Meeting Abstract
34.4 Wednesday, Jan. 5 The effect of physical perturbation on behavior: an example from yellow-chinned anole (Anolis gundlachi) KUO, CY*; IRSCHICK, DJ; Univ. of Massachusetts Amherst; Univ. of Massachusetts Amherst chiyun@bio.umass.edu
Fulfilling energy requirements and evading predation are crucial to organismal survival. As both foraging and anti-predatory behaviors typically involve locomotion, locomotor performance (e.g., sprinting, endurance) may determine the efficiency of foraging and the outcome of a predator-prey encounter. Although a large amount of literature has been devoted to the study of foraging and escape behaviors, few studies have investigated whether animals modify those two behaviors when their locomotor performance is compromised by a drastic change in body shape or the loss of body parts. Lizards are an excellent subject for this inquiry because many species shed their tails, but this behavior dramatically compromises jumping performance, a common mode of movement for many lizards. Therefore, it is reasonable to hypothesize that there will be significant differences in both foraging and escape behaviors between tailed and tailless individuals. We used yellow-chinned anole (Anolis gundlachi) of Puerto Rico to test our hypothesis. We measured of the following variables: distance moved, time spent moving, and the number of movements per minute basis to quantify foraging behavior; flight initiation distance, escape tactics, and distance moved before stopping represented escape behavior. Our prediction is that, due to the likely reduction in locomotor performance after tail loss, the values [unclear what you mean by values] for both foraging and escape behavior variables will be lower for tailless individuals. In addition, we predict that tailless individuals will have a lower tendency to use jumping as escape tactics. The results from out study can help to better understand whether selection acts to equip the animals with the ability to adjust their behaviors to make the best of an unfavorable situation.
