Effects of substrate color on intraspecific body color variation in the toad‐headed lizard, Phrynocephalus versicolor

Abstract

Diversity in animal coloration is generally associated with adaptation to their living habitats, ranging from territorial display and sexual selection to predation or predation avoidance, and thermoregulation. However, the mechanism underlying color variation in toad‐headed Phrynocephalus lizards remains poorly understood. In this study, we investigated the population color variation of Phrynocephalus versicolor. We found that lizards distributed in dark substrate have darker dorsal coloration (melanic lizards) than populations living in light substrates. This characteristic may improve their camouflage effectiveness. A reciprocal substrate translocation experiment was conducted to clarify the potential role of morphological adaptation and physiological plasticity of this variation. Spectrometry technology and digital photography were used to quantify the color variation of the above‐mentioned melanic and nonmelanic P. versicolor populations and their native substrate. Additionally, substrate color preference in both populations was investigated with choice experiments. Our results indicate that the melanic and nonmelanic populations with remarkable habitat color difference were significantly different on measured reflectance, luminance, and RGB values. Twenty‐four hours, 30 days, and 60 days of substrate translocation treatment had little effects on dorsal color change. We also found that melanic lizards choose to live in dark substrate, while nonmelanic lizards have no preference for substrate color. In conclusion, our results support that the dorsal coloration of P. versicolor, associated with substrate color, is likely a morphological adaptation rather than phenotypic plasticity.

Flower Color Evolution and the Evidence of Pollinator-Mediated Selection

“…A further advantage of digital photography is the possibility to consider the color contrast between flower signal and the background. For example, integration of background color into the analysis of individual color variation has been successfully applied in areas of animal research such as habitat adaptation of body color in lizard (Stevens et al, 2007;Tong et al, 2019). This suggests that its application in the study of flower colors may also provide new insights for the FIGURE 3 | Illustration of flower colors associated with the bird pollination syndrome highlighting the weak visual contrast to the background in bee vision.…”

Plasticity and habitat choice match colour to function in an ambush bug

“…Conversely, rather than moving in space to match individual colour to environment, an organism can modify its own appearance to more closely resemble their environment. Such adaptive plasticity is common, for instance in the many organisms that can change colour to match their background (Anderson & Dodson, ; Duarte et al, ; Johansson & Nilsson‐Örtman, ; Tong et al, ). These two major mechanisms are not mutually exclusive, yet have been studied together only rarely (Edelaar et al, ; Lowe & Addis, ).…”

Population Genomics of Variegated Toad-Headed Lizard Phrynocephalus versicolor and Its Adaptation to the Colorful Sand of the Gobi Desert

“…The corresponding populations exhibit dark and light skin color that may be an adaptation to avoid predator detection similar to the mechanism proposed for lizards at White Sands, New Mexico ( Rosenblum et al 2010 ). The dorsal coloration and reflectance differences between populations were shown to be statistically significant in a previous study ( Tong et al 2019 ). Notably, the phenotype of an individual is not plastic, as shown by substrate transplantation experiments done in these populations ( Tong et al 2019 ), suggesting that the different color morphs are mainly based on genetic differences rather than phenotypic plasticity.…”