Scatting behaviour of the sleepy lizard,<i>Tiliqua rugosa</i>

Fenner, Aaron L.; Majoros, Peter N.; Bull, C. Michael

doi:10.1080/03721426.2015.1074341

Cited by 4 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 55 publications

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“…For enteric bacteria with a fecal-oral transmission pathway among individual hosts, the pattern of fecal deposition by the host is an important ecological consideration. Sleepy lizards appear to scat haphazardly as they move around their home ranges (21). Our aim was to describe any spatial patterning and subspecies diversity of S. enterica within individual sleepy lizards and to determine whether any spatial patterns were driven primarily by the environment outside the host or by competition among subspecies within the host.…”

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confidence: 99%

Spatial Variation and Survival of Salmonella enterica Subspecies in a Population of Australian Sleepy Lizards (Tiliqua rugosa)

Parsons

Bull

Gordon

2015

Appl Environ Microbiol

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bThe life cycles of many enteric bacterial species require a transition between two very distinct environments. Their primary habitat is the gastrointestinal tract of the host, while their secondary habitat, during transmission from one host to another, consists of environments external to the host, such as soil, water, and sediments. Consequently, both host and environmental factors shape the genetic structure of enteric bacterial populations. This study examined the distribution of four Salmonella enterica subspecies in a population of sleepy lizards, Tiliqua rugosa, in a semiarid region of South Australia. The lizards living within the 1,920-m by 720-m study site were radio tracked, and their enteric bacteria were sampled at regular intervals throughout their active seasons in the years 2001, 2002, and 2006. Four of the six subspecies of S. enterica were present in this population and were nonrandomly distributed among the lizards. In particular, S. enterica subsp. diarizonae was restricted to lizards living in the most shaded parts of the study site with an overstorey of Casuarina trees. Experiments undertaken to investigate the survival of S. enterica cells under seminatural conditions revealed that cell survival decreased with increased exposure to elevated temperatures and UV light. Among the three S. enterica subspecies tested, S. enterica subsp. diarizonae consistently had an average expected life span that was shorter than that observed for the other two subspecies. There was no indication in the data that there was any competitive dominance hierarchy among the S. enterica subspecies within individual hosts. Thus, the nonrandom distribution of S. enterica subspecies in this population of lizards appears to be driven by their different survival characteristics in the external environment.

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confidence: 99%

Spatial Variation and Survival of Salmonella enterica Subspecies in a Population of Australian Sleepy Lizards (Tiliqua rugosa)

Parsons

Bull

Gordon

2015

Appl Environ Microbiol

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“…Unlike other species in the sub‐family Egerniinae, sleepy lizards do not make use of scat piling to indicate occupancy of their home ranges, but rather likely employ other forms of scent marking (Fenner et al . ; Leu et al . ).…”

Section: Distribution and Habitatmentioning

confidence: 99%

The natural history of the sleepy lizard, Tiliqua rugosa (Gray, 1825) – Insight from chance observations and long‐term research on a common Australian skink species

Norval

Gardner

2019

Austral Ecology

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In an effort to better understand the dynamics of the parapatric boundary in South Australia of the ticks Amblyomma limbatum and Bothriocroton hydrosauri the late Professor C. Michael Bull initiated studies into the ecology of sleepy lizards (Tiliqua rugosa), a common host of these parasites. These studies spanned a period of about 40 years and examined aspects such as monogamy, long-term mate fidelity, social networks, personality, resource use and the transmission of parasites and other pathogens. This review incorporates the results of these studies with other information about this species to provide a comprehensive overview of its natural history, highlighting not only what is known, but also indicates areas that require further study.

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“…Despite this, few studies to date have focused on space use and refuge choice. Fenner et al () found that rather than scat‐piling, Tiliqua rugosa (sleepy lizard) scat haphazardly within their home range. In contrast, Tiliqua adelaidensis (pygmy bluetongue) consistently scat in a direction aligned with the refuge of the nearest neighbour (Fenner & Bull ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Scat on the doorstep: Refuge choice in a group‐living lizard is influenced by the presence of scat piles

et al. 2020

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Group living often requires strong levels of communication between individuals. This communication is usually studied in the context of visual or auditory communication. However, chemical communication is the most widely used form of communication. We examined the role of chemical communication in mediating social decisions in a group-living lizard, Egernia stokesii. Specifically, we examined the extent to which scat-piling, a behaviour by which individuals deposit scat in a communal area, affected the refuge choice of individual E. stokesii. To achieve this, we examined individual refuge choice in response to scat piles or single scats and against two types of scat stimuli, one being their own scat and the other being scat belonging to an unrelated and unfamiliar conspecific. We show that lizards behave differently when presented with a scat pile compared with a single scat, and whether the scat stimulus was their own or sourced from an unfamiliar conspecific. When scats were in piles, individuals spent more time inspecting, more time in, and more often chose the treatment refuge as their final refuge choice, at a trial's end, when the treatment was their own scat compared with when the treatment was the refuge with the unfamiliar scat. In contrast, for individual scat treatments, individuals spent more time inspecting and more often ended up in the treatment refuge with an unfamiliar scat compared with when the treatment was their own scat. These results suggest that individuals are responding to information contained within multiple components of the scatsboth their volume and their source. These results have implications for understanding how social aggregations are maintained within squamates, where sociality has evolved independently from other vertebrate lineages.

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Scatting behaviour of the sleepy lizard,Tiliqua rugosa

Cited by 4 publications

References 55 publications

Spatial Variation and Survival of Salmonella enterica Subspecies in a Population of Australian Sleepy Lizards (Tiliqua rugosa)

Spatial Variation and Survival of Salmonella enterica Subspecies in a Population of Australian Sleepy Lizards (Tiliqua rugosa)

The natural history of the sleepy lizard, Tiliqua rugosa (Gray, 1825) – Insight from chance observations and long‐term research on a common Australian skink species

Scat on the doorstep: Refuge choice in a group‐living lizard is influenced by the presence of scat piles

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