Sex-Specific Population Differences in Resting Metabolism Are Associated with Intraspecific Variation in Sexual Size Dimorphism of Brown Anoles

Female (top) and male (bottom) brown anole. Photo courtesy Bob Reed

New literature alert!

Sex-Specific Population Differences in Resting Metabolism Are Associated with Intraspecific Variation in Sexual Size Dimorphism of Brown Anoles

In Physiological and Biochemical Zoology
Curlis, Cox, & Cox

Abstract

Sexual size dimorphism can vary in direction and magnitude across populations, but the extent to which such intraspecific variation is associated with sex and population differences in underlying metabolic processes is unclear. We compared resting metabolic rates (RMRs) of brown anole lizards (Anolis sagrei) from two island populations in the Bahamas (Eleuthera and Great Exuma) that differ in the magnitude of male-biased sexual size dimorphism. Whereas females from each population exhibit similar growth rates and body sizes, males from Great Exuma grow more quickly and attain larger body sizes than males from Eleuthera. We found that these population differences in growth of males persisted in captivity. Therefore, we predicted that males from each population would differ in RMR, whereas females would not. Consistent with this prediction, we found that RMR of males from Eleuthera was higher than that of males from Great Exuma, particularly at higher temperatures. As predicted, RMR of females did not differ between populations. Despite this apparent sex-specific trade-off between growth rate and RMR at the population level, we found a positive relationship between growth rate and RMR at the individual level. The fact that Great Exuma males maintain lower RMR than Eleuthera males, despite their greater absolute growth rates and the positive relationship between RMR and growth rate across individuals, suggests that Great Exuma males may have lower baseline metabolic demands and/or greater growth efficiency than Eleuthera males. Our results call attention to sex-specific divergence in metabolism as a potential mechanism for intraspecific divergence in sexual size dimorphism.

Read the full paper here!