Meeting Abstract

P2.106  Friday, Jan. 4  Visual performance and divergence in Sceloporus undulatus at the White Sands ecotone NAVA, Saul S.; Indiana Univ., Bloomington snava@indiana.edu

As explained by the sensory drive model, receiver sensory performance plays a potentially important role in the design of animal signals. The sensory drive model predicts that when populations inhabit divergent habitats, the sensory capabilities of individuals from those populations may also diverge, and in turn guide the evolution of communicative signals and behavioral preferences. Sceloporus undulatus lizards from the Tularosa Basin in New Mexico offer a unique opportunity to study how populations from extremely divergent habitat types (white sand dunes, black basalt lava flow, and typical Chihuahuan desert scrub) may diverge in not only adaptive dorsal coloration but in visual performance as well. To determine whether populational differences in adaptive dorsal and ventral coloration are associated with mechanistic shifts in visual processing, I tested and compared visual performance of three dorsal coloration morphs from the three different habitat types. Specifically, I used an optomotor assay to test spectral sensitivity to the blue hue exhibited on male S. undulatus ventral coloration. Data and results will be presented.