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Published VersionCC BY V4.0, Open Access
Journal article
Agonism does not covary with territoriality in a gregarious reptile
Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology, Vol.77, pp.1-8
2023
Abstract
Natural selection for territoriality is theorised to occur under conditions favouring intra-sexual phenotypic variation in physiology, morphology, and behaviour. In this context, certain suites of behavioural traits associated with territoriality are expected to consistently covary among individuals (sometimes referred to as ‘behavioural syndromes’) within sexes. Agonism (conflict-associated behaviours that may or may not be associated with physical aggression) and movement—for example, ranging, or relocation within or across seasons—are two behavioural components that are associated with territoriality and may be expected to covary in this context. Territorial males are expected to employ agonistic behaviours to actively establish and defend areas and resources and show more stability in their location across the landscape. However, the interaction between agonism and movement especially for wild reptiles has rarely been tested. We investigated whether agonistic and movement behaviours correlate at the individual level both within one year and across multiple years, in a wild population of Australian eastern water dragons, Intellagama lesueurii. Although both types of behaviours exhibited among-individual repeatability over year and multi-year scales, we found no evidence of an agonistic-movement behavioural syndrome. These findings indicate that agonistic and movement behaviours are likely independent traits, and thus, territoriality may not drive shared selective pressures for both. It is possible that other social behaviours and strategies are in place to maintain social structure in this wild population.
Details
- Title
- Agonism does not covary with territoriality in a gregarious reptile
- Authors
- Sarah Ball (Author) - University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, School of Science, Technology and EngineeringDominique A. Potvin (Author) - University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, School of Science, Technology and EngineeringBarbara Class (Author) - University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, School of Science, Technology and EngineeringCeline H. Frère (Corresponding Author) - The University of Queensland
- Publication details
- Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology, Vol.77, pp.1-8
- Publisher
- Springer
- Date published
- 2023
- DOI
- 10.1007/s00265-023-03348-0
- ISSN
- 1432-0762; 0340-5443
- Copyright note
- This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
- Organisation Unit
- School of Science, Technology and Engineering
- Language
- English
- Record Identifier
- 99735292602621
- Output Type
- Journal article
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- Domestic collaboration
- Web Of Science research areas
- Behavioral Sciences
- Ecology
- Zoology
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