Geckos cling best to, and prefer to use, rough surfaces
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RESEARCH
Open Access
Geckos cling best to, and prefer to use, rough surfaces Rishab Pillai* , Eric Nordberg, Jendrian Riedel and Lin Schwarzkopf
Abstract Background: Fitness is strongly related to locomotor performance, which can determine success in foraging, mating, and other critical activities. Locomotor performance on different substrates is likely to require different abilities, so we expect alignment between species’ locomotor performance and the habitats they use in nature. In addition, we expect behaviour to enhance performance, such that animals will use substrates on which they perform well. Methods: We examined the associations between habitat selection and performance in three species of Oedura geckos, including two specialists, (one arboreal, and one saxicolous), and one generalist species, which used both rocks and trees. First, we described their microhabitat use in nature (tree and rock type) for these species, examined the surface roughnesses they encountered, and selected materials with comparable surface microtopographies (roughness measured as peak-to-valley heights) to use as substrates in lab experiments quantifying behavioural substrate preferences and clinging performance. Results: The three Oedura species occupied different ecological niches and used different microhabitats in nature, and the two specialist species used a narrower range of surface roughnesses compared to the generalist. In the lab, Oedura geckos preferred substrates (coarse sandpaper) with roughness characteristics similar to substrates they use in nature. Further, all three species exhibited greater clinging performance on preferred (coarse sandpaper) substrates, although the generalist used fine substrates in nature and had good performance capabilities on fine substrates as well. Conclusion: We found a relationship between habitat use and performance, such that geckos selected microhabitats on which their performance was high. In addition, our findings highlight the extensive variation in surface roughnesses that occur in nature, both among and within microhabitats. Keywords: Adaptation, Attachment, Oedura, Performance, Peak-to-valley height, Substrates, Shear force
Background Habitat use has been a critical variable included in ecological niche studies for several decades [1]. A common functional requirement for successful niche use is effective locomotion within the environment (particularly on specific microhabitats, for example on trees or rocks). Locomotory ability influences an animal’s success at * Correspondence: [email protected] College of Science and Engineering, James Cook University, Townsville, QLD 4810, Australia
capturing prey, avoiding predators, and acquiring mates [2–5], thereby influencing growth rates, survival, reproduction, and consequently, Darwinian fitness [3, 6– 8]. If variation in performance in relation to substrate microhabitat use is adaptive, species should use substrates that enhance locomotor capabilities to increase fitness in nature [9–11]. Given that species exploit a
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