Abstract

Ontogeny is expected to be a determinant factor affecting production of colour patches in lizards, while immune challenges or sudden weight loss may impair the maintenance of pigment-based coloration within a breeding season. We translocated males of the lizard Psammodromus algirus between two sampling plots that differed in distance to a road, vegetation structure, and predator abundance. We analysed variation in spectral reflectance of their colour patches the same and the following year. The change in the reflectance of the lizard colour patches within the first breeding season was explained by the interaction between plot and treatment, but not body condition. The maintenance of the breeding coloration was impaired only in those males translocated close to the road, probably reflecting that it is a poor-quality habitat for P. algirus. The following year, lizards that produced a more elaborate coloration were those that increased their body condition and controlled some parasitic infections, although suffered an increase of others. This study shows that colour patch production is plastic in P. algirus. Lizards increasing parasites or losing weight reduced pigmentation, although habitat quality can cushion these negative effects on pigmentation. However, not all parasites constrain the investment in coloration. In fact, some increased in those lizards that allocated more pigments to colour patches. In conclusion, longitudinal studies following experimental manipulation can contribute to understand pigment allocation rules in lizards.

Significance statement

Pigments involved in colour patches of animals are limiting resources that can be reallocated off the skin to other functions. However, longitudinal evidence of this phenomenon is scarce in reptiles. We designed a manipulative mark-recapture experiment to investigate effects of habitat and parasitic infections on colour patch maintenance (within-year variation) and production (between-year variation) in male free-ranging lizards that were reciprocally translocated between two patches of habitat that differed in quality. During the first year, lizards translocated to the habitat with more predators and worse vegetation impoverished their coloration, while lizards translocated to the more favourable habitat maintained it despite all translocated lizards loose body condition. The next year we detected different effects on the coloration of three different parasites investigated, suggesting that coloration can reflect the virulence of the infections.

中文翻译：

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栖息地质量、身体状况和寄生虫对多饰蜥蜴颜色斑块的纵向影响

摘要

个体发育预计将是影响蜥蜴颜色斑块产生的决定性因素，而免疫挑战或突然的体重减轻可能会损害繁殖季节内基于色素的着色的维持。我们转移了蜥蜴Psammodromus algirus的雄性在与道路的距离、植被结构和捕食者丰度不同的两个采样点之间。我们分析了同年和次年它们的色块光谱反射率的变化。蜥蜴在第一个繁殖季节内颜色斑块反射率的变化是由小区和处理之间的相互作用来解释的，而不是身体状况。仅在那些靠近道路易位的雄性中，繁殖颜色的维持受到损害，这可能反映了它是P. algirus的劣质栖息地. 第二年，产生更精细颜色的蜥蜴是那些改善了身体状况并控制了一些寄生虫感染的蜥蜴，尽管其他蜥蜴的感染有所增加。这项研究表明，在P. algirus中产生的色块是可塑性的。蜥蜴增加寄生虫或减轻体重会减少色素沉着，尽管栖息地质量可以缓冲这些对色素沉着的负面影响。然而，并非所有寄生虫都会限制对着色的投资。事实上，在那些将更多颜料分配给色块的蜥蜴中，有些增加了。总之，实验操作后的纵向研究有助于理解蜥蜴的色素分配规则。

意义陈述

动物色块中涉及的颜料限制了可以从皮肤重新分配给其他功能的资源。然而，这种现象的纵向证据在爬行动物中很少见。我们设计了一个操纵性标记重新捕获实验来研究栖息地和寄生虫感染对雄性自由放养蜥蜴的颜色斑块维持（年内变化）和生产（年间变化）的影响，这些蜥蜴在两个栖息地斑块之间相互转移质量不同。在第一年，蜥蜴转移到有更多捕食者和更差植被的栖息地使它们的颜色变得贫瘠，而转移到更有利栖息地的蜥蜴尽管所有转移的蜥蜴都处于松散状态，但仍保持着它的颜色。