Leu Stephan T, Jackson Grant, Roddick John F, Bull C Michael
School of Biological Sciences, Flinders University , Adelaide, South Australia , Australia.
School of Computer Science, Engineering and Mathematics, Flinders University , Adelaide, South Australia , Australia.
PeerJ. 2016 Mar 22;4:e1844. doi: 10.7717/peerj.1844. eCollection 2016.
Individual movement influences the spatial and social structuring of a population. Animals regularly use the same paths to move efficiently to familiar places, or to patrol and mark home ranges. We found that Australian sleepy lizards (Tiliqua rugosa), a monogamous species with stable pair-bonds, repeatedly used the same paths within their home ranges and investigated whether path re-use functions as a scent-marking behaviour, or whether it is influenced by site familiarity. Lizards can leave scent trails on the substrate when moving through the environment and have a well-developed vomeronasal system to detect and respond to those scents. Path re-use would allow sleepy lizards to concentrate scent marks along these well-used trails, advertising their presence. Hypotheses of mate attraction and mating competition predict that sleepy lizard males, which experience greater intra-sexual competition, mark more strongly. Consistent with those hypotheses, males re-used their paths more than females, and lizards that showed pairing behaviour with individuals of the opposite sex re-used paths more than unpaired lizards, particularly among females. Hinterland marking is most economic when home ranges are large and mobility is low, as is the case in the sleepy lizard. Consistent with this strategy, re-used paths were predominantly located in the inner 50% home range areas. Together, our detailed movement analyses suggest that path re-use is a scent marking behaviour in the sleepy lizard. We also investigated but found less support for alternative explanations of path re-use behaviour, such as site familiarity and spatial knowledge. Lizards established the same number of paths, and used them as often, whether they had occupied their home ranges for one or for more years. We discuss our findings in relation to maintenance of the monogamous mating system of this species, and the spatial and social structuring of the population.
个体的移动会影响种群的空间结构和社会结构。动物经常沿着相同的路径高效地移动到熟悉的地方，或者进行巡逻和标记领地范围。我们发现，澳大利亚鬃狮蜥（Tiliqua rugosa）是一种具有稳定配偶关系的一夫一妻制物种，它们在领地范围内会反复使用相同的路径，并研究路径重复使用是否起到气味标记行为的作用，或者它是否受到对地点熟悉程度的影响。蜥蜴在穿越环境时会在基质上留下气味痕迹，并且拥有发达的犁鼻器系统来检测和响应这些气味。路径重复使用会使鬃狮蜥能够将气味标记集中在这些常用路径上，从而表明它们的存在。配偶吸引和交配竞争的假说预测，经历更大种内竞争的鬃狮蜥雄性会有更强烈的标记行为。与这些假说一致的是，雄性比雌性更频繁地重复使用它们的路径，并且与异性个体表现出配对行为的蜥蜴比未配对的蜥蜴更频繁地重复使用路径，尤其是在雌性中。当领地范围大且移动性低时，如鬃狮蜥的情况，腹地标记最为经济。与这种策略一致的是，重复使用的路径主要位于领地范围内部的50%区域。总之，我们详细的移动分析表明，路径重复使用是鬃狮蜥的一种气味标记行为。我们还进行了调查，但发现对路径重复使用行为的其他解释，如地点熟悉度和空间知识，支持较少。蜥蜴建立的路径数量相同，并且使用频率也相同，无论它们已经占据领地范围一年还是多年。我们结合该物种一夫一妻制交配系统的维持以及种群的空间和社会结构来讨论我们的研究结果。
