| Title: | Volatile fatty acid and aldehyde abundances evolve with behavior and habitat temperature in Sceloporus lizards |
| Author(s): | Campos SM; Pruett JA; Soini HA; Zuniga-Vega JJ; Goldberg JK; Vital-Garcia C; Hews DK; Novotny MV; Martins EP; |
| Address: | "Department of Biology and Center for the Integrative Study of Animal Behavior, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN, USA. Center for Behavioral Neuroscience, Neuroscience Institute, Georgia State University, Atlanta, GA, USA. Department of Biological Sciences, Southeastern Oklahoma State University, Durant, OK, USA. Department of Chemistry and the Institute for Pheromone Research, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN, USA. Departamento de Ecologia y Recursos Naturales, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico, Circuito Exterior s/n, Ciudad Universitaria, Coyoacan, Ciudad de Mexico, Mexico. Departamento de Ciencias Veterinarias, Universidad Autonoma de Ciudad Juarez, Anillo envolvente y Estocolmo s/n, Zona PRONAF, Juarez, Chihuahua, CP, Mexico. Department of Biology, Indiana State University, Terre Haute, IN, USA. School of Life Sciences, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, USA" |
| ISSN/ISBN: | 1045-2249 (Print) 1465-7279 (Electronic) 1045-2249 (Linking) |
| Abstract: | "Animal signals evolve by striking a balance between the need to convey information through particular habitats and the limitations of what types of signals can most easily be produced and perceived. Here, we present new results from field measures of undisturbed behavior and biochemical analyses of scent marks from 12 species of Sceloporus lizards to explore whether evolutionary changes in chemical composition are better predicted by measures of species behavior, particularly those associated with visual displays, chemoreception, and locomotion, or by measures of habitat climate (precipitation and temperature). We found that more active lizard species used fewer compounds in their volatile scent marks, perhaps conveying less specific information about individual and species identity. Scent marks from more active lizard species also had higher proportions of saturated fatty acids, and the evolution of these compounds has been tracking the phylogeny closely as we would expect for a metabolic byproduct. In contrast, the proportions of unsaturated fatty acids were better explained by evolutionary shifts in habitat temperature (and not precipitation), with species in warmer climates using almost no volatile unsaturated fatty acids. The proportion of aldehydes was explained by both behavior and environment, decreasing with behavioral activity and increasing with habitat temperature. Our results highlight the evolutionary flexibility of complex chemical signals, with different chemical compounds responding to different elements of the selective landscape over evolutionary time" |
| Keywords: | behavioral activity Sceloporus chemical signal femoral secretion habitat temperature volatile organic compounds;Neuroscience; |
| Notes: | "PubMed-not-MEDLINECampos, Stephanie M Pruett, Jake A Soini, Helena A Zuniga-Vega, J Jaime Goldberg, Jay K Vital-Garcia, Cuauhcihuatl Hews, Diana K Novotny, Milos V Martins, Emilia P eng 2020/08/09 Behav Ecol. 2020 Jul-Aug; 31(4):978-991. doi: 10.1093/beheco/araa044. Epub 2020 May 20" |
