Relationship of space use to population density in an herbivorous lizard
Herpetologica
1993
Journal Article
49
4
469-479
Dipsosaurus dorsalis
Home ranges of desert iguanas, Dipsosaurus dorsalis, were compared during the breeding season at three localities that differed in adult population density. The abundance, richness, and diversity of plant resources varied across sites. Although home range size was not correlated with population density, increasing density was associated with greater home range overlap and a tendency for activity to be restricted to the home range interior. For both males and females, the level of home range advertisement, measured as the frequency of push-up displays, increased with increasing population density. The lack of a reciprocal relationship between population density and home range size may be a consequence of the non-uniform distribution of plants at the three sites. When increases in home range size do not produce linear increases in resources, as is the case for many herbivorous species, patterns of space use may be less related to population density per se than to the distribution of conspecifics and plant resources at a particular site.