Meeting Abstract
Animal behavior is linked to fitness in novel environments; however, this link is still poorly understood. An important behavioral trait is boldness, which is often indexed as flight initiation distance (FID), or the minimum distance at which an individual flees from a threat. FID is expected to maximize an individual’s chances of survival and is inversely related to boldness. Bolder individuals may be favored in the absence of predators as they are more likely to gain foraging opportunities and encounter mates, however as predation rate increases, boldness is likely to be a disadvantage to survival. It is still unclear if this behavior is evolutionarily conserved or responds quickly to rapid environmental changes. To address this question, we transplanted hundreds of lizards (Anolis apletophallus) to experimental islands in Lake Gatún, Panama that differ from the mainland in both their biotic and abiotic environments. These islands have fewer predators, are warmer and have brighter understory light conditions. We measured FID on the mainland source population, as well as on island populations that had been diverging from the mainland for one or three generations. At each site, we measured predation pressure via attack rates on clay models and visual surveys of predator communities. We compare these data to a suite of environmental and physiological variables to determine what may drive changes in lizard boldness. Preliminary results show that FID is lower in the island populations that have been diverging for longer, and that individuals on the mainland have higher FID relative to all islands. These results suggest that boldness may evolve rapidly when populations are released from predation pressure.
