Phenotypic diversity and its relationship with reproductive potential in changing social contexts in a lizard model

LÓPEZ JURI, GUADALUPE; NICOLA ROSSI; CHIARAVIGLIO, MARGARITA; CARDOZO, GABRIELA

Biological Journal of the Linnean Society

OXFORD ACADEMIC

Año: 2020

1095-8312

Phenotype in lizards is related to reproductive function, and hence to reproductive output. Besides the intraspecific diversity in phenotypes, their temporal variation throughout the reproductive season in relation to the variation of social contexts builds extra complexity into sexual selection scenarios. One interesting model for understanding phenotypic diversity dynamics is Tropidurus spinulosus because it presents sexual dimorphism in different phenotypic traits, dichromatism in regions related to reproductive behavior and it has intense social reproductive interactions. We aimed to evaluate how the reproductive and phenotypic traits of individuals vary with changing social contexts, and how intrasexual phenotypic diversity and reproductive potential are explained by the phenotypic traits. In this study, we used data obtained during five consecutive breeding seasons in a wild population (2014? 2019). The social context, characterized according to the operative sex ratio, varied between months and, therefore, some phenotypic and reproductive traits also varied. We found that body robustness and chromatic diversity were the main sources of phenotypic diversity and were related to reproductive traits in both sexes. Our results help to understand the dynamics and reproductive meaning of phenotypic diversity in changing social contexts in a lizard social model.