title: Lateralization in escape behaviour at different hierarchical levels in a gecko: Tarentola angustimentalis from Eastern Canary Islands.
abstract: At the individual level, to be behaviourally lateralized avoids costly duplication of neural circuitry and decreases possible contradictory order from the two brain hemispheres. However, being prey behaviour lateralized at higher hierarchical levels could generate different negative implications, especially if predators are able to make predictions after multiple encounters. These conflicting pressures, namely between the advantages for individuals and the disadvantages for populations could be concealed if higher-level lateralization would arise from the combination of lateralized behaviours of individuals which are mutually dependent. Here, we investigated the lateralization patterns in the escape behaviour of the gecko Tarentola angustimentalis undergoing a predatory attack simulation in a "T" maze experiment. Results showed that gecko populations displayed different degrees of lateralization, with an overall dominance of right-biased individuals. This trend is similar to that observed in the Podarcis wall lizards, which share predators with Tarentola. In addition, different morphological parameters plausible to affect refuge selection were explored in order to link directional asymmetries at morphological level with lateralization during refuge selection.
authors.affiliation: CESAM, Centro de Estudios de Ambiente o do Mar, Universidade de Aveiro, Campus Universitário de Santiago, Aveiro, Portugal ; CIBIO, Centro de Investigação em Biodiversidade e Recursos Genéticos, Universidade do Porto, Campus Agrário de Vairão, Vairão, Portugal ; Departamento de Biología Animal, Biología Vegetal y Ecología, Universidad de Jaén, Campus de las Lagunillas, Jaén, Spain.
authors.forename: Enrique
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: García-Muñoz
authors.forename: Catarina
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Rato
authors.forename: Fátima
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Jorge
authors.forename: Miguel A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Carretero
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D004924:Escape Reaction / Q000502:physiology*; D008116:Lizards / Q000502:physiology*; D018782:Maze Learning / Q000502:physiology*