Research

Optimization of Strategies Under Multiple Selection Pressure:
Mate Attraction vs Escaping Predation

Indian Rock Lizard or Psammophilus dorsalis, is a tropical agamid lizard found in most parts of Southern India. Male lizards can change their body color depending on different social contexts. During the breeding season, males change their body color to bright orange and black to attract females, they can also change to yellow and orange color while fighting with other competitor males. But when these males are in these bright body colors they are very conspicuous to predators. So there arises a trade-off, if a male is always in bright orange and black color it has higher chances of attracting females, but it will also attract more predators. If the male is not in bright orange and black color it will not attract predators and also no females. But if the males are super vigilant and show heightened anti-predatory behavior when they signal to females with brighter body colors, males can have higher chances of survival. But do these males actually show such behavior? 

I am interested in how these males avoid predators and achieve mating success simultaneously. So, I am trying to examine how these lizards strategize their decision-making processes to maximize their chances of attracting females and simultaneously avoid predators in the wild. 

Currently, I am using FID (Flight Initiation Distance) assay to measure threat response with respect to their body color in males at Rishi Valley, Andhra Pradesh, India. I perform repeated assays on males that are given unique IDs, during this I separately collect FID data on a particular male when it is in both dull vs bright body color. After the data collection, I will compare my results and check how a particular male changes its FID i.e. threat response with respect to the cospicuousness of its body color.