Meeting Abstract
As with many lizards, male Western Fence Lizards (Sceloporus occidentalis) are territorial. The more dominant males keep larger territories with better basking spots, hiding places, and food resources. A better territory means that the male will likely have more females nearby and therefore more mating opportunities. Also like other lizards, S. occidentalis can voluntarily lose their tails to avoid predation. However, because they store fat in their tails, losing them may lower the lizards’ chance of survival and their social status. We conducted this study to determine if tail loss in males affects ability to maintain territory or access to females. We collected data from males and females in 2014 from May to August and in 2015 from March to August. Each time we spotted a lizard, we marked it for identification and collected a GPS point at the exact location where it was found. We mapped individual territories using these points through GIS software. In total, we found points for 29 males and 22 females. In June of 2015, we brought seven males into the lab. First, we measured their bite force, sprint speed, and morphology, and took high speed videos of each lizard sprinting at 1000 fps. We then removed tails from three of the males and measured and video recorded their sprint speed again. After a month of tail regrowth, we recorded the lizards again to assess if tail loss affected sprinting biomechanics. After recording video, we returned all lizards back to their original locations.
