Fitness is strongly related to locomotor performance, which can determine success in foraging, mating, and other critical activities. Locomotor performance on different substrates is likely to require different abilities, so we expect alignment between species’ locomotor performance and the habitats they use in nature. In addition, we expect behaviour to enhance performance, such that animals will use substrates on which they perform well. We examined the associations between habitat selection and performance in three species of Oedura geckos, including two specialists, (one arboreal, and one saxicolous), and one generalist species, which used both rocks and trees. First, we described their microhabitat use in nature (tree and rock type) for these species, examined the surface roughnesses they encountered, and selected materials with comparable surface microtopographies (roughness measured as peak-to-valley heights) to use as substrates in lab experiments quantifying behavioural substrate preferences and clinging performance. The three Oedura species occupied different ecological niches and used different microhabitats in nature, and the two specialist species used a narrower range of surface roughnesses compared to the generalist. In the lab, Oedura geckos preferred substrates (coarse sandpaper) with roughness characteristics similar to substrates they use in nature. Further, all three species exhibited greater clinging performance on preferred (coarse sandpaper) substrates, although the generalist used fine substrates in nature and had good performance capabilities on fine substrates as well. We found a relationship between habitat use and performance, such that geckos selected microhabitats on which their performance was high. In addition, our findings highlight the extensive variation in surface roughnesses that occur in nature, both among and within microhabitats.

中文翻译：

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壁虎最适合并且更喜欢使用粗糙的表面

健康与运动表现密切相关，运动表现可以决定觅食、交配和其他关键活动的成功。不同基质上的运动性能可能需要不同的能力，因此我们期望物种的运动性能与其在自然界中使用的栖息地之间保持一致。此外，我们期望行为能够提高性能，这样动物就会使用它们表现良好的基质。我们研究了三种奥杜拉守宫的栖息地选择和性能之间的关联，其中包括两种专家（一种是树栖的，一种是蜥蜴）和一种同时使用岩石和树木的通才物种。首先，我们描述了这些物种在自然界（树木和岩石类型）中的微生境用途，检查了它们遇到的表面粗糙度，并选择了具有可比表面微地形（粗糙度以峰谷高度测量）的材料作为实验室中的基材量化行为基质偏好和粘附性能的实验。三种 Oedura 物种在自然界中占据不同的生态位并使用不同的微生境，而与通才物种相比，这两种专长物种使用的表面粗糙度范围更窄。在实验室中，奥杜拉壁虎更喜欢粗糙度特征与它们在自然界中使用的基材相似的基材（粗砂纸）。此外，尽管多面手在自然界中使用精细基材并且在精细基材上也具有良好的性能，但所有三个物种在优选的（粗砂纸）基材上都表现出更大的粘附性能。我们发现栖息地利用和性能之间存在关系，例如壁虎会选择其性能较高的微生境。此外，我们的研究结果强调了自然界中微生境之间和微生境内表面粗糙度的广泛变化。