Estimating Fitness: A Comparison of Body Condition Indices

Jakob, Elizabeth M.; Marshall, Samuel D.; Uetz, George W.

doi:10.2307/3545585

Cited by 1,066 publications

(831 citation statements)

References 32 publications

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“…To estimate body condition, we used standardized residuals from a linear regression with body length and mass (Jakob et al 1996). One individual performed dewlap extensions at a rate greater than two standard deviations above the mean and was excluded.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Colorful displays signal male quality in a tropical anole lizard

Cook

Murphy

Johnson

2013

Naturwissenschaften

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Parasites influence colorful ornaments and their behavioral display in many animal hosts. Because coloration and display behavior are often critical components of communication, variation in these traits may have important implications for individual fitness, yet it remains unclear whether such traits are signals of quality in many taxa. We investigated the association between ectoparasitic mite load and the color and behavioral use of the throat fan (dewlap) by male Anolis brevirostris lizards. We found that heavily parasitized lizards exhibited lower body condition, duller dewlaps, and less frequent dewlap displays than less parasitized individuals. Our results thus suggest that highly parasitized individuals invest less in both ornamental color and behavioral display of that color. Because the two components of the signal simultaneously provide information on male quality, this study provides novel support for the long-standing hypothesis that colorful traits may function as social or sexual signals in reptiles.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Colorful displays signal male quality in a tropical anole lizard

Cook

Murphy

Johnson

2013

Naturwissenschaften

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“…Condition was scored as residuals from a regression of mass on average leg length ( Jakob et al 1996), which correlates with survivorship under starvation in redbacks (Andrade 2000).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Multiple sperm storage organs facilitate female control of paternity

2005

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It has been proposed that multiple sperm storage organs (spermathecae) could allow polyandrous females to control paternity. There is little conclusive evidence for this since insemination of individual spermathecae is generally not experimentally manipulable. Here, we examined sperm use patterns in the Australian redback spider (Latrodectus hasselti ), which has paired, independent spermathecae. We assessed paternity when two rivals were forced to inseminate a single storage organ or opposite storage organs. When males inseminated a single spermatheca, mean paternity of the female's first mate was 79.8% (median 89.4%), and 38% of first mates achieved 100% paternity. In contrast, when males inseminated opposite organs, the mean paternity of the first mate was 49.3% (median 49.9%), only 10% of males achieved complete precedence, and paternity was normally distributed, suggesting sperm mixing. Males responded to this difference by avoiding previously inseminated female reproductive tracts. Complete sperm precedence can only be achieved if females permit males to copulate with both reproductive tracts. Females often cannibalize smaller males during their first copulation, thus limiting their paternity to 50%. These data show that multiple sperm storage organs can increase female control of paternity.

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“…Here, we identify bold individuals as those that resume movement within 1 -200 s and shy individuals as those that take 600 s or more to resume activity (similar to [15]). We measured spiders' mass and prosoma width to estimate their body conditions using the residuals of a linear regression of body mass and body size [16].…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Personality composition alters the transmission of cuticular bacteria in social groups

et al. 2016

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The initial stages of a disease outbreak can determine the magnitude of the ensuing epidemic. Though rarely tested in unison, two factors with important consequences for the transmission dynamics of infectious agents are the collective traits of the susceptible population and the individual traits of the index case (i.e. 'patient zero'). Here, we test whether the personality composition of a social group can explain horizontal transmission dynamics of cuticular bacteria using the social spider Stegodyphus dumicola. We exposed focal spiders of known behavioural phenotypes with a GFP-transformed cuticular bacterium (Pantoea sp.) and placed them in groups of 10 susceptible individuals (i.e. those with no experience with this bacterium). We measured bacterial transmission to groups composed of either all shy spiders, 10% bold spiders or 40% bold spiders. We found that colonies with 40% bold spiders experienced over twice the incidence of transmission compared to colonies with just 10% bold individuals after only 24 h of interaction. Colonies of all shy spiders experienced an intermediate degree of transmission. Interestingly, we did not detect an effect of the traits of the index case on transmission. These data suggest that the phenotypic composition of the susceptible population can have a greater influence on the degree of early transmission events than the traits of the index case.

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Estimating Fitness: A Comparison of Body Condition Indices

Cited by 1,066 publications

References 32 publications

Colorful displays signal male quality in a tropical anole lizard

Colorful displays signal male quality in a tropical anole lizard

Multiple sperm storage organs facilitate female control of paternity

Personality composition alters the transmission of cuticular bacteria in social groups

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