Publication details
Extravagancia. Má vôbec zmysel?
| Title in English | Extravagancy. Is there a sense? |
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| Authors | |
| Year of publication | 2018 |
| Type | Conference abstract |
| MU Faculty or unit | |
| Citation | |
| Attached files | |
| Description | Extravagancy. Is there a sense? The coloration of an individual has a several functions, all of them saving single goal. To maximize the transfer of genes by producing as many nex-generation offspring as possible. The simplicity of this task gets complicated with by need to balance between reproduction success and the risk of predation. The coloration of lizards should advertise the individual´s fitness for the mating partner and simultaneously repel competitors without need of fighting. This kind of self-presentation comes with higher energy cost and with the risk of predation as well. The complexity of the whole system gets elevated by huge diversity of habitats within whole areal of the species distribution, and, moreover by the visual sensory capacity of the eyes of both potential partners and predators, to perceive colour spectrum. The selection should thus tend to eliminate from populations those colour patterns, which more often fail in particular niche. In our study of colour polymorphism in Sand lizard (Lacerta agilis), we focused on quantifying the difference of coloration of individuals during the seasons, and at several localities. The Sand lizard presents suitable model for study of coloration in ecological context. Several colour morphs are known, and the coloration is changing during the year and during the ontogenetic stages as well. By the quantitative methods of picture analysis, we standardized particulars colour morphs and thus determined deviations for less common colour morphs from standard coloration. We also created a mechanistic evolution model of coloration of the Sand lizard. |