Experience overrides colour in lizard contests

Abstract

We examined the role of conspicuous coloration in male-male contests for two species of Australian dragon lizards, Ctenophorus decresii and C. vadnappa, in which conspicuous coloration has a demonstrated predation cost. We conducted contests in which the overall conspicuousness of male coloration was manipulated using paints that matched the spectral reflectance of the lizards, as well as natural (control) contests. There was little evidence for an influence of colour on contestoutcome or aggression levels for either species when all experiments were considered. However, we found a significant effect of trial order and experience on contest outcome and aggression levels (the same pair of mal..