How lacertids resolve spatial details: visual acuity in the common wall lizard (Podarcis muralis)

Result code in IS VaVaI

<a href="https://www.isvavai.cz/riv?ss=detail&h=RIV%2F00216208%3A11310%2F25%3A10497689" target="_blank" >RIV/00216208:11310/25:10497689 - isvavai.cz</a>

Result on the web

<a href="https://verso.is.cuni.cz/pub/verso.fpl?fname=obd_publikace_handle&handle=Qm9LYLh8oq" target="_blank" >https://verso.is.cuni.cz/pub/verso.fpl?fname=obd_publikace_handle&handle=Qm9LYLh8oq</a>

DOI - Digital Object Identifier

<a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1242/jeb.249422" target="_blank" >10.1242/jeb.249422</a>

Result language

angličtina

Original language name

How lacertids resolve spatial details: visual acuity in the common wall lizard (Podarcis muralis)

Original language description

Visual acuity, the ability to discern static spatial details, is crucial for understanding how organisms perceive their environment. Lacertid lizards are diurnal, feed on small prey, and communicate using multiple visual signals, including postures, dynamic displays and conspicuous colour patches. However, their visual acuity remains unstudied, leaving a critical gap in our understanding of their visual capabilities. Visual acuity is often estimated behaviourally using an optomotor apparatus, which quantifies a reflex-orienting movement called the optomotor response (OMR), or histologically by evaluating retinal ganglion cell (RGC) densities. We combined these two techniques to estimate visual acuity in a lacertid lizard, Podarcis muralis. OMR assays estimated an acuity of 2.05 cpd, while RGC counts revealed a peak density (&gt;7000 cells mm(-2)) within the area centralis, corresponding to 1.56 cpd. RGC topographic maps revealed additional areas of high cell density in the dorso-nasal and dorso-temporal regions, while the area centralis was located slightly ventrally in the centro-temporal retina. This RGC distribution suggests adaptations to resolve stimuli in the centre and lower parts of the lizard&apos;s visual field, which may enhance predator and prey detection on the ground. Using our estimated acuities, we calculated that a lizard can detect a conspecific from 10 m and a 2 mm-long object from 40 cm away. In addition, we generated AcuityView images (R package) showing how this species might discern conspecific colour patches at different distances. These images suggest that beyond 10 cm, the surroundings become increasingly blurred, suggesting a role for static visual signals specifically in close-range communication.

Czech name

—

Czech description

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Type

J_imp - Article in a specialist periodical, which is included in the Web of Science database

CEP classification

—

OECD FORD branch

10602 - Biology (theoretical, mathematical, thermal, cryobiology, biological rhythm), Evolutionary biology

Project

—

Continuities

I - Institucionalni podpora na dlouhodoby koncepcni rozvoj vyzkumne organizace

Publication year

2025

Confidentiality

S - Úplné a pravdivé údaje o projektu nepodléhají ochraně podle zvláštních právních předpisů

Name of the periodical

Journal of Experimental Biology

ISSN

0022-0949

e-ISSN

1477-9145

Volume of the periodical

228

Issue of the periodical within the volume

8

Country of publishing house

GB - UNITED KINGDOM

Number of pages

14

Pages from-to

jeb249422

UT code for WoS article

001492173500024

EID of the result in the Scopus database

2-s2.0-105003546888