Effects of chemical and visual exposure to adults on growth, hormones, and behavior of juvenile green iguanas

Alberts, Allison C.; Jackintell, Lori A.; Phillips, John A.

doi:10.1016/0031-9384(94)90378-6

Cited by 27 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 36 publications

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“…observations) and predation risks (Martinez-Solano 2001) undertaken from encounters with adult males are minimised. In accordance with this hypothesis, juveniles of other lizards were shown to innately discriminate chemical cues from their predators (Van Damme et al 1995) and to suffer increased chronic stress when exposed to chemosignals from socially dominant males (Alberts et al 1994).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 55%

Discrimination of conspecific faecal chemicals and spatial decisions in juvenile Iberian rock lizards (Lacerta monticola)

2008

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Faeces play a role in intraspecific chemical communication in many vertebrates, including lizards. Here, we hypothesised that juvenile Iberian rock lizards (Lacerta (=Iberolacerta) monticola) use substrate-borne conspecific faecal chemicals to assess the social environment and base their spatial decisions. To test this hypothesis, we prepared chemical stimuli by dissolving faeces in an organic solvent (dichloromethane, DCM) and conducted chemosensory trials where we quantified latency to the first tongue flick (TF) and TF rates when young captive-borne juveniles were placed in an arena compartment whose substrate was labelled by (1) a control (DCM), (2) their own faecal chemicals, (3) faecal chemicals of another juvenile, (4) faecal chemicals of an adult female or (5) faecal chemicals of an adult male. Following TF observations, we removed a partition that separated the labelled compartment from a chemically unlabelled one, and recorded for 5 min when juveniles first crossed to the unlabelled compartment and total time spent in the labelled compartment. Each juvenile was tested with all stimuli in a randomised order. In addition, juveniles belonged to different families and were unrelated to and unfamiliar with faeces donors. Taken together, TF and spatial responses toward stimuli indicate that juveniles discriminated between faecal chemicals of conspecific juveniles, adult females and males, and that they avoided remaining in substrates labelled by adult male faecal chemicals. We suggest that juveniles assess the social environment based on conspecific faecal chemicals thus avoiding aggression and cannibalistic risks undertaken from encounters with adult males.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 55%

Discrimination of conspecific faecal chemicals and spatial decisions in juvenile Iberian rock lizards (Lacerta monticola)

2008

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“…This leads to reduced growth rates and lower T levels in juveniles, which may explain their reduced frequencies of headbob displays (Alberts et al, 1994) and should also decrease production of chemosignals. However, social stress does not affect diameter of femoral pores in juvenile males, in spite of another study showing that pore size is positively correlated with plasma T levels in juveniles (Alberts et al, 1992a).…”

Section: Stress Hormonesmentioning

confidence: 98%

Condition-dependent chemosignals in reproductive behavior of lizards

Martı́n

López

2015

Hormones and Behavior

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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.

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“…Corticosterone implants lowered plasma testosterone levels in male side‐blotched lizards but did not influence courtship behaviors (DeNardo & Licht, 1993), and trapped alligators ( Alligator mississippiensis ) had elevated plasma corticosterone and low testosterone (Lance & Elsey, 1986; Lance et al, 2004). Similarly, juvenile male green iguanas ( Iguana iguana ) exposed to stressful stimuli had higher concentrations of corticosterone, lower levels of T, and displayed fewer head bobs (Alberts et al, 1994). These studies show consistent evidence that rising levels of corticosterone have a pronounced impact on hormone levels and reproductive behavior, but this effect may differ across species.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Neural control of reproduction in reptiles

Shankey,

Cohen

2024

J Exp Zool Pt A

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Reptiles display considerable diversity in reproductive behavior, making them great models to study the neuroendocrine control of reproductive behavior. Many reptile species are seasonally breeding, such that they become reproductively active during their breeding season and regress to a nonreproductive state during their nonbreeding season, with this transition often prompted by environmental cues. In this review, we will focus on summarizing the neural and neuroendocrine mechanisms controlling reproductive behavior. Three major areas of the brain are involved in reproductive behavior: the preoptic area (POA), amygdala, and ventromedial hypothalamus (VMH). The POA and VMH are sexually dimorphic areas, regulating behaviors in males and females respectively, and all three areas display seasonal plasticity. Lesions to these areas disrupt the onset and maintenance of reproductive behaviors, but the exact roles of these regions vary between sexes and species. Different hormones influence these regions to elicit seasonal transitions. Circulating testosterone (T) and estradiol (E2) peak during the breeding season and their influence on reproduction is well‐documented across vertebrates. The conversion of T into E2 and 5α‐dihydrotestosterone can also affect behavior. Melatonin and corticosterone have generally inhibitory effects on reproductive behavior, while serotonin and other neurohormones seem to stimulate it. In general, there is relatively little information on the neuroendocrine control of reproduction in reptiles compared to other vertebrate groups. This review highlights areas that should be considered for future areas of research.

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Effects of chemical and visual exposure to adults on growth, hormones, and behavior of juvenile green iguanas

Cited by 27 publications

References 36 publications

Discrimination of conspecific faecal chemicals and spatial decisions in juvenile Iberian rock lizards (Lacerta monticola)

Discrimination of conspecific faecal chemicals and spatial decisions in juvenile Iberian rock lizards (Lacerta monticola)

Condition-dependent chemosignals in reproductive behavior of lizards

Neural control of reproduction in reptiles

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