TY - JOUR
T1 - The behavioral ecology of sleep
T2 - Natural sleeping site choice in three Anolis lizard species
AU - Singhal, Sonal
AU - Johnson, Michele A.
AU - Ladner, Jason T.
N1 - Funding Information:
We gratefully thank the staff of Discovery Bay Marine Laboratory for their logistical assistance and their kindness during our stay, and Andrea Donaldson of the Jamaican National Environment and Planning Agency (NEPA) for her help in acquiring research permits. We thank Thom Sanger and Matt Edgar for their help with field data collection, and Brian Langerhans, Jonathan Losos, John Orrock, Beth Congdon, Kevin McIntyre, the Templeton lab group and two anonymous reviewers for comments that greatly improved this manuscript. This work was funded by the National Science Foundation (DEB 9982736), the David and Evelyne Lennette Fellowship (to S.S.), a Sigma Xi GIAR (to S.S.), Washington University’s International Activities Fund (to S.S.), the Hoopes Undergraduate Research Award (to S.S.) and the Israelow Award (to J.T.L.) from Washington University’s Undergraduate Research Office. Animal capture and marking protocols were approved by the Animal Studies Committee of Washington University (No. 20040248).
PY - 2007/9/1
Y1 - 2007/9/1
N2 - Where animals sleep may be an important component of their behavioral ecology, as sleeping renders animals immobile and hypothetically vulnerable for long periods. Yet, sleep is rarely studied outside of the laboratory. To investigate factors that influence natural sleeping behavior, we examined sleeping locations of three sympatric species of territorial Anolis lizards (Anolis lineatopus, A. grahami and A. valencienni) that have evolved adaptations to different microhabitats. Results indicate that sleeping perch differences among these species are consistent with their diurnal specializations, and sleeping perches are generally higher, narrower, and more horizontal than diurnal perches. We find only limited evidence for sleeping site fidelity; although individuals of one species have apparent sleeping areas within their home ranges, few lizards repeatedly sleep on perches within 0.5 m of previous sleep perches. In a closer examination of the sleeping sites of A. lineatopus, we find that male nocturnal ranges are more dispersed from conspecific males than their diurnal ranges, and they typically sleep near their territory boundaries. We conclude that while Anolis sleeping site choice is strongly influenced by diurnal behavior (including territorial defense and microhabitat choice), differential diurnal and nocturnal microhabitat use may result from differing pressures during day and night.
AB - Where animals sleep may be an important component of their behavioral ecology, as sleeping renders animals immobile and hypothetically vulnerable for long periods. Yet, sleep is rarely studied outside of the laboratory. To investigate factors that influence natural sleeping behavior, we examined sleeping locations of three sympatric species of territorial Anolis lizards (Anolis lineatopus, A. grahami and A. valencienni) that have evolved adaptations to different microhabitats. Results indicate that sleeping perch differences among these species are consistent with their diurnal specializations, and sleeping perches are generally higher, narrower, and more horizontal than diurnal perches. We find only limited evidence for sleeping site fidelity; although individuals of one species have apparent sleeping areas within their home ranges, few lizards repeatedly sleep on perches within 0.5 m of previous sleep perches. In a closer examination of the sleeping sites of A. lineatopus, we find that male nocturnal ranges are more dispersed from conspecific males than their diurnal ranges, and they typically sleep near their territory boundaries. We conclude that while Anolis sleeping site choice is strongly influenced by diurnal behavior (including territorial defense and microhabitat choice), differential diurnal and nocturnal microhabitat use may result from differing pressures during day and night.
KW - Anolis lizards
KW - Microhabitat use
KW - Perch choice
KW - Sleep
KW - Sterritoriality
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U2 - 10.1163/156853907781871860
DO - 10.1163/156853907781871860
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:34548657601
SN - 0005-7959
VL - 144
SP - 1033
EP - 1052
JO - Behaviour
JF - Behaviour
IS - 9
ER -