ArticleDie Naturwissenschaften2016
A structural colour ornament correlates positively with parasite load and body condition in an insular lizard species.
Article in Die Naturwissenschaften, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 20 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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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
20 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 60 citations in OpenAlex.
- Structural colours reflect individual quality: a meta-analysis.Biology letters · 2020Pooled it
- Microorganisms in wild European reptiles: bridging gaps in neglected conditions to inform disease ecology research.International journal for parasitology. Parasites and wildlife · 2025Review
- Natural parasites in conjunction with behavioral and color traits explain male agonistic behaviors in a lizard.Current zoology · 2024Article
- Too much information? Males convey parasite levels using more signal modalities than females utilise.The Journal of experimental biology · 2024Article
- Mate choice is affected by parasite infestation rate of the choosing individual as well as of potential mating partners.Current zoology · 2023Article
- Morphology, Behaviour and Evolution ofAnimals : an open access journal from MDPI · 2023Review
- Ornaments indicate parasite load only if they are dynamic or parasites are contagious.Evolution letters · 2023Article
- Offspring plumage coloration as a condition-dependent signal in the blue tit.Ecology and evolution · 2023Article
- Environmental conditions and male quality traits simultaneously explain variation of multiple colour signals in male lizards.The Journal of animal ecology · 2022Article
- Polysaccharide metabolism regulates structural colour in bacterial colonies.Journal of the Royal Society, Interface · 2022Article
- Shared haemogregarine infections in competing lacertids.Parasitology · 2022Article
- Do male panther chameleons use different aspects of color change to settle disputes?Die Naturwissenschaften · 2022Article
- Phenological and intrinsic predictors of mite and haemacoccidian infection dynamics in a Mediterranean community of lizards.Parasitology · 2021Article
- Honest signals and sexual conflict: Female lizards carry undesirable indicators of quality.Ecology and evolution · 2021Article
- Relationship between oxidative stress and sexual coloration of lizards depends on thermal habitat.Die Naturwissenschaften · 2019Article
- Glucocorticoids do not influence a secondary sexual trait or its behavioral expression in eastern fence lizards.Scientific reports · 2019Article
- Multiple color patches and parasites inCurrent zoology · 2018Article
- Manipulation of parasite load induces significant changes in the structural-based throat color of male iberian green lizards.Current zoology · 2018Article
- Opposed elevational variation in prevalence and intensity of endoparasites and their vectors in a lizard.Current zoology · 2018Article
- Along for the ride or missing it altogether: exploring the host specificity and diversity of haemogregarines in the Canary Islands.Parasites & vectors · 2018Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
3 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Pigment-based ornaments in vertebrates may reflect the body condition or health status of the individual in correlation with environmental stress and hormonal balance. Among the environmental factors shaping sexual colouration, parasitic infections have been stressed as an important evolutionary pressure constraining the maintenance of pigment-based ornaments. However, the honesty of structure-based ornaments in vertebrates is still under debate. Structural UV-biased ornaments in Gallotia lizards were described as a trait used by conspecifics during mate and rival assessment suggesting the reliability of these signals. We investigated the relationship between parasitaemia, body condition and a structural-based ornament present in the cheek of the sexually dichromatic Canarian lacertid Gallotia galloti in a population with an almost 100 % prevalence of haemoparasites. Using spectrophotometric techniques, we found that males with higher values of cheek UV chroma were infected with more haemoparasites. No significant relationship was found between haemoparasite load and body condition. However, males with higher cheek UV chroma showed significantly better body condition. In addition, we found that cheek hue was significantly related to body condition of individuals in both sexes. In males, cheek reflectivity biased towards the UV range was significantly related to better body condition. In females, those individuals with better body condition showed more whitish cheeks with less UV suggesting that cheek hue serves as an intersexual signal for sex recognition. We conclude that the positive relationship between cheek chroma and parasite load in male lizards is compatible with both differential density of melanin and iridophore arrangement in the dermis conveying an individual's ability to cope with environmental stress.
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Registered trials
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