Justin Agan

     Currently, I am at Oklahoma State University working with collared lizards, Crotaphytus collaris.  Collared lizards as adults are very sexually dimorphic lizards males are larger and display bright green, orange, and yellow coloration.  Females of the species are a brown/tan color and are easily distinguished from males.  The evolution of the differing coloration among sexes, dichromatism, has caused the lizards to produce a fascinating social structure that makes studying the behavior vary interesting.  Males are very territorial during breeding seasons and will gather and defend the harem of female he builds.

     My research looks at how sexual selection plays a role in collared lizard fitness, and specifically how sexual selection can act on an individual before they are even reproductively mature; we call this precocial sexual selection.  Male C. collaris has unique orange bars that appear weeks after hatching and disappear prior to becoming sexually mature.  We think the orange bars serve as a precocial sexual signal that helps the males pair bond with females and establish territories for future use as adults.

     To complete this study I am using several fields to gauge the role of the hatchling orange bars on the in fitness of the individual.  I am using genetics, behavioral ecology, and endocrinology to try and answer the questions I have about the hatchling orange bars.