Paint Marking Lizards: Does the Color Affect Survivorship?

Abstract

Mark and recapture techniques are widely used in studying lizard populations. The most common method involves clipping toes and painting the animal with a quick drying enamel paint, such as Testors? model airplane paint (e.g., Blair, 1960; Tinkle, 1967). Such marking allows for the identification of lizards without requiring continual recaptures. These paint marks can be individualized by varying the symbols, locations, and colors. When a lizard sheds, it is recaptured, identified by the combination of toes that have been clipped, and repainted. Until recently, researchers have either assumed that lizard mortality is unaffected by paint marking (Tinkle, 1967) or have stated that they do not know its effects (Blair, 1960). Paint marking lizards definitely makes the animals more conspicuous to the human eye and it is possible that they are also more conspicuous to visually oriented predators, such as birds. Jones and Ferguson (1980) tested the effect of painting Sceloporus undulatus one of two bright colors, yellow or orange, versus no paint at all. They found no significant difference in the proportions of painted and non-painted lizards recovered each year. Thus, paint marking the lizards did not seem to increase their probability of being detected by predators. They did note, however, an almost significant difference between painted and non-painted lizards the year they used orange, instead of yellow, paint. Due to the lack of observations regarding the effect of paint marking on lizard survivorship, and because of the ease of designing such studies in conjunction with those of broader scope, we planned our study to test the effect of several different colors, some cryptic and some conspicuous to the human eye, on the survivorship of Sceloporus jarrovi. S. jarrovi is an iguanid lizard found in rocky areas at elevations between 1500 and 2600 m in