Data from: Climate-related environmental variation in a visual signalling device: the male and female dewlap in Anolis sagrei lizards

Animals communicate using a variety of signals that differ dramatically
among and within species. The astonishing dewlap diversity in anoles has
attracted considerable attention in this respect. Yet, the evolutionary
processes behind it remain elusive and have mostly been explored for males
only. Here, we considered Anolis sagrei males and females to study signal
divergence among populations. First, we assessed the degree of variation
in dewlap design (size, pattern, colour) and displays by comparing 17
populations distributed across the Caribbean. Second, we assessed whether
the observed dewlap diversity is associated to variation in
climate-related environmental conditions. Results showed that populations
differed in all dewlap characteristics, with the exception of display rate
in females. We further found that males and females occurring in ‘xeric’
environments had a higher proportion of solid dewlaps with higher
UV-reflectance. In addition, lizards inhabiting ‘mesic’ environments had
primarily marginal dewlaps showing high reflectance in red. For dewlap
display, a correlation with environment was only observed in males. Our
study provides evidence for a strong relationship between signal design
and prevailing environmental conditions, which may result from
differential selection on signal efficacy. Moreover, our study highlights
the importance of including females when studying dewlaps in an
evolutionary context.