Behaviour of the female beaugregory damselfish (<i>Stegastes leucostictus</i>)

Horne, Eva A.; Itzkowitz, Murray

doi:10.1111/j.1095-8649.1995.tb05986.x

Cited by 17 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 13 publications

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“…This alternative seems unlikely. Within a contiguous habitat of small rubble, such as within the control and experimental communities, female beaugregory damselfish travel widely and frequently interact with other individuals (Horne & Itzkowitz, 1995). This should have given females ample opportunity to learn of competitive changes.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Male variation in mating success after female numbers are reduced

Cleveland

Itzkowitz

Haley³

2002

Journal of Fish Biology

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A significant decline was found in the quantity of eggs that polygynous male beaugregory damselfish Stegastes leucosticus received after reducing the number of available females, which indicated that a significant number of females was removed from the experimental community. The operational sex ratio (OSR) hypothesis, which presumes that a sex becomes increasingly more selective as the number of alternative mates increases, was not supported as the variance in male mating success was unchanged after the females were removed. The relative mating success among males was also unchanged. That is, male ranks remained relatively the same (pre-test and post-test) after the removal of females. The large variance in male mating success within this species may be a function of polymorphic mate preferences exhibited by females that may be based on male location. 2002 The Fisheries Society of the British Isles

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Male variation in mating success after female numbers are reduced

Cleveland

Itzkowitz

Haley³

2002

Journal of Fish Biology

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“…Stegastes leucostictus inhabits the shallow tropical waters of the western Atlantic. Males and females hold individual territories of 1–2 m 2 over substrates of mixed sand and coral rubble, which they defend against conspecifics and other species (Horne & Itzkowitz, ; Itzkowitz, ). Beaugregories usually take shelter in a crevice in or under an isolated coral colony or coral rock, located near the centre of their territory.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Behavioural acclimation to cameras and observers in coral reef fishes

et al. 2017

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Observer presence can bias behavioural studies of animals in both the wild and the laboratory. Despite existing evidence for significant observer effects across several taxa, little is known about the minimum periods of acclimation that should precede behavioural observations. To date, most studies either do not report any acclimation periods or include a non‐specific period without empirically quantifying its appropriateness. Here, we conducted in situ behavioural observations of two species of demersal coral reef fishes using cameras and/or observers to examine the biases associated with either approach. For both treatments, we generated 25 min time series of a number of vigilance‐associated behaviours (i.e., distance from shelter and mate, time out of shelter, swimming activity) and estimated the point of acclimation using changepoint analysis. In the camera trials, acclimation in both species appeared to occur between 2 and 7 min for different behaviours. When an observer was present, however, no apparent acclimation occurred until the observer left the area. Overall, our findings demonstrate that (i) behavioural studies of wild fishes conducted by an observer may be biased due to permanent observer effects, and (ii) when using video equipment, a species‐ and behaviour‐specific acclimation period should precede behavioural scoring.

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“…The behavioral ecology of the beaugregory damselfish has been extensively studied (e.g., Horne and Itzkowitz 1995;acta ethol (2008acta ethol ( ) 11:6-15 Itzkowitz 1985Renshaw 1994). During courtship, males may travel up to 3 m to court passing females.…”

Section: Ecology Of the Beaugregory Damselfishmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…During these forays, females frequently enter the breeding sites of several males in succession, giving the appearance of site-quality assessment. Many of these forays result in the females returning to their territories without spawning (Horne and Itzkowitz 1995;Renshaw 1994; Draud, personal observation), and it seems logical to suggest that the main purpose of these nonspawning forays is to assess male quality within the population.…”

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Mate inspection patterns in the female beaugregory damselfish (Stegastes leucostictus)

et al. 2007

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We observed female beaugregory damselfish (Stegastes leucostictus) as they interacted with males to see whether their movements fit the predictions of different mate-search models. We established high-quality and lowquality groups with low variance in breeding site quality and a medium-quality, high-variance breeding site group and compared focal observations of female nonforaging forays in each group. Only 8% of 137 forays monitored resulted in spawning events. Eighty-nine percent of the forays were less than 240 s and were within 7 m of the focal female's territory. Average foray times and straightline foray distances did not differ for females traveling between males in each group. Females entered high-quality breeding sites at a higher rate than low-quality sites and round-trip distances were also greatest in high-quality groups, indicating that females were following a more convoluted path. We interpret these results to mean that (a) female beaugregories separate the tasks of mate assessment and mate choice by conducting information-gathering forays between mating events, (b) forays are energetically costly and therefore usually short in duration and overall distance traveled, (c) information collection takes approximately the same time for high-quality and low-quality mates, but (d) females will alter their foray patterns in highquality areas to collect additional information. These data are also consistent with the hypothesis that females optimize their search by employing a tiered process of assessment during information-gathering forays, first using an adjustable threshold to accept or reject each male based on his courtship and subsequently a fixed threshold to assess the quality of each breeding site.

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Behaviour of the female beaugregory damselfish (Stegastes leucostictus)

Cited by 17 publications

References 13 publications

Male variation in mating success after female numbers are reduced

Male variation in mating success after female numbers are reduced

Behavioural acclimation to cameras and observers in coral reef fishes

Mate inspection patterns in the female beaugregory damselfish (Stegastes leucostictus)

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