The social life of eastern water dragons: sex differences, spatial overlap and genetic relatedness

Kasha Strickland; Riana Zanarivero Gardiner; Anthony J Schultz; Celine H Frere

doi:10.1016/j.anbehav.2014.08.009

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The social life of eastern water dragons: sex differences, spatial overlap and genetic relatedness

Journal article

Peer reviewed

The social life of eastern water dragons: sex differences, spatial overlap and genetic relatedness

Kasha Strickland, Riana Zanarivero Gardiner, Anthony J Schultz and Celine H Frere

Animal Behaviour, Vol.97, pp.53-61

2014

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.anbehav.2014.08.009

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Abstract

eastern water dragon

Intellagama lesueurii

kinship

reptiles

social evolution

social structure

spatial overlap

Understanding the ways individuals socialize with each other and how they differ temporally, spatially and phylogenetically is key to unravelling the evolutionary processes that shape social evolution. Our current knowledge of social evolution in vertebrates, however, has primarily come from bird and mammalian studies. Despite being largely understudied, reptiles remain an important piece of the puzzle in our study of social evolution; they represent a major class of vertebrates and, similar to mammals and birds, many are gregarious. Increasing our understanding of sociality in reptiles is important given that it would allow for comparisons across phylogenetically distinct vertebrate classes. In this study, we investigated the social structure of the eastern water dragon, Intellagama lesueurii, and found that males and females showed both preference and avoidance for members of either sex. Furthermore, we found sex differences in the extent of individual sociability: females generally formed stronger associations with one another than any other sex class (e.g. male-male, male-female). Although association patterns correlated to some extent with home range overlap, we found no evidence of a correlation with kinship. Overall, our study presents additional evidence that sociality can evolve outside the realm of kin selection.

Details

Title: The social life of eastern water dragons: sex differences, spatial overlap and genetic relatedness
Authors: Kasha Strickland (Author) - University of the Sunshine Coast - Faculty of Science, Health, Education and Engineering
Riana Zanarivero Gardiner (Author) - University of the Sunshine Coast - Faculty of Science, Health, Education and Engineering
Anthony J Schultz (Author) - University of the Sunshine Coast - Faculty of Science, Health, Education and Engineering
Celine H Frere (Author) - University of the Sunshine Coast - Faculty of Science, Health, Education and Engineering
Publication details: Animal Behaviour, Vol.97, pp.53-61
Publisher: Elsevier Ltd.
Date published: 2014
DOI: 10.1016/j.anbehav.2014.08.009
ISSN: 0003-3472
Organisation Unit: School of Science and Engineering - Legacy; University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland; GeneCology Research Centre - Legacy; School of Science, Technology and Engineering
Language: English
Record Identifier: 99448846902621
Output Type: Journal article

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Collaboration types: Domestic collaboration
Web Of Science research areas: Behavioral Sciences; Zoology

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