Behavioral responses to plant toxins by two omnivorous lizard species

Cooper, William E.; Pérez-Mellado, Valentı́n; Vitt, Laurie J.; Budzinsky, Brandy

doi:10.1016/s0031-9384(02)00715-1

Cited by 18 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 21 publications

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“…The lizards were able to detect the quinine even though the tomato juice was believed to mask the odour and flavour of the alkaloid. In another study, C. murinus was unable to detect quinine (15 mM) through tongue-flicking when it was presented on a tile (Cooper et al 2002). The geckos in our experiment did not tongue-flick towards the food source, but did pump their throats when approaching the test solution.…”

Section: Discussioncontrasting

confidence: 59%

“…Tadmor-Melamed et al 2004;Singaravelan et al 2005;Kessler et al 2012). Lizards are able to detect alkaloids in their diet via smell and taste (Schall 1990;Cooper et al 2002). Whiptail lizards (Cnemidophorus) avoided quinine-treated solutions after tongue-flicking and responded negatively after quinine ingestion by opening their mouths widely and scraping them against the ground (Schall 1990).…”

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confidence: 99%

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Coloured and Toxic Nectar: Feeding Choices of the Madagascar Giant Day Gecko, Phelsuma grandis

et al. 2013

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Coloured nectar is a rare phenomenon best known from islands and insular habitats. Islands are also known for lizard pollination, where coloured nectar potentially acts as a visual cue to attract pollinators, advertising the sweet reward. However, nectar may also contain secondary metabolites with toxic or deterrent effects. The aim of this study was to determine which factors are important as artificial nectar choice determinants to the Madagascar giant day gecko, Phelsuma grandis, an island pollinator: artificial nectar colour, artificial nectar colour saturation, artificial nectar conspicuousness and/or the presence of the alkaloid nicotine. Coloured artificial nectar and the darkest artificial nectar colour saturation were found to be important visual cues for the geckos, while the contrast between artificial nectar and petal colour was not. Geckos were deterred only by high nicotine concentrations (1000 lM in 0.63 M sucrose) and may even prefer low nicotine concentrations to sucrose-only solutions. Given their overall fondness for sugar solutions, Madagascar giant day geckos are likely to be important pollinators of Malagasy plant species that produce enough nectar to attract them, and plants with coloured nectar and/or secondary metabolites may have evolved those traits to attract the geckos in particular.The role of lizards as seed dispersers and pollinators is relatively unknown among animal-plant interactions. Most reports of nectar consumption by lizards are from islands. Lizards may reach relatively high densities on islands as a result of low predation levels, and insect pollinators are often scarce on islands (reviewed in Olesen & Valido 2003). Consequently, it has been suggested that insectivorous lizards have expanded their diets to include fruit and nectar; this niche broadening has led to their playing unusual roles as pollinators and seed dispersers (Eifler 1995;Traveset & Saez 1997;Olesen & Valido 2003;Kaiser-Bunbury et al. 2009).Another feature of plant-animal interactions on islands is the presence of coloured nectar (Hansen et al. 2007a). Although the information is insufficient, this floral trait appears to be more common in circumstances where invertebrate pollination is limited, such as insularity, high altitudes and where vertebrate pollinators are abundant; these correlates are not necessarily mutually exclusive (Hansen et al. 2007a). In addition to being a visual cue to vertebrate pollinators, it has been suggested that coloured nectar acts as an honest signal, where the flower advertises the strength and presence of its reward: the more saturated the colour of the nectar (i.e. the darker it is) the stronger the signal (Olesen et al. 1998;Johnson et al. 2006;Hansen et al. 2007a).A large variety of nectar colours has been found to occur in nature (Hansen et al. 2007a). Plants that are known or suspected to be pollinated by lizards (Trochetia boutoniana, T. blackburniana and Nesocodon mauritianus) have (human-perceived) coloured nectar in the clear to red range and bell-shaped ...

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Section: Discussioncontrasting

confidence: 59%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Coloured and Toxic Nectar: Feeding Choices of the Madagascar Giant Day Gecko, Phelsuma grandis

et al. 2013

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“…Several lizard species, including the Canarian lizards of the genus Gallo tia, have been shown to respond with tongueflicks to sugar, fat and also to toxins of several plants (Cooper, 1994a,b;Cooper & Pérez-Mellado, 2001a,b,c;Cooper et al, 2002), but this is the first time a lizard is shown to chemically discriminate the presence of pesticide on a fruit. Does this imply that the application of non-specific pesticides could contribute to reduce the rate of consumption of pesticide-treated fruits by lizards?…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Numerous publications have documented the lizards' capacity to detect chemical products produced by plants and other animals (conspecifics or predators) (Cooper, 1989(Cooper, , 1994aFont, 1996;Cooper & Pérez-Mellado, 2001a;Cooper et al, 2002;Font & Desfilis, 2002). Therefore, lizards have the ability to detect (sense) chemical products from several origins, both natural and artificial.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Chemical discrimination of pesticide-treated grapes by lizards (Gallotia galloti palmae, Fam. Lacertidae)

Yanes-Marichal

Francisco-Sánchez²,

Molina‐Borja³

2017

bah

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Lizards from the Canary Islands may act as pests of several cultivated plants. As a case in point, vineyard farmers often complain about the lizards' impact on grapes. Though no specific pesticide is used for lizards, several pesticides are used in vineyards to control for insects, fungi, etc. We therefore tested whether lizards (Gallo tia gallo ti palm ae) could detect and discriminate pesticidetreated from untreated grapes. To answer this question, we performed experiments with adults of both sexes obtained from three localities in La Palma Island. Two of them were a vineyard and a banana plantation that had been treated with pesticides and the other one was in a natural (untreated) site. In the laboratory, lizards were offered simultaneously one untreated (water sprayed) and one treated (with Folithion 50 LE, diluted to 0.1%) grape placed on small plates. The behaviour of the lizards towards the fruits was filmed and subsequently quantified by means of their tongue-flick, licks or bite rates to each of the grapes. Results showed that only lizards from the natural (untreated) site clearly differentiated the two types of grapes, performing significantly more tongue-flicks, licks and bites to the untreated than to the pesticide-treated grapes. Lizards captured at the other two sites (cultivated fields with pesticide treatment), did not show a significantly different response to the two types of grapes. These results suggest that lizards living in or near cultivated fields may be habituated to pesticide-treated food and, therefore, do not clearly discriminate treated from untreated food items. However, another possibility is that natural selection (or maybe resistance) could be responsible by these individuals in the populations showing this kind of pesticide insensitiveness.

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“…Les réponses comportementales aux toxines végétales présentées par des espèces de lézards omnivores, le lézard des Baléares (Podarcis lilfordi) et le lézard arc-en-ciel de Bonnaire (Cnemidophorus murinus), ont montré que ces animaux sont capables d'éviter les facteurs antinutritifs des plantes (comme les saponines) principalement grâce au goût 25 . Lorsqu'on leur présente un bâtonnet de coton trempé dans une solution contenant ces composants des toxines végétales, ces lézards présentent une aversion pour le bâtonnet en réduisant leurs mouvements de langue, évitant le bâtonnet et même frottant leur museau sur le sol du terrarium.…”

Section: Rôle Du Goût Dans Le Comportementunclassified

Comportement des reptiles

Mayer¹,

Bays²

2008

Comprendre Le Comportement Des NAC

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Behavioral responses to plant toxins by two omnivorous lizard species

Cited by 18 publications

References 21 publications

Coloured and Toxic Nectar: Feeding Choices of the Madagascar Giant Day Gecko, Phelsuma grandis

Coloured and Toxic Nectar: Feeding Choices of the Madagascar Giant Day Gecko, Phelsuma grandis

Chemical discrimination of pesticide-treated grapes by lizards (Gallotia galloti palmae, Fam. Lacertidae)

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