Antipredator behavior of mainland and island populations of Podarcis siculus

Published: 6 April 2020| Version 1 | DOI: 10.17632/kbcs6t5ch4.1
Contributors:
,
,
,
,

Description

The field work was conducted on the three consecutive days, during the P. sicula mating season (end of May/beginning of June 2018), between 10:00 and 15:00 hours, under sunny and low wind conditions. Antipredator behavior was tested on 38 mainland (ML) and 34 islet (ISL) adult males.

Files

Steps to reproduce

We observed the response of adult male lizards in the field to a simulated predatory attack with a widely-used measure, flight initiation distance (FID) test (Cooper et al., 2009). After an undisturbed lizard was located, a researcher always dressed in the same color pattern approached it in a straight line at normal walking speed, until the lizard started to run away from the researcher. The researcher then stopped moving, and recorded the lizard’s flight initiation distance (distance, in cm, between the stimulus and the lizard when it flees, FID), escape distance (distance, in cm, travelled by lizard before stopping or retreating to refuge, ED), and (only for lizards that retreated to shelter) hiding duration (time, in s, between entering and emerging from the shelter, HD). We insured that each individual was tested no more than once per experiment by moving to a new location after observing each trial.

Institutions

Sveuciliste u Zagrebu Prirodoslovno-Matematicki Fakultet

Categories

Animal Behavior

Licence