Blue tales of a blue‐tailed lizard: ecological correlates of tail autotomy in Micrablepharus atticolus (Squamata, Gymnophthalmidae) in a Neotropical savannah
Blue tales of a blue‐tailed lizard: ecological correlates of tail autotomy in Micrablepharus atticolus (Squamata, Gymnophthalmidae) in a Neotropical savannah
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DOI：
10.1111/jzo.12335
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发表时间：
2016-07
影响因子：
2
通讯作者：
H. Sousa;Bernardo M. Costa;C. J. Morais;Davi L. Pantoja;T. A. Queiroz;C. Vieira;G. Colli
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
H. Sousa;Bernardo M. Costa;C. J. Morais;Davi L. Pantoja;T. A. Queiroz;C. Vieira;G. Colli
尾巴的自切和再生可能是蜥蜴提高生存率的最戏剧性的适应。尽管在这个问题上做了大量的工作，自然种群中的尾部自切率的生态意义仍然难以捉摸，由于难以控制几个混杂因素和缺乏准确的人口统计数据。在捕获-再捕获研究的基础上，我们研究了来自南美塞拉多的蓝尾蜥蜴Micrablepharus atticolus的尾部自切率的生态决定因素。我们测试了栖息地（作为捕食强度的代理），季节性（作为社会互动的强度的代理），个体发育和性别是否影响自切率，以及自切率是否影响身体状况。我们发现M.与其他许多物种相比，小角海雀的尾巴颜色鲜艳，可能是由于体型较小和觅食习惯造成的。自割率低于预期的机会，在情节较低的死亡率，这表明捕食强度，而不是捕食效率的更突出的作用，并随年龄的增加，表明累积效应的捕食尝试沿着的个体发育或年龄特异性的捕食强度的差异。我们也没有发现性别间的差异或任何影响的繁殖活动的自切率。我们的研究结果表明，尾巴自切的能量成本很低，或者动物补偿尾巴损失增加觅食率。这些特征是M.阿提科尔似乎与其较小的身体尺寸，觅食生活方式和非常短的寿命密切相关，并建议尾部再生的成本应该很低。
Tail autotomy and regeneration are perhaps the most dramatic adaptations to enhance survival among lizards. In spite of much work on the subject, the ecological significance of tail autotomy rates in natural populations remains elusive, due to difficulties in controlling several confounding factors and the paucity of accurate demographic data. On the basis of a capture–recapture study, we investigate the ecological determinants of tail autotomy rates in Micrablepharus atticolus, a blue-tailed lizard from the South American Cerrado. We tested whether habitat (as a proxy of predation intensity), seasonality (as a proxy of intensity of social interactions), ontogeny and sex affected autotomy rates, and also whether autotomy rates affected body condition. We found that tail autotomy rates in M. atticolus are lower than in many other species with brightly colored tails, likely resulting from a small body size and fossorial habits. Autotomy rates were lower than expected by chance in the plot with lower mortality rates, suggesting a more prominent role of predation intensity instead of predator efficiency, and increased with age, suggesting cumulative effects of predation attempts along the ontogeny or age-specific differences in predation intensity. We also found no intersexual differences or any effect of breeding activity on autotomy rates. Our results indicate that energetic costs of tail autotomy are low, or that animals compensate tail loss with increased foraging rates. These characteristics of M. atticolus seem tightly associated with its small body size, fossorial lifestyle and very short life span, and suggest that the costs of tail regeneration should be low.