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Shouting the odds: vocalization signals status in a lizard

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Abstract

Many species possess multiple sexually dimorphic traits, which incorporate different sensory modalities (e.g., acoustic, olfactory and visual), although their relative roles in sexual selection and in determining reproductive success are still poorly understood for most taxa. We assessed the role of multiple male traits, including one acoustic (dominant call frequency) and one visual (yellow throat patch) trait, in residency advertisement, contest behavior, and breeding success in barking geckos (Ptenopus garrulus garrulus). We show that male barking geckos maintain largely exclusive home ranges, with a trend for larger males to maintain larger home ranges. We also show that larger males have a lower dominant calling frequency. When aggressive behavior was elicited in the field using a recorded call of average frequency, resident males with low frequency calls were more likely to respond aggressively and charge the speaker compared to males with high frequency calls. However, body size and small relative throat patch size, rather than call frequency, were the best predictors of overall aggressiveness. Body size was also the best predictor of whether males bred. We suggest that call frequency in this crepuscular species constitutes an effective long-range signal of body size, used by males for remote rival assessment and to advertise home range boundaries in low-light environments.

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Acknowledgment

We thank the Northwest Parks Board for the permission to conduct this study and access to Molopo Nature Reserve and S. Gore, G. Botha, and I. Botha for the support while in Molopo NR. We had assistance in the field from R. Gallagher, D. Laurencio, L. Laurencio, K. Hodges, T. McIntyre, W. Reisinger, and I. Stirneman. This study complies with all laws of South Africa and the Northwest Province. Fieldwork in Molopo Nature Reserve was conducted under a permit issued by the Northwest Province, and we obtained animal ethics clearance from the University of the Witwatersrand Animal Ethics Screening Committee (2003/29/2A).

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  1. Toby J. Hibbitts

    Present address: Texas Cooperative Wildlife Collection, Department of Wildlife and Fisheries Sciences, Texas A&M University, 2258 TAMU, College Station, TX, 77843-2258, USA

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Animal, Plant, and Environmental Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Private Bag 3, Wits, 2050, South Africa

    Toby J. Hibbitts, Martin J. Whiting & Devi M. Stuart-Fox

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  1. Toby J. Hibbitts
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Correspondence to Toby J. Hibbitts.

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Communicated by W. Cooper

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Hibbitts, T.J., Whiting, M.J. & Stuart-Fox, D.M. Shouting the odds: vocalization signals status in a lizard. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 61, 1169–1176 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00265-006-0330-x

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