Antipredator behaviour in sleepy lizards

Project description

This project focuses on understanding the variation in antipredator behaviour in sleepy lizards. Sleepy lizards have a wide variety of reactions to predators, from no response to escape to multi-component deimatic displays. Do some individuals favour particular responses? And if so, is it related to intrinsic factors such as their condition, sex, or age? Or is it driven by extrinsic factors such as predator type or predator density? Because of the long history of sleepy lizard field research, this project provides an important opportunity to understand the evolution of deimatic displays, one of the most spectacular and complex antipredator defences. This project will be in conjunction with Kate Umbers from University of Western Sydney.

• Relevant References:

1. Drinkwater et. al. 2022 A synthesis of deimatic behaviour Biological Reviews In Press
2. Umbers et. al. 2017 Deimatism: a neglected component of antipredator defence. Biology Letters 13: 20160936. http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2016.0936

Further information

Starting in semester 1 is best suited to students who want to study part-time.

Note: You need to register interest in projects from different supervisors (not a number of projects with the one supervisor).
You must also contact each supervisor directly to discuss both the project details and your suitability to undertake the project.