Meeting Abstract
Behavioral activity can be influenced by an animal’s physiological characteristics, including traits such as energy storage, oxygen transport capacity, and, particularly in females, reproductive burden. In this study, we investigated the association between physiology and general activity in females of two species of Anolis lizards: A. cristatellus and A. distichus. In the lab, we performed open field tests to measure the latency and frequency of locomotor movements. We then measured each lizard’s snout-vent length, body mass, fat pad mass, egg mass, liver mass, and hematocrit. We predicted that lizards would exhibit a trade-off between fat storage (in fat pads and liver) and egg mass, and that greater egg mass would reduce locomotor activity in female lizards. We also predicted that hematocrit levels would be positively associated with general locomotor activity. Our results showed that some aspects of the relationship between physiology and activity differed between the two species. In A. cristatellus, lizards with larger egg mass also had greater fat and liver mass, and displayed less activity, whereas in A. distichus egg mass was not associated with these measures. Yet in both species, lizards with a greater body condition index exhibited less locomotor activity, although hematocrit was not associated with behavior in either. The results of this study show that even among similar species of lizards, the relationship between energy utilization and behavioral activity may differ.
