Plastic sexual ornaments: Assessing temperature effects on color metrics in a color-changing reptile.

ABSTRACT: Conspicuous coloration is an important subject in social communication and animal behavior, and it can provide valuable insight into the role of visual signals in social selection. However, animal coloration can be plastic and affected by abiotic factors such as temperature, making its quantification problematic. In such cases, careful consideration is required so that metric choices are consistent across environments and least sensitive to abiotic factors. A detailed assessment of plastic trait in response to environmental conditions could help identify more robust methods for quantifying color. Temperature affects sexual ornamentation of eastern fence lizards, Sceloporus undulatus, with ventral coloration shifting from green to blue hues as temperatures rise, making the calculation of sa

SUBMITTER: Assis BA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7239470 | biostudies-literature | 2020

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature