Meeting Abstract
Sensory systems used to find prey can affect multiple aspects of predator ecology. To examine the influence of prey detection on the movement of organisms through their environments, we observed two sympatric species of lizards that find prey via different sensory cues. The Alvord Basin in southeast Oregon is a high elevation desert inhabited by two species of similar-sized lizard with a similar prey base, the long-nosed leopard lizard, Gambelia wislizenii, which is primarily a visual hunter, and the western whiptail, Aspidoscelis tigris , which relies heavily on chemosensory cues to find prey. Our goal was to determine if there were consistent differences in habitat use and movement patterns of each species that coincided with their different prey sensing abilities. We predicted that visual predators would move less and make more use of open spaces, whereas predators relying on chemosensory cues would make more frequent movements and make more frequent use of the available vegetation. The more visually-oriented leopard lizards spent more time in open areas, moved less frequently over shorter distances, and had lower variation in the types of plants used to perch compared to the chemo-oriented whiptails. Our results are consistent with predictions that follow from the hunting strategy of each species; differences in prey sensing systems and related movement patterns can promote cohabitation in a resource limited environment.
