Z. Jiang, et al. "Effects Of Sand Grain Size And Morphological Traits On Running Speed Of Toad-Headed Lizard Phrynocephalus Frontalis." Journal Of Arid Environments 75.11 (2011): 1038-1042. Academic Search Premier. Web. 14 Apr. 2012.
It is easy to see how body morphology affects the running of lizards. Tails act as a counter balance, long toes/feet provide more support, larger bodies are harder to move, etc. However, the morphology of the ground, or substrate, also plays a role in how quickly a lizard can move. A smooth ground is more conducive to quick and smooth movement (as those of us from Charleston can definitely attest to!). Body shape and fitness also play roles in locomotive ability. Jiang et. al. studied an Asian desert lizard, the Phrynocephalus Frontalis, the steppe toad-headed lizard. They looked at the correlations between running speed and four different factors: sand grain size, body condition index, tail length, and sex.
- Grain size of the sand had a large effect on the running of the lizards. The range of the grains was from 0.075-2mm. The optimum range for running was 0.5-1mm, where the peak running speed was 124 cm/s. The lowest speed was 109 cm/s, on the 0.075-0.25mm sized sand.
- The lizards with moderate body condition index (mass) were the fastest.
- Lizards with tails of 3-4 cm in length were faster than longer tailed lizards. This species does not exhibit tail autotomy, nor does it run bipedally; therefore, long tails are not favored in this species.
- Males were slightly faster than females, but this difference was not significant.
This new research is important because it investigated how much the habitat affected the lizards’ ability to run. The greatest variation was in the sand grain size part of the research, instead of the morphological traits.
1 comment:
Cool article! As a follow-up experiment, it would be interesting to see how much an individual lizard's speed varies when running on different substrates.
Post a Comment