Are dispersal-dependent behavioral traits produced by phenotypic plasticity?
Dispersal is a common response to deteriorating conditions such as intense competition, food limitation, predation or parasitism. Although it provides obvious advantages, dispersal is often assumed to be costly. Selection is therefore likely to have acted to decrease these costs, and indeed several studies demonstrated that dispersers and philopatric individuals differ in their morphology, physiology and/or behavior. Using the common lizard (Lacerta vivipara) as our model system, we examined the contribution of phenotypic plasticity to the establishment of dispersal-dependent behavioral traits. We used a reciprocal transplant experiment in which conditions at the maternal site of origin, during offspring development in utero, and at the release site were manipulated. We then compared activity, social interactions and foraging behavior between individuals that stayed philopatric and those that dispersed. Most behavioral traits were also measured at birth and after the dispersal phase.Th
