Intraspecific competition, not predation, drives lizard tail loss on islands

Tail autotomy is mainly considered an antipredator mechanism. Theory suggests that predation pressure relaxes on islands, subsequently reducing autotomy rates.

Intraspecific aggression, which may also cause tail loss, probably intensifies on islands due to the higher abundance.

We studied whether tail autotomy is mostly affected by predation pressure or by intraspecific competition. We further studied whether predator abundance or predator richness is more important in this context.

To test our predictions, we examined multiple populations of two gecko species: Kotschy's gecko (Mediodactylus kotschyi; mainland and 41 islands) and the Mediterranean house gecko (Hemidactylus turcicus; mainland and 17 islands), and estimated their abundance together with five indices of predation.

In both species, autotomy rates are higher on islands and decline with most predation indices, in contrast with common wisdom, and increase with gecko abundance. In M. kotschyi, tail-loss rates are hi...