SynthesisProceedings. Biological sciences2015
Sex differences in lizard escape decisions vary with latitude, but not sexual dimorphism.
Synthesis in Proceedings. Biological sciences, 2015. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 6 papers.
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Who cites it
6 citing papers in PubMed, 32 citations in OpenAlex.
- Sex-specific behavioral flexibility in rapid adaptation to a new environment.Frontiers in zoology · 2025Article
- Metamorphosis Reverses the Behavioral Phenotype inEcology and evolution · 2025Article
- Geographical variation in nest defense among cinereous tit populations in China.Current zoology · 2023Article
- Article
- Anti-predator behavior along elevational and latitudinal gradients in dark-eyed juncos.Current zoology · 2020Article
- The evolution of autotomy in leaf-footed bugs.Evolution; international journal of organic evolution · 2020Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
5 authors at 3 institutions in 3 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Sexual selection is a powerful evolutionary mechanism that has shaped the physiology, behaviour and morphology of the sexes to the extent that it can reduce viability while promoting traits that enhance reproductive success. Predation is one of the underlying mechanisms accounting for viability costs of sexual displays. Therefore, we should expect that individuals of the two sexes adjust their anti-predator behaviour in response to changes in predation risk. We conducted a meta-analysis of 28 studies (42 species) of sex differences in risk-taking behaviour in lizards and tested whether these differences could be explained by sexual dichromatism, by sexual size dimorphism or by latitude. Latitude was the best predictor of the interspecific heterogeneity in sex-specific behaviour. Males did not change their escape behaviour with latitude, whereas females had increasingly reduced wariness at higher latitudes. We hypothesize that this sex difference in risk-taking behaviour is linked to sex-specific environmental constraints that more strongly affect the reproductive effort of females than males. This novel latitudinal effect on sex-specific anti-predator behaviour has important implications for responses to climate change and for the relative roles of natural and sexual selection in different species.
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Registered trials
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