Date of Award

6-2022

Document Type

Open Access

Degree Name

Bachelor of Science

Department

Neuroscience

First Advisor

Leo Fleishman

Keywords

Motion, Temperature, Signal, Honest display, Lizards, Anolis, Communication

Abstract

Anolis sagrei has a display in the form of bobbing its head up and down. In order to more accurately understand the communication and honesty of the display two experiments were done. Honesty, in reference to it being an honest signal; meaning that this form of communication is correlated with the condition of the animal. The first experiment examined the lizards in a recreated environment. By controlling the temperature of the setting and recording the interaction we were able to determine how changing the temperature could cause a difference in display. The second experiment examined the lizard's ability to see rapid and sharp movements. By watching lizards' reactions to different frequency dot movements we could determine if changes in speed of a display would be visible to the lizard. In the first experiment, we found that the cold temperature caused the display to be significantly slower than in warmer temperature. In the second experiment, we found that the lizard responded most positively to the faster, more abrupt movements and therefore would be able to notice different speeds of the display. The connection of temperature to the display, as well as the knowledge that it is visible to the lizard, allowed us to conclude that the lizard's display is an honest signal.

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Rights Statement

In Copyright - Educational Use Permitted.