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Behaviour and ecology of leopard geckos (Eublepharis macularius)
Jančúchová Lásková, Jitka ; Landová, Eva (advisor) ; Moravec, Jiří (referee) ; Sedláček, František (referee)
During evolution, the natural selection favours individuals with the best survival strategy and the highest reproductive success. From the evolutionary point of view, hybridization plays an important role in the process of speciation. Avoiding predators by choosing the most appropriate antipredator strategy increases the animal's chances of survival as well. Studying fitness consequences of hybridization and predation in Eublepharis macularius (Eublepharidae) was the main objective of this theses. Compared to other vertebrate groups, the reliable records on hybridization and its effect on the hybrid's fitness (fertility, survival) in lizards are scarce, despite their ability to hybridize between genetically distant species. These effects were examined in two species of eyelid geckos (E. macularius and E. angramainyu). We aimed to discover whether they were willing to hybridize with a heterospecific species and how the fitness of the hybrids would be affected. Similarly, were studied more genetically related forms of E. macularius species complex, the potential precopulatory barriers, and fitness cost of this hybridization. Analysis of published data has shown that the lizards hybridize between very phylogenetically distant species and are even "more successful" than birds or turtles. Surprisingly,...
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