Persistent effect of incubation temperature on stress-induced behavior in the Yucatan banded gecko (Coleonyx elegans)
Abstract
The mechanisms maintaining variability in behavioral traits are insufficiently known. We examined whether differences in thermal environment during egg incubation can permanently organize nonsocial behavior across different contexts and situations in a lizard.
We incubated eggs of the Yucatan banded gecko at 3 temperatures (26, 28, and 30 °C) and raised juveniles under the same conditions until adulthood. We then subjected them to 3 behavioral tests within 2 different contexts: an open-field test and a test of antipredator behavior - stressful context (SC) and a test of feeding behavior (FB) - nonstressful context.
Individuals (30 °C) of both sexes were consistently less active and showed lower frequencies of several stereotypic behaviors in the SC than did individuals (26, 28 °C). The FB revealed no effect of incubation temperature on behavior.
Thus, study demonstrates that developmental plasticity may play an important role in producing variability in stress-induced behavior in lizards.