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Skin lipids alone enable conspecific tracking in an invasive reptile, the Argentine black and white tegu lizard (Salvator merianae)

Locating potential mates in non-native habitats is one of the most important challenges faced by invasive vertebrate species. The Argentine black and white tegu lizard (Salvator merianae) is a major invasive reptile species in the contiguous United States and is rapidly expanding its range across Fl...

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Autores principales: Parker, M. Rockwell, Tillman, Eric A., Nazarian, Lauren A., Barlowe, Megan L., Lincoln, Julianna M., Kluever, Bryan M.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Public Library of Science 2023
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10617720/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37906547
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0293591
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author Parker, M. Rockwell
Tillman, Eric A.
Nazarian, Lauren A.
Barlowe, Megan L.
Lincoln, Julianna M.
Kluever, Bryan M.
author_facet Parker, M. Rockwell
Tillman, Eric A.
Nazarian, Lauren A.
Barlowe, Megan L.
Lincoln, Julianna M.
Kluever, Bryan M.
author_sort Parker, M. Rockwell
collection PubMed
description Locating potential mates in non-native habitats is one of the most important challenges faced by invasive vertebrate species. The Argentine black and white tegu lizard (Salvator merianae) is a major invasive reptile species in the contiguous United States and is rapidly expanding its range across Florida and the Southeast, in part due to inadequate management strategies and tools. Because a wide array of reptiles, especially squamates (snakes and lizards), have been well-studied for their reliance on chemical cues to locate conspecifics, our project aimed to isolate chemical cues from tegus and assess the ability of adult males and females to use only these cues to make navigation decisions within a Y-maze. Previously, we found that both males and females can follow conspecific scent trails, but the nature of the specific cues used by the tegus was unknown. In this study, we extracted skin lipids from male and female shed skins acquired during the breeding season then tested the extracts for bioactivity at different dilutions prior to Y-maze trials. Both sexes showed positive reactions (e.g., tongue-flicking, nose taps, scratching) to 2:1 skin lipid:hexane dilutions. In the Y-maze, males (n = 7) and females (n = 7) were run in three types of trailing scenarios with these skin lipid extracts: Male-only (pooled lipid extracts from male shed skins), Female-only (extracts from female shed skins), and Male vs. female. Regardless of the tegu lipid type present, tegus preferred to follow the conspecific lipid trail when paired with a neutral control (peanut oil; 2:1 dilution). They also preferred opposite-sex skin lipid trails when paired with same-sex skin lipid trails. We analyzed our results further by comparing them to those of Richard, Bukovich, et al. (2020). We found a synchronization effect of the skin lipids: sex differences in behavior detectable in the scent trail trials were absent when only conspecific skin lipids were present in the environment. Our results indicate that skin lipids alone are sufficient to facilitate mate tracking in S. merianae, these chemical cues induce reliable behavior, and extracted skin lipids have potential for modifying movement patterns of an invasive reptile in their non-native range. If leveraged in concert with current tegu management strategies (i.e., trapping), extracted skin lipids have the potential to bolster management efficacy but field trials are a requisite next step.
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spelling pubmed-106177202023-11-01 Skin lipids alone enable conspecific tracking in an invasive reptile, the Argentine black and white tegu lizard (Salvator merianae) Parker, M. Rockwell Tillman, Eric A. Nazarian, Lauren A. Barlowe, Megan L. Lincoln, Julianna M. Kluever, Bryan M. PLoS One Research Article Locating potential mates in non-native habitats is one of the most important challenges faced by invasive vertebrate species. The Argentine black and white tegu lizard (Salvator merianae) is a major invasive reptile species in the contiguous United States and is rapidly expanding its range across Florida and the Southeast, in part due to inadequate management strategies and tools. Because a wide array of reptiles, especially squamates (snakes and lizards), have been well-studied for their reliance on chemical cues to locate conspecifics, our project aimed to isolate chemical cues from tegus and assess the ability of adult males and females to use only these cues to make navigation decisions within a Y-maze. Previously, we found that both males and females can follow conspecific scent trails, but the nature of the specific cues used by the tegus was unknown. In this study, we extracted skin lipids from male and female shed skins acquired during the breeding season then tested the extracts for bioactivity at different dilutions prior to Y-maze trials. Both sexes showed positive reactions (e.g., tongue-flicking, nose taps, scratching) to 2:1 skin lipid:hexane dilutions. In the Y-maze, males (n = 7) and females (n = 7) were run in three types of trailing scenarios with these skin lipid extracts: Male-only (pooled lipid extracts from male shed skins), Female-only (extracts from female shed skins), and Male vs. female. Regardless of the tegu lipid type present, tegus preferred to follow the conspecific lipid trail when paired with a neutral control (peanut oil; 2:1 dilution). They also preferred opposite-sex skin lipid trails when paired with same-sex skin lipid trails. We analyzed our results further by comparing them to those of Richard, Bukovich, et al. (2020). We found a synchronization effect of the skin lipids: sex differences in behavior detectable in the scent trail trials were absent when only conspecific skin lipids were present in the environment. Our results indicate that skin lipids alone are sufficient to facilitate mate tracking in S. merianae, these chemical cues induce reliable behavior, and extracted skin lipids have potential for modifying movement patterns of an invasive reptile in their non-native range. If leveraged in concert with current tegu management strategies (i.e., trapping), extracted skin lipids have the potential to bolster management efficacy but field trials are a requisite next step. Public Library of Science 2023-10-31 /pmc/articles/PMC10617720/ /pubmed/37906547 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0293591 Text en https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/This is an open access article, free of all copyright, and may be freely reproduced, distributed, transmitted, modified, built upon, or otherwise used by anyone for any lawful purpose. The work is made available under the Creative Commons CC0 (https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) public domain dedication.
spellingShingle Research Article
Parker, M. Rockwell
Tillman, Eric A.
Nazarian, Lauren A.
Barlowe, Megan L.
Lincoln, Julianna M.
Kluever, Bryan M.
Skin lipids alone enable conspecific tracking in an invasive reptile, the Argentine black and white tegu lizard (Salvator merianae)
title Skin lipids alone enable conspecific tracking in an invasive reptile, the Argentine black and white tegu lizard (Salvator merianae)
title_full Skin lipids alone enable conspecific tracking in an invasive reptile, the Argentine black and white tegu lizard (Salvator merianae)
title_fullStr Skin lipids alone enable conspecific tracking in an invasive reptile, the Argentine black and white tegu lizard (Salvator merianae)
title_full_unstemmed Skin lipids alone enable conspecific tracking in an invasive reptile, the Argentine black and white tegu lizard (Salvator merianae)
title_short Skin lipids alone enable conspecific tracking in an invasive reptile, the Argentine black and white tegu lizard (Salvator merianae)
title_sort skin lipids alone enable conspecific tracking in an invasive reptile, the argentine black and white tegu lizard (salvator merianae)
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10617720/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37906547
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0293591
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