Longitudinal effects of habitat quality, body condition, and parasites on colour patches of a multiornamented lizard

Abstract

Ontogeny is expected to be a determinant factor affecting production of colour patches in lizards, while immune challenges or sudden weight loss may impair the maintenance of pigment-based coloration within a breeding season. We translocated males of the lizard Psammodromus algirus between two sampling plots that differed in distance to a road, vegetation structure, and predator abundance. We analysed variation in spectral reflectance of their colour patches the same and the following year. The change in the reflectance of the lizard colour patches within the first breeding season was explained by the interaction between plot and treatment, but not body condition. The maintenance of the breeding coloration was impaired only in those males translocated close to the road, probably reflecting that it is a poor-quality habitat for P. algirus. The following year, lizards that produced a more elaborate coloration were those that increased their body condition and controlled some parasitic infections, although suffered an increase of others. This study shows that colour patch production is plastic in P. algirus. Lizards increasing parasites or losing weight reduced pigmentation, although habitat quality can cushion these negative effects on pigmentation. However, not all parasites constrain the investment in coloration. In fact, some increased in those lizards that allocated more pigments to colour patches. In conclusion, longitudinal studies following experimental manipulation can contribute to understand pigment allocation rules in lizards.Significance statementPigments involved in colour patches of animals are limiting resources that can be reallocated off the skin to other functions. However, longitudinal evidence of this phenomenon is scarce in reptiles. We designed a manipulative mark-recapture experiment to investigate effects of habitat and parasitic infections on colour patch maintenance (within-year variation) and production (between-year variation) in male free-ranging lizards that were reciprocally translocated between two patches of habitat that differed in quality. During the first year, lizards translocated to the habitat with more predators and worse vegetation impoverished their coloration, while lizards translocated to the more favourable habitat maintained it despite all translocated lizards loose body condition. The next year we detected different effects on the coloration of three different parasites investigated, suggesting that coloration can reflect the virulence of the infections.