Behavioral threat and appeasement signals take precedence over static colors in lizard contests

The interplay between morphological (structures) and behavioral (acts) signals in contest assessment is still poorly understood. During contests, males of the common wall lizard (Podarcis muralis) display both morphological (i.e. static color patches) and behavioral (i.e. raised-body display, foot shakes) traits. We set out to evaluate the role of these putative signals in determining the outcome and intensity of contests by recording agonistic behavior in ten mesocosm enclosures. We find that contests are typically won by males with relatively more black coloration, which are also more aggressive. However, black coloration does not seem to play a role in rival assessment, and behavioral traits are stronger predictors of contest outcome and winner aggression than prior experience, morphology, and coloration. Contest intensity is mainly driven by resource- and self-assessment, with males probably using behavioral threat (raised-body displays) and de-escalation signals (foot shakes) to co..., See main text for details., , # Behavioral threat and appeasement signals take precedence over static colors in lizard contests

[https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.dv41ns26b](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.dv41ns26b)

Excel files corresponding to three different datasets including information on agonistic male-male interactions between male wall lizards recorded during the breeding season in ten experimental enclosures. Each Excel file contains a second tab including detailed variable descriptions.

## Description of the data and file structure

There are three datasets, with a degree of redundancy to facilitate their use in analyses.

The file entitled \"contests with contest score3.xslx\" contains one row per recorded contest and both individual-level (e.g. static traits) and contest-level (e.g. winning record, expression of behavioral displays) variables. It also includes a metric of contest score obtained by summing up the agonistic behaviors of both contestants (see main text).

The file entitled \"predictors_dataBehec...