Sex-Specific Effects of Food Supplementation on Space Use, Growth, and Behavior in the Florida Scrub Lizard, Sceloporus woodi

Food availability can affect growth, space use, and behavior of individuals. We examined sex-based effects of experimentally provisioned prey on growth rates, home ranges, and behavior of Sceloporus woodi in southern Florida. We provided supplemental crickets, comparing home range and core area size, growth rates, and behavioral profiles of individuals on supplemented and control plots. Control males had larger home ranges than females, but the sexes did not differ on food-supplemented plots. Core area size did not differ with either sex or treatment. Males and females on control plots did not differ in growth rates, but on supplemented plots females grew several times faster than males (mass and SVL). Supplemental food also led to sex differences in movement rates and habitat use. On supplemented plots, males moved at a 4× higher rate than females, but habitat use did not differ by sex. By contrast, on control plots, movement rates did not differ, but habitat use did: females spent more time on the ground, and males spent more time off the ground. We did not detect any other behavioral differences. The relatively high growth and low movement rates of supplemented females underscore the importance of sex-based foraging and reproductive tradeoffs that affect the way in which individuals grow and arrange themselves spatially.