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Responses to conspecific scent marks and the ontogeny of territorial marking in immature terrestrial salamanders

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Abstract

We investigated the ontogeny of responses to scent marks in immature terrestrial salamanders (Salamandra lanzai) that inhabit the southwest Alps. In this species, sexual maturity is usually reached at about 8 years, and adults exhibit territoriality. One should expect territoriality to take place largely before the acquisition of sexual maturity if sexual competition is not the main force driving territoriality. However, both the difficulties for inexperienced animals to find a suitable territory and size-related competition may delay the acquisition of territoriality in juveniles. We performed choice tests with juveniles belonging to two age groups (1±1 years old versus 4±1 years old). Each focal animal was offered, in random order, the choice between two shelters, one without scent and the other containing one of the following scents: own, same-aged animal, a juvenile belonging to the other age group, or adult female. We also performed choice tests with adult females for which the scents of two juveniles belonging to a different age group were successively offered in a random order. Older juveniles were strongly attracted toward their own shelter and mostly avoided the shelters that contained the scent of juveniles of about the same age and of adult females. Adult females avoided the scents of older juveniles but not younger juveniles. These results therefore suggest that older juveniles use territorial marking. Conversely, young juveniles behaved randomly with respect to their own scents and to those of a same-aged juvenile, and they were significantly attracted towards the odor of an older animal, especially adult females. Both older juveniles and adult females displayed a random behavior toward the scents of young juveniles. Our results suggest that young juveniles do not defend territories but use spaces occupied by older individuals.

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Acknowledgements

We express our gratitude to the Région Rhône-Alpes, who provided financial support for this study, and to M. Blanchet of the Parc Naturel Régional du Queyras for granting us access to the field station where the Salamandra lanzai were collected. We thank A. Holtham and K. Poppe for correcting the English version of this paper. We wish to thank A. Mathis and two anonymous reviewers for their very useful comments on an earlier draft of this manuscript. The official authorizations to perform this study were obtained from the French Ministry of Environment (license no. 96/180).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratoire de Biologie des Populations d’Altitude, UMR CNRS 5553, Université de Savoie, 73376, Le Bourget du Lac, France

    Patrick Gautier & Claude Miaud

  2. Laboratoire d’écologie des hydrosystèmes, UMR CNRS 5023, Université Lyon I, 63620, Villeurbanne, France

    Jean Paul Léna

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  1. Patrick Gautier
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Correspondence to Patrick Gautier or Claude Miaud.

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Communicated by A. Mathis

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Gautier, P., Léna, J.P. & Miaud, C. Responses to conspecific scent marks and the ontogeny of territorial marking in immature terrestrial salamanders. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 55, 447–453 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00265-003-0732-y

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