Laboratorio di Zoologia, Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra e dell'Ambiente, Università di Pavia, Pavia 27100, Italy
Laboratorio di Zoologia, Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra e dell'Ambiente, Università di Pavia, Pavia 27100, Italy.
Biol Open. 2020 Jun 4;9(6):bio052415. doi: 10.1242/bio.052415.
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 () 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.
在时空尺度上的环境异质性促进了生物体可塑性地改变颜色的能力。捕食风险可能有利于颜色模式表型可塑性的进化，因为那些全年改变颜色的个体可能能够提高它们的适应性。在这里，我们在意大利南部一个地中海自然区域的活动期间，在三个时间点（3 月、7 月、10 月）探索了意大利壁蜥（）背部色素沉着的变化。在 2018 年进行初步调查之后，我们在 2019 年捕获了 135 只蜥蜴，并拍摄了它们的腹鳞照片，以检查在整个实验期间是否可能再次捕获。在参考图表的支持下，在野外收集蜥蜴背部的图片，以定量估计色度变量（色调、饱和度和值）。同时，还收集了环境背景的图片。我们的研究结果表明，蜥蜴能够在季节性变化过程中改变背部颜色。它们从春天开始时的绿色，到夏天中期的棕色，再到 10 月的灰色。这种变化与环境背景颜色的变化密切相关，并在每个季节增强了蜥蜴的伪装。
