Data from: Effects of urbanization on ventral patch size and phenotypic correlates of patch expression in male western fence lizards (Sceloporus occidentalis)
Data files
Nov 13, 2025 version files 19.36 KB
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Putman_et_al_Ecology_and_Evolution_2025.csv
10.15 KB
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Putman_et_al_Ecology_and_Evolution_2025.R
7.19 KB
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README.md
2.02 KB
Abstract
In some animals, males use colorful ornaments or badges to visually communicate with conspecifics. These traits can be condition-dependent, suggesting that environmental changes could impact the intensity of male sexual signals. Drastic habitat changes caused by urbanization can act as physiological stressors, potentially affecting male signaling traits through changes to condition or immune function. Here, we quantified the effects of urbanization on ventral patch size and correlates of patch expression, namely body size, body condition, corticosterone concentrations, and ectoparasites in male Western Fence Lizards (Sceloporus occidentalis). We compared three aspects of male ventral color patches between urban and natural populations: the area of the throat patch, the total area of the paired belly patches, and the total area of the black borders of the belly patches. All three area measurements across both habitat types were positively related to body size, and total belly patch area was positively related to body condition, indicating that these traits may signal male competitive ability and/or quality. Males from urban populations had larger throat patches than those from natural populations after controlling for body size. This difference in patch size was associated with a difference in the probability of ectoparasite infection, but not with differences in corticosterone concentrations or body conditions between urban and natural populations. Our results may indicate an effect of urbanization on immune function affecting male patch expression, although this idea remains untested. Overall, we show that urbanization can impact male sexual traits, which may have repercussions for visual communication in urban environments.
Dataset DOI: 10.5061/dryad.8sf7m0d0k
Description of the data and file structure
Data collected from wild-caught Western Fence Lizards (Sceloporus occidentalis) from 2020 to 2022
Files and variables
File: Putman_et_al_Ecology_and_Evolution_2025.R
Description: R script containing the code used to analyze the data. This R script analyzes how urbanization affects morphology and coloration in male Western Fence Lizards. It fits several linear and logistic models testing habitat and site effects on traits like body size, condition, hormone levels, parasites, and patch areas, then uses residual diagnostics, estimated marginal means, and ggplot visualizations to summarize and display the results.
File: Putman_et_al_Ecology_and_Evolution_2025.csv
Description: Raw data: These variables describe morphology, physiology, and coloration traits of male Western Fence Lizards across habitats.
Variables
- site: location of data collection
- habitat: urban or natural
- actual_svl: snout-vent length, measured by hand, in mm
- mass: in g
- SMI: scaled mass index, estimate of body condition
- ectoparasites: 0 = absent, 1 = present
- ticks: number of ticks visible on lizards
- ln_cort_ng_ml: plasma corticosterone concentration in ng/ml and ln transformed
- photo_reviewer: name of person reviewing the lizard photographs
- image_svl: snout-vent length, measured in ImageJ, in mm
- throat_area: Measured area of the colored throat patch (mm²)
- blue_belly_area: Measured area of the blue belly patch (mm²)
- black_area: Measured area of the black border around the ventral patch (mm²)
NA in cells indicates no data available for that observation
Code/software
R Studio packages
library(DHARMa)
library(emmeans)
library(ggplot2)
library(ggpubr)
