and this variation is often linked to an individual's behavioural type (BT). Yet, while foraging typically comprises a series of search and handling steps, empirical investigations have rarely considered BT-dependent effects across multiple stages of the foraging process, particularly in natural settings. In our long-term sleepy lizard (Tiliqua rugosa) study system, individuals exhibit behavioural consistency in boldness (measured as an individual's willingness to approach a novel food item in the presence of a threat) and aggressiveness (measured as an individual's response to an 'attack' by a conspecific dummy). These BTs are only weakly correlated and have previously been shown to have interactive effects on lizard space use and movement, suggesting that they could also affect lizard foraging performance, particularly in their search behaviour for food. To investigate how lizards' BTs affect their foraging process in the wild, we supplemented food in 123 patches across a 120-ha study site with three food abundance treatments (high, low and no-food controls). Patches were replenished twice a week over the species' entire spring activity season and feeding behaviours were quantified with camera traps at these patches. We tracked lizards using GPS to determine their home range (HR) size and repeatedly assayed their aggressiveness and boldness in designated assays. We hypothesised that bolder lizards would be more efficient foragers while aggressive ones would be less attentive to the quality of foraging patches. We found an interactive BT effect on overall foraging performance. Individuals that were both bold and aggressive ate the highest number of food items from the foraging array. Further dissection of the foraging process showed that aggressive lizards in general ate the fewest food items in part because they visited foraging patches less regularly, and because they discriminated less between high and low-quality patches when revisiting them. Bolder lizards, in contrast, ate more tomatoes because they visited foraging patches more regularly, and ate a higher proportion of the available tomatoes at patches during visits. Our study demonstrates that BTs can interact to affect different search and handling components of the foraging process, leading to within-population variation in foraging success. Given that individual differences in foraging and movement will influence social and ecological interactions, our results highlight the potential role of BT's in shaping individual fitness strategies and population dynamics.
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Affiliation(s)
- Orr Spiegel
- School of Zoology, Faculty of Life Sciences, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel
| | - Marcus Michelangeli
- Department of Wildlife, Fish and Environmental Studies, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Umeå, Sweden
- School of Biological Sciences, Monash University, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
- School of Environment and Science, Griffith University, Nathan, Queensland, Australia
| | - David L Sinn
- Department of Environmental Science and Policy, University of California, Davis, California, USA
| | - Eric Payne
- Department of Environmental Science and Policy, University of California, Davis, California, USA
| | - Janine-Rose V Klein
- Department of Anthropology, University of California, Santa Barbara, California, USA
| | - Jamie Kirkpatrick
- Department of Anthropology, University of California, Santa Barbara, California, USA
| | - Marco Harbusch
- Georg-August-Büsgen-Institut, Universität Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany
| | - Andrew Sih
- Department of Environmental Science and Policy, University of California, Davis, California, USA
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Michelangeli M, Payne E, Spiegel O, Sinn DL, Leu ST, Gardner MG, Sih A. Personality, spatiotemporal ecological variation and resident/explorer movement syndromes in the sleepy lizard. J Anim Ecol 2021; 91:210-223. [PMID: 34679184 DOI: 10.1111/1365-2656.13616] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/10/2020] [Accepted: 10/04/2021] [Indexed: 01/26/2023]
Abstract
Individual variation in movement is profoundly important for fitness and offers key insights into the spatial and temporal dynamics of populations and communities. Nonetheless, individual variation in fine-scale movement behaviours is rarely examined even though animal tracking devices offer the long-term, high-resolution, repeatable data in natural conditions that are ideal for studying this variation. Furthermore, of the few studies that consider individual variation in movement, even fewer also consider the internal traits and environmental factors that drive movement behaviour which are necessary for contextualising individual differences in movement patterns. In this study, we GPS tracked a free-ranging population of sleepy lizards Tiliqua rugosa, each Austral spring over 5 years to examine consistent among-individual variation in movement patterns, as well as how these differences were mediated by key internal and ecological factors. We found that individuals consistently differed in a suite of weekly movement traits, and that these traits strongly covaried among-individuals, forming movement syndromes. Lizards fell on a primary movement continuum, from 'residents' that spent extended periods of time residing within smaller core areas of their home range, to 'explorers' that moved greater distances and explored vaster areas of the environment. Importantly, we also found that these consistent differences in lizard movement were related to two ecologically important animal personality traits (boldness and aggression), their sex, key features of the environment (including food availability, and a key water resource), habitat type and seasonal variation (cool/moist vs. hot/drier) in environmental conditions. Broadly, these movement specialisations likely reflect variation in life-history tactics including foraging and mating tactics that ultimately underlie key differences in space use. Such information can be used to connect phenotypic population structure to key ecological and evolutionary processes, for example social networks and disease-transmission pathways, further highlighting the value of examining individual variation in movement behaviour.
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Affiliation(s)
- Marcus Michelangeli
- Department of Environmental Science and Policy, University of California, Davis, CA, USA.,School of Biological Sciences, Monash University, Melbourne, Vic., Australia.,Department of Wildlife, Fish and Environmental Studies, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Umeå, Sweden
| | - Eric Payne
- Department of Environmental Science and Policy, University of California, Davis, CA, USA
| | - Orr Spiegel
- Department of Environmental Science and Policy, University of California, Davis, CA, USA.,The George S. Wise Faculty of Life Sciences, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel
| | - David L Sinn
- Department of Environmental Science and Policy, University of California, Davis, CA, USA
| | - Stephan T Leu
- School of Animal and Veterinary Sciences, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, SA, Australia
| | - Michael G Gardner
- College of Science and Engineering, Flinders University, Adelaide, SA, Australia.,Evolutionary Biology Unit, South Australian Museum, North Terrace, Adelaide, SA, Australia
| | - Andrew Sih
- Department of Environmental Science and Policy, University of California, Davis, CA, USA
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Payne E, Sinn D, Spiegel O, Leu S, Gardner M, Godfrey S, Wohlfeil C, Sih A. Consistent after all: behavioural repeatability in a long-lived lizard across a 6-year field study. Anim Behav 2021. [DOI: 10.1016/j.anbehav.2021.01.025] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
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Norval G, Gardner MG. The natural history of the sleepy lizard, Tiliqua rugosa
(Gray, 1825) - Insight from chance observations and long-term research on a common Australian skink species. AUSTRAL ECOL 2019. [DOI: 10.1111/aec.12715] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Gerrut Norval
- College of Science and Engineering; Flinders University; GPO Box 2100 Adelaide South Australia 5001 Australia
| | - Michael G. Gardner
- College of Science and Engineering; Flinders University; GPO Box 2100 Adelaide South Australia 5001 Australia
- Evolutionary Biology Unit; South Australian Museum; Adelaide South Australia Australia
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Taggart PL, Leu ST, Spiegel O, Godfrey SS, Sih A, Bull CM. Endure your parasites: Sleepy Lizard (Tiliqua rugosa) movement is not affected by their ectoparasites. CAN J ZOOL 2018. [DOI: 10.1139/cjz-2017-0352] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/22/2022]
Abstract
Movement is often used to indicate host vigour, as it has various ecological and evolutionary implications, and has been shown to be affected by parasites. We investigate the relationship between tick load and movement in the Australian Sleepy Lizard (Tiliqua rugosa (Gray, 1825)) using high resolution GPS tracking. This allowed us to track individuals across the entire activity season. We hypothesized that tick load negatively affects host movement (mean distance moved per day). We used a multivariate statistical model informed by the ecology and biology of the host and parasite, their host–parasite relationship, and known host movement patterns. This allowed us to quantify the effects of ticks on lizard movement above and beyond effects of other factors such as time in the activity season, lizard body condition, and stress. We did not find any support for our hypothesis. Instead, our results provide evidence that lizard movement is strongly driven by internal state (sex and body condition independent of tick load) and by external factors (environmental conditions). We suggest that the Sleepy Lizard has largely adapted to natural levels of tick infection in this system. Our results conform to host–parasite arms race theory, which predicts varying impacts of parasites on hosts in natural systems.
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Affiliation(s)
- Patrick L. Taggart
- College of Science and Engineering, Flinders University, Sturt Road, Bedford Park, SA 5042, Australia
| | - Stephan T. Leu
- College of Science and Engineering, Flinders University, Sturt Road, Bedford Park, SA 5042, Australia
| | - Orr Spiegel
- School of Zoology, Faculty of Life Sciences, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv 69978, Israel
| | - Stephanie S. Godfrey
- Department of Zoology, University of Otago, 340 Great King Street, P.O. Box 56, Dunedin 9054, New Zealand
| | - Andrew Sih
- Department of Environmental Science and Policy, University of California, 1023 Wickson Hall, One Shields Avenue, Davis, CA 95616, USA
| | - C. Michael Bull
- College of Science and Engineering, Flinders University, Sturt Road, Bedford Park, SA 5042, Australia
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Where should we meet? Mapping social network interactions of sleepy lizards shows sex-dependent social network structure. Anim Behav 2018. [DOI: 10.1016/j.anbehav.2017.11.001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 30] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/23/2022]
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Bull CM, Gardner MG, Sih A, Spiegel O, Godfrey SS, Leu ST. Why Is Social Behavior Rare in Reptiles? Lessons From Sleepy Lizards. ADVANCES IN THE STUDY OF BEHAVIOR 2017. [DOI: 10.1016/bs.asb.2017.02.001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/23/2022]
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Spiegel O, Leu ST, Sih A, Godfrey SS, Bull CM. When the going gets tough: behavioural type-dependent space use in the sleepy lizard changes as the season dries. Proc Biol Sci 2016; 282:rspb.2015.1768. [PMID: 26609082 DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2015.1768] [Citation(s) in RCA: 59] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Understanding space use remains a major challenge for animal ecology, with implications for species interactions, disease spread, and conservation. Behavioural type (BT) may shape the space use of individuals within animal populations. Bolder or more aggressive individuals tend to be more exploratory and disperse further. Yet, to date we have limited knowledge on how space use other than dispersal depends on BT. To address this question we studied BT-dependent space-use patterns of sleepy lizards (Tiliqua rugosa) in southern Australia. We combined high-resolution global positioning system (GPS) tracking of 72 free-ranging lizards with repeated behavioural assays, and with a survey of the spatial distributions of their food and refuge resources. Bayesian generalized linear mixed models (GLMM) showed that lizards responded to the spatial distribution of resources at the neighbourhood scale and to the intensity of space use by other conspecifics (showing apparent conspecific avoidance). BT (especially aggressiveness) affected space use by lizards and their response to ecological and social factors, in a seasonally dependent manner. Many of these effects and interactions were stronger later in the season when food became scarce and environmental conditions got tougher. For example, refuge and food availability became more important later in the season and unaggressive lizards were more responsive to these predictors. These findings highlight a commonly overlooked source of heterogeneity in animal space use and improve our mechanistic understanding of processes leading to behaviourally driven disease dynamics and social structure.
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Affiliation(s)
- Orr Spiegel
- Department of Environmental Science and Policy, University of California, Davis, CA, USA
| | - Stephan T Leu
- School of Biological Sciences, Flinders University, GPO Box 2100, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia
| | - Andrew Sih
- Department of Environmental Science and Policy, University of California, Davis, CA, USA
| | - Stephanie S Godfrey
- School of Veterinary and Life Sciences, Murdoch University, 90 South St, Murdoch, Western Australia, Australia
| | - C Michael Bull
- School of Biological Sciences, Flinders University, GPO Box 2100, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia
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Spiegel O, Leu ST, Sih A, Bull CM. Socially interacting or indifferent neighbours? Randomization of movement paths to tease apart social preference and spatial constraints. Methods Ecol Evol 2016. [DOI: 10.1111/2041-210x.12553] [Citation(s) in RCA: 89] [Impact Index Per Article: 11.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Orr Spiegel
- Department of Environmental Science and Policy University of California Davis, Wickson Hall One Shields Avenue Davis CA 95616 USA
| | - Stephan T. Leu
- School of Biological Sciences Flinders University GPO Box 2100 Adelaide SA Australia
| | - Andrew Sih
- Department of Environmental Science and Policy University of California Davis, Wickson Hall One Shields Avenue Davis CA 95616 USA
| | - C. Michael Bull
- School of Biological Sciences Flinders University GPO Box 2100 Adelaide SA Australia
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Leu ST, Jackson G, Roddick JF, Bull CM. Lizard movement tracks: variation in path re-use behaviour is consistent with a scent-marking function. PeerJ 2016; 4:e1844. [PMID: 27019790 PMCID: PMC4806635 DOI: 10.7717/peerj.1844] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/07/2015] [Accepted: 03/03/2016] [Indexed: 11/20/2022] Open
Abstract
Individual movement influences the spatial and social structuring of a population. Animals regularly use the same paths to move efficiently to familiar places, or to patrol and mark home ranges. We found that Australian sleepy lizards (Tiliqua rugosa), a monogamous species with stable pair-bonds, repeatedly used the same paths within their home ranges and investigated whether path re-use functions as a scent-marking behaviour, or whether it is influenced by site familiarity. Lizards can leave scent trails on the substrate when moving through the environment and have a well-developed vomeronasal system to detect and respond to those scents. Path re-use would allow sleepy lizards to concentrate scent marks along these well-used trails, advertising their presence. Hypotheses of mate attraction and mating competition predict that sleepy lizard males, which experience greater intra-sexual competition, mark more strongly. Consistent with those hypotheses, males re-used their paths more than females, and lizards that showed pairing behaviour with individuals of the opposite sex re-used paths more than unpaired lizards, particularly among females. Hinterland marking is most economic when home ranges are large and mobility is low, as is the case in the sleepy lizard. Consistent with this strategy, re-used paths were predominantly located in the inner 50% home range areas. Together, our detailed movement analyses suggest that path re-use is a scent marking behaviour in the sleepy lizard. We also investigated but found less support for alternative explanations of path re-use behaviour, such as site familiarity and spatial knowledge. Lizards established the same number of paths, and used them as often, whether they had occupied their home ranges for one or for more years. We discuss our findings in relation to maintenance of the monogamous mating system of this species, and the spatial and social structuring of the population.
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Affiliation(s)
- Stephan T Leu
- School of Biological Sciences, Flinders University , Adelaide, South Australia , Australia
| | - Grant Jackson
- School of Computer Science, Engineering and Mathematics, Flinders University , Adelaide, South Australia , Australia
| | - John F Roddick
- School of Computer Science, Engineering and Mathematics, Flinders University , Adelaide, South Australia , Australia
| | - C Michael Bull
- School of Biological Sciences, Flinders University , Adelaide, South Australia , Australia
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Leu ST, Farine DR, Wey TW, Sih A, Bull CM. Environment modulates population social structure: experimental evidence from replicated social networks of wild lizards. Anim Behav 2016. [DOI: 10.1016/j.anbehav.2015.10.001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 75] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/13/2022]
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Leu ST, Burzacott D, Whiting MJ, Bull CM. Mate Familiarity Affects Pairing Behaviour in a Long-Term Monogamous Lizard: Evidence from Detailed Bio-Logging and a 31-Year Field Study. Ethology 2015. [DOI: 10.1111/eth.12390] [Citation(s) in RCA: 24] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Stephan T. Leu
- School of Biological Sciences; Flinders University; Adelaide SA Australia
| | - Dale Burzacott
- School of Biological Sciences; Flinders University; Adelaide SA Australia
| | - Martin J. Whiting
- Department of Biological Sciences; Macquarie University; Sydney NSW Australia
| | - C. Michael Bull
- School of Biological Sciences; Flinders University; Adelaide SA Australia
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Affiliation(s)
- Katharina Hirschenhauser
- Department of Behavioural Biology; Faculty of Life Sciences; University of Vienna; Vienna; Austria
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Godfrey SS, Bradley JK, Sih A, Bull CM. Lovers and fighters in sleepy lizard land: where do aggressive males fit in a social network? Anim Behav 2012. [DOI: 10.1016/j.anbehav.2011.10.028] [Citation(s) in RCA: 41] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/01/2022]
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