Meeting Abstract

33.5  Jan. 5  Does territory defense confer a fitness advantage to males? A paternity study in the Caribbean lizard, Anolis cristatellus JOHNSON, M. A.; Washington University, St. Louis, MO mjohnson@biology2.wustl.edu

One important benefit of territoriality in many species is exclusive access to resources, including potential mates, within a defended area. A logical extension of this is that individuals who successfully defend exclusive mating rights within an area should then also retain parentage of the offspring from the area. To determine whether individuals who appear to be successful in defending their territories are also successful in securing mating opportunities with those potential mates within their territories, I examined a population of the Puerto Rican lizard, Anolis cristatellus. This lizard is a highly territorial, polygynous species whose males defend territories predominantly using visual displays. After performing 75 hours of focal observations and determining the territory boundaries of 54 male and female A. cristatellus in their natural habitat, I collected eggs from 27 females from among those I observed. I determined the paternity of those eggs using six highly polymorphic microsatellite markers. Preliminary results show that most females produce eggs sired by more than one male, extra-territorial paternity is extensive, and those males who perform more territorial displays are not more successful at siring the offspring resulting from the territories they maintain. Quantifying the fitness consequences of territorial behavior is an important step in understanding the evolution of this common behavioral strategy.