Morphometry and locomotor performance of the common wall lizard (Podarcis muralis) from natural and urban habitat

Pozidna kuščarica (Podarcis muralis) naseljuje raznolika življenjska okolja. V različnih okoljih lahko kuščarice razvijejo prilagoditve na lokalno okolje. V naši raziskavi smo primerjali pozidne kuščarice iz naravnega in urbanega okolja. Okolji sta se med seboj razlikovali predvsem po količini in gostoti vegetacije ter naklonu podlage. Opisali smo morfometrične lastnosti in gibalne sposobnosti obeh spolov kuščaric iz obeh okolij in ugotavljali, ali med njimi obstajajo razlike. Na kuščaricah smo izmerili šest morfometričnih meritev in v laboratorijskem poskusu izmerili največjo hitrost teka po ravnem in navkreber. Predvidevali smo, da bodo imele kuščarice iz naravnega okolja, kjer je vegetacija redka in naklon podlage bolj strm, daljše okončine in bodo dosegale večje največje hitrosti kot kuščarice iz urbanega okolja, kjer je vegetacija gostejša, podlaga pa večinoma horizontalna. Nasprotno smo ugotovili, da imajo kuščarice iz urbanega okolja značilno daljše zadnje okončine in dosegajo večje največje hitrosti pri teku po ravnem in navkreber kot kuščarice iz naravnega okolja. Med spoloma smo ugotovili razlike: samci so imeli značilno daljše zadnje okončine in večje glave, samo pri kuščaricah iz naravnega okolja pa smo opazili tudi, da imajo samice značilno daljše trupe kot samci.Common wall lizard (Podarcis muralis) inhabits diverse habitats. In different habitats they can develop adaptations to local environment. In the study we compared lizards from natural and urban habitat, which had different coverage and density of vegetation and different inclination of ground. We described morphometric characteristics and locomotor performance for both sexes from both habitats and found out weather there are differences among them. We measured six morphometric parameters and in laboratory experiment we have measured the fastest sprint speed on horizontal and vertical surface.We assumed that lizards from natural habitat, where vegetation is scarce and ground is steeper will have longer limbs and will perform faster maximum speed than lizards from urban habitat where vegetation is more dense and ground mostly flat. On the contrary, we have found that urban lizards had longer hind limbs and acquire higher maximum sprint speed on flat and sloped surface than lizards from natural habitat. We have also found that there were differencies between sexes with males having longer hind libms and bigger heads. Only in lizards from natural habitat, females also had longer trunks than males