Martín José, López Pilar
Departamento de Ecología Evolutiva, Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales, CSIC, José Gutiérrez Abascal 2, 28006 Madrid, Spain.
Departamento de Ecología Evolutiva, Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales, CSIC, José Gutiérrez Abascal 2, 28006 Madrid, Spain.
Horm Behav. 2015 Feb;68:14-24. doi: 10.1016/j.yhbeh.2014.06.009. Epub 2014 Jun 18.
This article is part of a Special Issue "Chemosignals and Reproduction". Many lizards have diverse glands that produce chemosignals used in intraspecific communication and that can have reproductive consequences. For example, information in chemosignals of male lizards can be used in intrasexual competition to identify and assess the fighting potential or dominance status of rival males either indirectly through territorial scent-marks or during agonistic encounters. Moreover, females of several lizard species "prefer" to establish or spend more time on areas scent-marked by males with compounds signaling a better health or body condition or a higher genetic compatibility, which can have consequences for their mating success and inter-sexual selection processes. We review here recent studies that suggest that the information content of chemosignals of lizards may be reliable because several physiological and endocrine processes would regulate the proportions of chemical compounds available for gland secretions. Because chemosignals are produced by the organism or come from the diet, they should reflect physiological changes, such as different hormonal levels (e.g. testosterone or corticosterone) or different health states (e.g. parasitic infections, immune response), and reflect the quality of the diet of an individual. More importantly, some compounds that may function as chemosignals also have other important functions in the organism (e.g. as antioxidants or regulating the immune system), so there could be trade-offs between allocating these compounds to attending physiological needs or to produce costly sexual "chemical ornaments". All these factors may contribute to maintain chemosignals as condition-dependent sexual signals, which can inform conspecifics on the characteristics and state of the sender and allow making behavioral decisions with reproductive consequences. To understand the evolution of chemical secretions of lizards as sexual signals and their relevance in reproduction, future studies should examine what information the signals are carrying, the physiological processes that can maintain the reliability of the message and how diverse behavioral responses to chemosignals may influence reproductive success.
本文是《化学信号与繁殖》特刊的一部分。许多蜥蜴拥有多种腺体，这些腺体产生用于种内交流的化学信号，并且可能会产生繁殖方面的影响。例如，雄性蜥蜴化学信号中的信息可用于种内竞争，通过领地气味标记或在争斗相遇期间间接识别和评估竞争对手雄性的战斗潜力或优势地位。此外，几种蜥蜴物种的雌性“更喜欢”在由雄性用信号表明更好健康状况或身体条件或更高遗传兼容性的化合物标记的区域建立领地或花费更多时间，这可能对它们的交配成功和两性选择过程产生影响。我们在此回顾近期的研究，这些研究表明蜥蜴化学信号的信息内容可能是可靠的，因为若干生理和内分泌过程会调节腺体分泌物中可用化合物的比例。由于化学信号由生物体产生或来自饮食，它们应反映生理变化，如不同的激素水平（如睾酮或皮质酮）或不同的健康状态（如寄生虫感染、免疫反应），并反映个体饮食的质量。更重要的是，一些可能充当化学信号的化合物在生物体中还具有其他重要功能（如作为抗氧化剂或调节免疫系统），因此在将这些化合物分配用于满足生理需求或用于产生代价高昂的性“化学装饰”之间可能存在权衡。所有这些因素可能有助于将化学信号维持为依赖条件的性信号，这些信号可以向同种个体传达发送者的特征和状态，并允许做出具有繁殖后果的行为决策。为了理解蜥蜴化学分泌物作为性信号的进化及其在繁殖中的相关性，未来的研究应研究这些信号携带了什么信息、能够维持信息可靠性的生理过程以及对化学信号的各种行为反应如何可能影响繁殖成功。
