The International Research Fellowship Program enables U.S. scientists and engineers to conduct three to twenty-four months of research abroad. The program's awards provide opportunities for joint research, and the use of unique or complementary facilities, expertise and experimental conditions abroad.
This award will support a twenty-four month research fellowship by Dr. Kevin M. Pilz to work with Dr. Jose Martin at the National Museum of Natural Sciences in Madrid, Spain.
This research project will examine the relationship between testosterone and fitness in male vertebrates to answer a central question in behavioral ecology: Why do males honestly signal their quality to conspecifics when exaggerated signaling could enhance competitive specifics? The predominant explanation asserts that signals are honest because they represent handicaps, i.e., elevated signaling carries costs which only high quality males can afford to pay. The handicap principle explicitly predicts that males whose signals exaggerate their quality should have decreased fitness, i.e., decreased lifetime reproductive success (LRS). Breeding season testosterone levels are believed to mediate handicaps, because testosterone enhances phenotypic characters that benefit males (e.g., attractiveness), as well as characters that are costly (e.g., ectoparasite load). However, the effect of testosterone on LRS has not yet been tested. This effect will be studied in small island populations of Iberian wall lizards, Podarcis hispanica. The effects of testosterone on yearly reproductive success, survival, coloration, immunocompetence and behavior will also be determined. This research will elucidate general principles regarding the evolution of vertebrate social behavior and communication, and regarding physiological mechanisms of vertebrate reproductive strategies.
Dr. Jose Martin has extensive experience studying aspects of behavioral ecology, including intraspecific communication, inter-male aggression and mating strategies in Podarcis hispanica and other lizards.
