Assessment Strategies and the Effects of Fighting Experience on Future Contest Performance in the Green Anole (Anolis carolinensis)

Abstract

Social experiences can be useful sources of information for animals charged with making fitness‐related decisions. Fighting experience can alter an animal's perception of its fighting ability possibly leading to changes in future contest decisions, which may increase/decrease their probability of winning future contests. Winner and loser effects have been revealed in a wide array of animals, but studies using reptilian models are rare. This study investigated the impact of fighting experience on future contest performance and outcome in the green anole lizard and investigated the assessment strategies used by anoles during contests of different intensities. To determine whether the green anole expresses winner or loser effects, focal animals engaged in a primary contest with a smaller (larger) opponent to gain a winning (losing) experience; opponent size asymmetries were a significant predictor of contest outcome. Focal individuals were isolated for 2 d before being given a secondary contest with a size‐matched, naïve opponent. We found no evidence of winner or loser effects 2 d following a previous contest. Although previous contest outcome did not dictate future contest success, dynamics of the previous contest did. Highly aggressive primary contest losers won a significant proportion of the secondary contests, while less aggressive losers were more apt to lose the secondary contest. Secondary contest success of prior winners was not influenced by earlier contest performance. Further analyses of contest dynamics reveal that individuals may use different assessment strategies depending on the intensity of the contest. Our results demonstrate that future contest success may be driven more by individual performance in a prior contest and less by prior contest outcome.

Contest experience enhances aggressive behaviour in a fly: when losers learn to win

“…Conversely, in other vertebrate species (e.g. the East African cichlid fish), it has been shown that fighting experience itself (coupled with an androgen response) increases the subsequent likelihood of winning, even in the absence of a prior winning experience 60,61 . We demonstrated that experiencing two consecutive defeats without physical contact induced a similar effect in olive fruit flies males (losers without fighting), who achieved higher fighting success in subsequent combat, at a level comparable to males that had experienced two consecutive defeats via physical combat (losers with fighting).…”

Aggressiveness as a component of fighting ability in pigs using a game-theoretical framework

“…Garcia et al, 2012;Jennings, Elwood, Carlin, Hayden, & Gammell, 2012;Kasumovic, Mason, Andrade, & Elias, 2011;Lopes Junior & Cardoso Peixoto, 2013;McGinley, Prenter, & Taylor, 2015;Painting & Holwell, 2014;Palaoro, Dalosto, Costa, & Santos, 2014;Reichert & Gerhardt, 2011;Yasuda, Takeshita, & Wada, 2012). However, these studies have focused on morphological traits related to RHP.…”

Arginine vasotocin, steroid hormones, and social behavior in the green anole lizard, Anolis carolinensis

“…The extracted samples were reconstituted with assay buffer (1:25 to 1:100 for testosterone; 1:300 to 1:750 for corticosterone) and analysed via ELISA (Cayman Chemical Company, Ann Arbor, MI, USA) for both testosterone and corticosterone according to the manufacturer's instructions. These assays have been previously validated for A. carolinensis by our laboratory and others using pooled plasma serial dilutions (Yang and Wilczynski, 2003;Garcia et al, 2012). All plates were run concurrently and each sample was assayed in triplicate.…”