The Emergence and Behavioral Stability of Social Status in Green Anole Lizard (Anolis carolinensis) Dyads
Male green anole lizards engage in behavioral displays and stress-hormone mediated color changes during territorial aggression. We examined 12 male dyads during two weeks of cohabitation to document the aggressive behavior of dominant and subordinate animals and to examine the emergence and behavioral stability of dominant/subordinate social status. Two hour observations conducted on alternating days […]
The Effects of Social Experience on Aggressive Behavior in the Green Anole Lizard (Anolis carolinensis)
To understand how context-specific aggression emerges from past experience, we examined how consecutive aggressive encounters influence aggressive behavior and stress responses of male green anole lizards (Anolis carolinensis). Animals were shown a video clip featuring an aggressively displaying conspecific male, which provoked aggressive responding, while control animals viewed a neutral video. After 5 d of […]
Social status, gonadal state, and the adrenal stress response in the lizard, Anolis carolinensis
Adult males of the small arboreal iguanid lizard, Anolis carolinensis, form social dominance hierarchies when placed in habitats with limited resources. Skin color changes occur during hierarchy formation, most conspicuously in subordinates, who appear darker (more brown) than dominants (more green). Because skin color in this species is under the control of hormones frequently associated […]
Chronic low humidity-stress in the lizard Anolis carolinensis: changes in diurnal corticosterone rhythms
Plasma corticosterone levels of female lizards (Anolis carolinensis) were sampled at 4-h intervals before and after a photothermal regimen known to stimulate ovarian growth in January and February, respectively. Female A. carolinensis have a diurnal cycle in plasma corticosterone with a daily peak at 1700 h in lizards with unstimulated ovaries exposed to short photophase […]
Behavioral endocrinology of physiological stress in a lizard
Reptiles provide us with important information about alternative tactics for solving specific problems of survival. Further, as the contemporary representatives of the evolutionary precursors of our own species, this information tells us much about the constraints upon and possibilities of our own biology. Several aspects of the manner in which physiological and environmental variables are […]
Social status differentiates rapid neuroendocrine responses to restraint stress
Male Anolis carolinensis that win aggressive interactions mobilize neuroendocrine responses to social stress more rapidly than defeated lizards. We initially examined temporal patterns of neuroendocrine response to restraint stress in lizards of unknown status, and then investigated whether winning males respond more rapidly to this non-social stressor. Size-matched male pairs interacted to establish social status, […]
Tonic immobility in Anolis carolinensis: Effects of time and conditions of captivity
Changes in the tonic immobility (TI) response in Anolis carolinensis were investigated as a function of duration and condition of captivity in five experiments. Although anoles ultimately show significant decreases in durations of immobility with repeated elicitations of the response, there was an increase in both the mean and variance of immobility durations of subjects […]