Sensory response patterns and the evolution of visual signal design in anoline lizards |
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Authors: | M H Persons L J Fleishman M A Frye M E Stimphil |
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Institution: | (1) Department of Biological Sciences, Union College, Schenectady, NY 12308, USA e-mail: Fleishman@union.edu Tel.: +1-518-388-6332; Fax: +1-518-388-6429, US;(2) Department of Zoology, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195, USA, US;(3) Department of Zoology, Miami University, Oxford, OH 45056, USA, US |
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Abstract: | The evolutionary relationship between visual system response and visual signal design was investigated in four species of
anoline lizards which occupy distinctly different habitats. Anoles display with motion patterns of a colorful throat fan called
the dewlap. We assessed signal visibility by recording evoked potentials from the optic tectum in response to a moving stimulus
flag (a dewlap-like stimulus), and, in one species, by testing behavioral response. The motion pattern, intensity and spectral
quality of the stimulus flag, and the background against which it was viewed, were independently manipulated. In all cases,
high-velocity motion patterns with a high percentage of brightness contrast between stimulus and background produced the greatest
response. Differences in spectral quality between stimulus and background (color contrast) had no effect on tectal responses,
but did influence the behaviorally measured detection probability. Using habitat light data we estimated the visibility of
the dewlap of each species in different natural habitats. Each species' dewlap was highly visible in its own habitat, but
some were much less visible in the habitats of some other species. Habitat light conditions and visual system response properties
appear to have constrained the evolution of dewlap design, in at least some of the species.
Accepted: May 1998 |
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Keywords: | Anolis Optic tectum Dewlap Color Brightness |
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