DOI: 10.5061/dryad.8sf7m0d0k
title: Data from: Effects of urbanization on ventral patch size and phenotypic correlates of patch expression in male western fence lizards (<em>Sceloporus occidentalis</em>)

description: In some animals, males use colorful ornaments or badges to visually
 communicate with conspecifics. These traits can be condition-dependent,
 suggesting that environmental changes could impact the intensity of male
 sexual signals. Drastic habitat changes caused by urbanization can act as
 physiological stressors, potentially affecting male signaling traits
 through changes to condition or immune function. Here, we quantified the
 effects of urbanization on ventral patch size and correlates of patch
 expression, namely body size, body condition, corticosterone
 concentrations, and ectoparasites in male Western Fence Lizards
 (Sceloporus occidentalis). We compared three aspects of male ventral color
 patches between urban and natural populations: the area of the throat
 patch, the total area of the paired belly patches, and the total area of
 the black borders of the belly patches. All three area measurements across
 both habitat types were positively related to body size, and total belly
 patch area was positively related to body condition, indicating that these
 traits may signal male competitive ability and/or quality. Males from
 urban populations had larger throat patches than those from natural
 populations after controlling for body size. This difference in patch size
 was associated with a difference in the probability of ectoparasite
 infection, but not with differences in corticosterone concentrations or
 body conditions between urban and natural populations. Our results may
 indicate an effect of urbanization on immune function affecting male patch
 expression, although this idea remains untested. Overall, we show that
 urbanization can impact male sexual traits, which may have repercussions
 for visual communication in urban environments.
description: # Data from: Effects of urbanization on ventral patch size and phenotypic
 correlates of patch expression in male western fence lizards (*Sceloporus
 occidentalis*) Dataset DOI:
 [10.5061/dryad.8sf7m0d0k](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.8sf7m0d0k) ##
 Description of the data and file structure Data collected from wild-caught
 Western Fence Lizards (*Sceloporus occidentalis*) from 2020 to 2022 ###
 Files and variables #### File: Putman_et_al_Ecology_and_Evolution_2025.R
 **Description:** R script containing the code used to analyze the
 data. This R script analyzes how urbanization affects morphology and
 coloration in male Western Fence Lizards. It fits several linear and
 logistic models testing habitat and site effects on traits like body size,
 condition, hormone levels, parasites, and patch areas, then uses residual
 diagnostics, estimated marginal means, and ggplot visualizations to
 summarize and display the results. #### File:
 Putman_et_al_Ecology_and_Evolution_2025.csv **Description:** Raw data:
 These variables describe morphology, physiology, and coloration traits of
 male Western Fence Lizards across habitats. ##### Variables *
 site: location of data collection * habitat: urban or natural *
 actual_svl: snout-vent length, measured by hand, in mm * mass: in g *
 SMI: scaled mass index, estimate of body condition * ectoparasites: 0 =
 absent, 1 = present * ticks: number of ticks visible on lizards *
 ln_cort_ng_ml: plasma corticosterone concentration in ng/ml and ln
 transformed * photo_reviewer: name of person reviewing the lizard
 photographs * image_svl: snout-vent length, measured in ImageJ, in mm *
 throat_area: Measured area of the colored throat patch (mm²) *
 blue_belly_area: Measured area of the blue belly patch (mm²) *
 black_area: Measured area of the black border around the ventral patch
 (mm²) NA in cells indicates no data available for that observation ##
 Code/software R Studio packages library(DHARMa) library(emmeans)
 library(ggplot2) library(ggpubr)