A community context for aggression? Multi‐species audience effects on territorial aggression in two species of Paridae

Abstract

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Mixed-species groups and the question of dominance in the social ecosystem

“…However, animals' behaviours and interactions with each other and with other species in their broader community should perhaps be viewed as a web of interconnected influences and drivers that shape the social environment in which they live and behave [1,[30][31][32]. For example, territorial aggression in birds is strongly influenced by the number of heterospecific observers at contests [33]. To truly understand social influences, of which dominance is one, we need to consider not only the biotic and non-biotic environment (i.e.…”

“…can influence MSGs from outside or within the group. For example, while predator–prey relationships are not included in any definition of MSGs, external threats from predators heavily influence MSG dynamics [33,54,55]. Many heterospecific associations may be driven in part by increased predation pressure [32,56,57], while some mixed-species behaviours are likely entirely a result of predator presence [58].…”

“…In comparison, few MSG participants and more competitors (species (v)) may increase predation and food pressure leading to suppressed dominance interactions ( b ) via trade-offs in time and energy budgets between foraging, social behaviour and anti-predation behaviour. While these predictions remain untested, there is at least some support for the idea that increased heterospecific audience influences conspecific aggressive interactions [33]. Further, for species low in the hierarchy (e.g.…”

Interacciones sociales de aves granívoras silvestres frente a comederos experimentales en el matorral semiárido del norte de Chile

“…En particular, en paseriformes se han descrito interacciones sociales agonísticas en torno a parches de recursos alimenticios y/o territorios establecidos (Sagario & Cueto 2014, Francis et al 2018, esto provoca la expresión comportamientos agresivos, incluyendo demostraciones de amenaza, dominancia, y ataques físicos directos (Francis et al 2018). No obstante, la expresión de conductas agonistas en aves suele variar entre especies de acuerdo a características morfológicas, genéticas, de historia de vida, y/o a características del ambiente, lo cual es materia de interés para la ecología del comportamiento (Maney & Godson 2011, Wojczulanis-Jakubas et al 2015, Davis & Sewall 2016, Hardman & Dalesman 2017, Bai et al 2021. En este contexto, el aporte experimental de alimento suplementario puede gatillar conductas agonísticas y de dominancia en diversas especies de aves (Foltz et al 2015, Wojczulanis-Jakubas et al 2015, Machovsky-Capuska et al 2016, Galbraith et al 2017.…”

Mixed-species flock composition matters: interspecific influences on finding novel food in North American parids

“…Additionally, for successful chickadee flocks, the more diverse their MSG was, the quicker they were able to solve the task [29]. Subsequent experimental work has found that individual chickadee behaviour is influenced by the presence and number of titmice in their flocks [30] and that members of other species in these MSGs can influence aggressive behaviour of chickadees and titmice [31].…”