Banca de DEFESA: VITORIA GODEIRO DE QUEIROZ

Uma banca de DEFESA de MESTRADO foi cadastrada pelo programa.
STUDENT : VITORIA GODEIRO DE QUEIROZ
DATE: 20/08/2025
TIME: 09:00
LOCAL: https://meet.google.com/tgu-vaxp-xww
TITLE:

Influence of habitat and body region on signaling and camouflage in lizards from an atlantic forest area

KEY WORDS:

Chromatic contrast; lizards; habitat; spectrophotometry; sensory ecology

PAGES: 32
BIG AREA: Ciências Biológicas
AREA: Ecologia
SUMMARY:

Visual communication plays a fundamental role in the ecology and evolution of animals, mediating both interspecific and intraspecific social interactions. For many vertebrates, such as lizards, body coloration is essential for communication, primarily associated with sexual signaling or anti-predator strategies. However, how coloration varies across different body regions remains poorly understood in this group, especially when considering habitat context and visual system differences. In this study, we investigated how distinct body regions of six lizard species are perceived by conspecifics and predators across two contrasting habitats .We conducted spectrophotometric measurements on 10 body regions of 118 individuals from six lizard species and used visual modeling to simulate how their coloration would be perceived by two types of observers—birds (predators) and lizards (conspecifics)—in two habitats: forest and restinga. We applied analysis of variance (ANOVA) using chromatic contrast (dS) as the response variable and habitat, body region, and their interaction as explanatory variables. Our results show that habitat significantly influenced chromatic contrast in most cases (p<0.05). Two species exhibited higher dS in forest environments regardless of the observer, two in restinga, and two showed higher visibility to lizards in forest but greater visibility to predators in restinga. We conclude that while each species has specific characteristics, a common pattern emerged: all species displayed higher chromatic contrast in their most commonly occupied habitat, suggesting habitat-driven optimization for intraspecific communication.

COMMITTEE MEMBERS:
Presidente - 1678338 - ADRIAN ANTONIO GARDA
Externo à Instituição - DANIEL OLIVEIRA MESQUITA - UFPB
Externo à Instituição - VINÍCIUS DE AVELAR SÃO PEDRO - UFSCAR