When the going gets tough: behavioural type-dependent space use in the sleepy lizard changes as the season dries.

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 (GLM

SUBMITTER: Spiegel O 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4685807 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature