Path Integration in Fiddler Crabs and Its Relation to Habitat and Social Life

Zeil, Jochen; Layne, John E.

doi:10.1007/978-3-642-56092-7_13

Cited by 48 publications

(50 citation statements)

References 30 publications

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“…Fiddler crabs use vision to locate their burrow openings only at very close range (Zeil, 1998;Zeil and Layne, 2002). Resident crabs that are feeding away from their burrows (Cannicci et al, 1999;Zeil, 1998) and crabs that are moving between burrows (Zeil and Layne, 2002) use a nonvisual mechanism, probably based on leg odometry (Zeil and Layne, 2002), to integrate their movements away from their burrows so that they can return quickly and directly to them.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Resident crabs that are feeding away from their burrows (Cannicci et al, 1999;Zeil, 1998) and crabs that are moving between burrows (Zeil and Layne, 2002) use a nonvisual mechanism, probably based on leg odometry (Zeil and Layne, 2002), to integrate their movements away from their burrows so that they can return quickly and directly to them. This mechanism is manifest by the frequent small changes a crab makes in its body orientation that keep its transverse axis nearly aligned with the bearing to its burrow (Zeil, 1998;Zeil and Layne, 2002). Female U. musica used this mechanism as they departed from males' burrows.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Hoods may increase encounter rates in two ways. Fiddler crabs see two-dimensional objects on the surface poorly, and they do not use vision to locate their burrows entrances if they are more than a few centimeters away (Zeil, 1998;Zeil and Layne, 2002). In contrast, they see vertical objects such as hoods, which are as tall as or taller than their eyestalks, exceptionally well (Land and Layne, 1995;Zeil and Al-Mutairi, 1996).…”

Section: Effects Of Hoods On Courtshipmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Sexual selection for structure building by courting male fiddler crabs: an experimental study of behavioral mechanisms

Christy¹

2002

Behavioral Ecology

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Males of the fiddler crab Uca musica sometimes build sand hoods at the entrances of their burrows, to which they attract females for mating with claw waving and other displays. Females significantly more often approached males with hoods than males without hoods, but once at a burrow, they were just as likely to stay and mate whether the male had a hood or not. To determine how hoods affect male attractiveness, we conducted experiments that controlled for other differences in courtship behavior between builders and nonbuilders; we removed hood builders' hoods and we added hood models to nonbuilders' burrows. We then measured the attractiveness of hood builders and nonbuilders with and without hoods. Neither manipulation measurably affected male courtship behavior. The presence of a hood did not increase male-female encounter rates, suggesting that hoods do not attract distant females into a male's courtship range. However, once a male courted a female, she was significantly more likely to approach if he had a real or model hood. We obtained direct evidence that females orient to hoods by replacing them with hood models positioned about 3 cm away from the openings to males' burrows. Females approached the models, not the courting males, about 27% of the time. We conclude that hood building is sexually selected because courted females differentially approach hoods, not because hoods attract distant females and not because females prefer to mate with hood builders.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Effects Of Hoods On Courtshipmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Sexual selection for structure building by courting male fiddler crabs: an experimental study of behavioral mechanisms

Christy¹

2002

Behavioral Ecology

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“…With notable exceptions (Yoder et al 2005), fiddler crabs forage near their burrows and show burrow fidelity. Burrows are refuges (Frix et al 1991) to which crabs run when predators come near (Zeil and Layne 2002). Fiddler crabs can orient to their burrows using vision but, due to perspective foreshortening and to the geometry and configuration of their eyes, crabs cannot recognize the dark image of a burrow entrance when they are more than about ten body lengths from it (Zeil and Layne 2002).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Burrows are refuges (Frix et al 1991) to which crabs run when predators come near (Zeil and Layne 2002). Fiddler crabs can orient to their burrows using vision but, due to perspective foreshortening and to the geometry and configuration of their eyes, crabs cannot recognize the dark image of a burrow entrance when they are more than about ten body lengths from it (Zeil and Layne 2002). To relocate their burrows from greater distances, they construct non-visual path maps (Vannini and Cannicci 1995) to their burrow opening.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Males are attracted by their own courtship signals

Ribeiro

Christy

Rissanen

et al. 2006

Behav Ecol Sociobiol

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Courting male fiddler crabs Uca terpsichores (1 cm carapace width) sometimes build mounds of sand called hoods at the entrances to their burrows. Males wave their single enlarged claws to attract females to their burrows for mating. It was shown previously that burrows with hoods are more attractive to females and that females visually orient to these structures. In this study, we test whether males also use their hoods to find their burrows. We first determined the maximum distance that males can see and find a burrow opening without a hood. Males were removed from their burrows and placed on the sand at a range of distances from a burrow opening. If they were more than about 8 cm (seven units of eye-height) away, they were unable find the burrow. In contrast, males that were burrow residents used a non-visual path map to return to their burrows from much greater distances. To determine if hoods help males find their burrows when there are errors in their path maps, we moved residents 1-49 cm on sliding platforms producing errors equal to the distances they were moved. Males with self-made hoods or hood models at their burrows relocated their burrows at significantly greater distances than did males with unadorned burrows. Hood builders also relocated their burrows faster. Hence, hoods have two functions: they attract females and they provide a visual cue that males use to find their burrows quickly and reliably when their path maps fail.

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Why do ovigerous females approach courting males? Female preferences and sensory biases in a fiddler crab

Chou

Backwell

2016

Ecology and Evolution

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Perceptual biases explain the origin and evolution of female preference in many species. Some responses that mediate mate choice, however, may have never been used in nonmating contexts. In the fiddler crab, Uca mjoebergi, mate‐searching females prefer faster wave rates and leading wave; however, it remains unclear whether such responses evolved in a mating context (i.e., the preference has effect on the fitness of the female and her offspring that arise from mating with a particular male) or a nonmating contexts (i.e., a female obtains direct benefits through selecting the male with a more detectable trait). Here, we compared the preferences of mate‐searching with those of ovigerous females that are searching for a burrow and do not concern about male “quality.” Results showed that as both mate‐searching and ovigerous females preferentially approached robotic males with faster wave rates. This suggests that wave rate increases detectability/locatability of males, but the mating preference for this trait is unlikely to evolve in the mating context (although it may currently function in mate choice), as it does not provide fitness‐related benefit to females or her offspring. Wave leadership, in contract, was attractive to mate‐searching females, but not ovigerous females, suggesting that female preference for leadership evolves because wave leadership conveys information about male quality. We provide not only an empirical evidence of sensory biases (in terms of the preference for faster wave), but the first experimental evidence that mating context can be the only selection force that mediates the evolution of male sexual traits and female preference (in terms of the preference for leading wave).

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Path Integration in Fiddler Crabs and Its Relation to Habitat and Social Life

Cited by 48 publications

References 30 publications

Sexual selection for structure building by courting male fiddler crabs: an experimental study of behavioral mechanisms

Sexual selection for structure building by courting male fiddler crabs: an experimental study of behavioral mechanisms

Males are attracted by their own courtship signals

Why do ovigerous females approach courting males? Female preferences and sensory biases in a fiddler crab

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