Dataset Information

Lizard colour plasticity tracks background seasonal changes.

ABSTRACT: Environmental heterogeneity on a spatial and temporal scale fosters an organism's capacity to plastically alter coloration. Predation risk might favour the evolution of phenotypic plasticity in colour patterns, as individuals who change colour throughout the year may be able to improve their fitness. Here we explored the change in dorsal pigmentation of the Italian wall lizard (Podarcis siculus campestris) at three time points (March, July, October) during a period of activity in a Mediterranean natural area in southern Italy. Following a preliminary investigation conducted in 2018, during 2019 we captured 135 lizards and took a picture of their ventral scales to check for possible recapture over the sessions. Lizard dorsal pictures were collected in the field with the support of a reference chart to quantitatively estimate chromatic variables (hue, saturation and value). At the same time, pictures of the environmental background were collected. Our findings suggest that lizards are capable of altering dorsal coloration during seasonal change. They vary from green at the onset of spring, to brownish in the middle of summer and to a greyish colour in October. This modification closely followed environmental background colour variation and enhanced lizard crypsis during each season.

SUBMITTER: Pellitteri-Rosa D

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7286296 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Lizard colour plasticity tracks background seasonal changes.

Pellitteri-Rosa Daniele D Gazzola Andrea A Todisco Simone S Mastropasqua Fabio F Liuzzi Cristiano C

Biology open 20200604 6

Environmental heterogeneity on a spatial and temporal scale fosters an organism's capacity to plastically alter coloration. Predation risk might favour the evolution of phenotypic plasticity in colour patterns, as individuals who change colour throughout the year may be able to improve their fitness. Here we explored the change in dorsal pigmentation of the Italian wall lizard (<i>Podarcis siculus campestris</i>) at three time points (March, July, October) during a period of activity in a Medite ...[more]

PMID: 32414767

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Project description:BackgroundTo facilitate background matching in heterogenous environments, some animals rapidly change body colouration. Marine predatory fishes might use this ability to hide from predators and prey. Here, we focus on scorpionfishes (Scorpaenidae), well-camouflaged, bottom-dwelling sit-and-wait predators. We tested whether Scorpaena maderensis and Scorpaena porcus adjust body luminance and hue in response to three artificial backgrounds and thereby achieve background matching. Both scorpionfish species are also red fluorescent, which could contribute to background matching at depth. Therefore, we tested whether red fluorescence is also regulated in response to different backgrounds. The darkest and the lightest backgrounds were grey, while the third background was orange of intermediate luminance. Scorpionfish were placed on all three backgrounds in a randomised repeated measures design. We documented changes in scorpionfish luminance and hue with image analysis and calculated contrast to the backgrounds. Changes were quantified from the visual perspective of two potential prey fishes, the triplefin Tripterygion delaisi and the goby Pomatoschistus flavescens. Additionally, we measured changes in the area of scorpionfish red fluorescence. Because scorpionfish changed quicker than initially expected, we measured luminance change at a higher temporal resolution in a second experiment.ResultsBoth scorpionfish species rapidly adjusted luminance and hue in response to a change of background. From prey visual perspective, scorpionfishes' body achromatic and chromatic contrasts against the background were high, indicating imperfect background matching. Chromatic contrasts differed considerably between the two observer species, highlighting the importance of choosing natural observers with care when studying camouflage. Scorpionfish displayed larger areas of red fluorescence with increasing luminance of the background. With the second experiment, we showed that about 50% of the total luminance change observed after one minute is achieved very rapidly, in five to ten seconds.ConclusionBoth scorpionfish species change body luminance and hue in response to different backgrounds within seconds. While the achieved background matching was suboptimal for the artificial backgrounds, we propose that the observed changes were intended to reduce detectability, and are an essential strategy to camouflage in the natural environment.

Dataset Information

Lizard colour plasticity tracks background seasonal changes.

Publications

Lizard colour plasticity tracks background seasonal changes.

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