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Colour variation and alternative reproductive strategies in females of the common lizard Lacerta vivipara
Author(s) -
VERCKEN E.,
MASSOT M.,
SINERVO B.,
CLOBERT J.
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
journal of evolutionary biology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.289
H-Index - 128
eISSN - 1420-9101
pISSN - 1010-061X
DOI - 10.1111/j.1420-9101.2006.01208.x
Subject(s) - biology , avian clutch size , lizard , mate choice , zoology , ecology , reproductive success , population , clutch , sexual selection , hatching , variation (astronomy) , reproduction , demography , mating , thermodynamics , physics , sociology , astrophysics
Within‐sex colour variation is a widespread phenomenon in animals that often plays a role in social selection. In males, colour variation is typically associated with the existence of alternative reproductive strategies. Despite ecological conditions theoretically favourable to the emergence of such alternative strategies in females, the social significance of colour variation in females has less commonly been addressed, relative to the attention given to male strategies. In a population of the common lizard, females display three classes of ventral colouration: pale yellow, orange and mixed. These ventral colours are stable through individual's life and maternally heritable. Females of different ventral colourations displayed different responses of clutch size, clutch hatching success and clutch sex‐ratio to several individual and environmental parameters. Such reaction patterns might reflect alternative reproductive strategies in females. Spatial heterogeneity and presence of density‐ and frequency‐dependent feedbacks in the environment could allow for the emergence of such alternative strategies in this population and the maintenance of colour variation in females.