Journal article
Environmental gradients predict the ratio of environmentally acquired carotenoids to self-synthesised pteridine pigments
D Stuart-Fox, KJ Rankin, A Lutz, A Elliott, AF Hugall, CA McLean, I Medina
Ecology Letters | WILEY | Published : 2021
DOI: 10.1111/ele.13850
Abstract
Carotenoids are important pigments producing integument colouration; however, their dietary availability may be limited in some environments. Many species produce yellow to red hues using a combination of carotenoids and self-synthesised pteridine pigments. A compelling hypothesis is that pteridines replace carotenoids in environments where carotenoid availability is limited. To test this hypothesis, we quantified concentrations of five carotenoid and six pteridine pigments in multiple skin colours and individuals from 27 species of agamid lizards. We show that environmental gradients predict the ratio of carotenoids to pteridines; carotenoid concentrations are lower and pteridine concentrat..
View full abstractGrants
Awarded by Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning, State Government of Victoria
Funding Acknowledgements
We are grateful to private landowners and caretakers for their permission and hospitality. We thank Carolyn Kovach (South Australia Museum) and Paul Doughty (Western Australian Museum) for help lodging specimens, and Katja Boysen, Veronica Lui and Roshan Cheetamun for fieldwork and technical assistance. We thank Matthew Symonds and Shinichi Nakagawa for custom R code to calculate R<SUP>2</SUP> values from an mcmcglmm regression. This research was conducted in accordance with the following permits and approvals: University of Melbourne Animal Ethics Committee (1513589); South Australia Wildlife Ethics Committee (24/2015). South Australian Department of Environment, Water and Natural Resources (M26427); Western Australian Department of Parks and Wildlife (SF010484); Victorian Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning (10007683). This research was funded by the Australian Research Council DP150101044.