Experimental analysis of lizard pause-travel movement: pauses increase probability of prey capture

Avery, R. A.

doi:10.1163/156853893x00110

Cited by 27 publications

(26 citation statements)

References 15 publications

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“…For example, pausing facilitates stabilizing the visual fields of diverse animals (Frost, 1982;Gibson, 1986), which may be correlated with enhanced predatory success (Avery, 1993;Getty and Pulliam, 1991), increased vigilance for detecting threats (McAdam and Kramer, 1998;Trouillod et al, 2004) and route planning (Stojan-Dolar and Heymann, 2010). The possible benefit of pausing for a sensory function in facilitating route choice may also be supported further by the common occurence of pausing by the lizards in our study before they selected one of the alternative destinations.…”

Section: Intermittent and Unsteady Locomotionmentioning

confidence: 52%

Perch diameter and branching patterns have interactive effects on the locomotion and path choice of anole lizards

Jones

Jayne

2012

Journal of Experimental Biology

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SUMMARYNatural branches vary conspicuously in their diameter, density and orientation, but how these latter two factors affect animal locomotion is poorly understood. Thus, for three species of arboreal anole lizards found on different size branches and with different limb lengths, we tested sprinting performance on cylinders with five diameters (5-100mm) and five patterns of pegs, which simulated different branch orientations and spacing. We also tested whether the lizards preferred surfaces that enhanced their performance. The overall responses to different surfaces were similar among the three species, although the magnitude of the effects differed. All species were faster on cylinders with larger diameter and no pegs along the top. The short-limbed species was the slowest on all surfaces. Much of the variation in performance resulted from variable amounts of pausing among different surfaces and species. Lizards preferred to run along the top of cylinders, but pegs along the top of the narrow cylinders interfered with this. Pegs on top of the 100-mm diameter cylinder, however, had little effect on speed as the lizards ran quite a straight path alongside pegs without bumping into them. All three species usually chose surfaces with greater diameters and fewer pegs, but very large diameters with pegs were preferred to much smaller diameter cylinders without pegs. Our results suggest that preferring larger diameters in natural vegetation has a direct benefit for speed and an added benefit of allowing detouring around branches with little adverse effect on speed. Supplementary material available online at

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Section: Intermittent and Unsteady Locomotionmentioning

confidence: 52%

Perch diameter and branching patterns have interactive effects on the locomotion and path choice of anole lizards

Jones

Jayne

2012

Journal of Experimental Biology

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“…PC1 was interpreted as a gradient from slow to fast explorers, with fast explorers quickly inspecting the enclosure and quickly abandoning each climbing attempt after being unsuccessful. We interpret PC2 as representing another gradient of boldness, with shy individuals taking a long time to initiate the exploration of the novel environment, moving across the enclosure using short movement bouts that allow for pauses to scan the environment [35], while performing few attempts to climb the walls. We speculate that lizards may perceive a climbing attempt as an action entailing high predation risk because of their high exposure while climbing, the noise derived from the forehands slipping repeatedly on the plastic surface and the reduced locomotor ability of this species while climbing relative to horizontal movement [36].…”

Section: (C) Explorationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Individual variation in behavioural plasticity: direct and indirect effects of boldness, exploration and sociability on habituation to predators in lizards

2010

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Little is known about the factors causing variation in behavioural plasticity and the interplay between personality and plasticity. Habituation to predators is a special case of behavioural plasticity. We investigated the direct and indirect effects of boldness, exploration and sociability traits on the habituation ability of Iberian wall lizards, considering exposure and sex effects. Individual boldness was consistent across several nonhabituation contexts, but it did not significantly affect habituation. Exploration had a strong direct effect on habituation, with more exploratory individuals being able to habituate faster than less exploratory ones, probably because of their ability to assess risk better. Individual variation in habituation was also affected by sociability, but this was an indirect effect mediated by exposure to the predator. Less social individuals avoided refuges with conspecific cues, increasing exposure to the predator and eventually habituation. Finally, the direct effects of sex (females habituated faster than males) were opposite to its indirect effects through exposure. We conclude that risk assessment, instead of the proactivity-reactivity gradient usually considered in the literature, can affect behavioural plasticity through complex interactions between direct and indirect effects, including exploratory behaviour, degree of exposure to the predator and sex, which represent novel mechanisms generating inter-individual variation in plasticity.

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“…,b; O'Brien et al. ; Avery , ). However, in our experiment, all lizards had been fed ad libitum before trials, and it is unlikely that they were looking for prey during the trials.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effects of Microhabitat‐Dependent Predation Risk on Vigilance during Intermittent Locomotion in Psammodromus algirus Lizards

López

Martı́n

2013

Ethology

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Animals should be able to adjust their behavior by tracking changes in predation risk level continuously. Many animals show a pattern of intermittent locomotion with short pauses that may increase detection and vigilance of predators. These locomotor patterns may depend on the microhabitat structure, which affect predation risk levels. We examined in detail in the laboratory the characteristics of spontaneous locomotion, scanning behavior, and the escape performance of Psammodromus algirus lizards moving in two different microhabitats (leaf litter patches and open sand areas). Results showed that in leaf litter, lizards moved at slower speed and had shorter bursts of locomotion both in distance and duration, than in sand substrates. This locomotor pattern allowed lizards to increase scanning rate and total time spent in vigilance behavior. When lizards were forced to flee, they escaped to longer distances and during more time in open sand areas, but lizards were able to attain similar escape speed in the two substrates. Lizards may be able to compensate the cost of moving between different microhabitats with different predation risk by behaviorally changing their locomotor and vigilance patterns. However, complex interactions between the visibility of lizards to predators and the ability of lizards to detect predators, together with the need of attending simultaneously to other conflicting demands, may lead to apparently non‐intuitive solutions in locomotor patterns and the rate of vigilance behavior.

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Experimental analysis of lizard pause-travel movement: pauses increase probability of prey capture

Cited by 27 publications

References 15 publications

Perch diameter and branching patterns have interactive effects on the locomotion and path choice of anole lizards

Perch diameter and branching patterns have interactive effects on the locomotion and path choice of anole lizards

Individual variation in behavioural plasticity: direct and indirect effects of boldness, exploration and sociability on habituation to predators in lizards

Effects of Microhabitat‐Dependent Predation Risk on Vigilance during Intermittent Locomotion in Psammodromus algirus Lizards

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