Habitat saturation promotes delayed dispersal in a social reptile

Intercontinental dispersal by a microendemic burrowing reptile (Dibamidae).

Intercontinental dispersal via land bridge connections has been important in the biogeographic history of many Holarctic plant and animal groups. Likewise, some groups appear to have accomplished trans-oceanic dispersal via rafting. Dibamid lizards are a clade of poorly known fossorial, essentially limbless species traditionally split into two geographically disjunct genera: Dibamus comprises a...

Social learning in a non-social reptile (Geochelone carbonaria).

The ability to learn from the actions of another is adaptive, as it is a shortcut for acquiring new information. However, the evolutionary origins of this trait are still unclear. There is evidence that group-living mammals, birds, fishes and insects can learn through observation, but this has never been investigated in reptiles. Here, we show that the non-social red-footed tortoise (Geochelone...

Habitat saturation drives thresholds in stream subsidies.

Understanding how abundance regulates the effects of organisms on their ecosystems remains a critical goal of ecology, especially for understanding inter-ecosystem transfers of energy and nutrients. Here we examined how territoriality and nest-digging by anadromous salmon mediate trophic subsidies to stream fishes. Salmon eggs become available for consumption primarily by the digging of salmon ...

Predation risk promotes delayed dispersal in the cooperatively breeding cichlid Neolamprologus obscurus

a Laboratory of Animal Sociology, Department of Biology and Geosciences, Graduate School of Science, Osaka City University, Osaka, Japan b Department of Behavioural Ecology, Institute of Ecology and Evolution, University of Bern, Hinterkappelen, Switzerland c Institute of Natural and Environmental Sciences, University of Hyogo, Hyogo, Japan d Division of Nature and Environmental Management, Mus...

Social learning by imitation in a reptile ( Pogona vitticeps ) 1