Priority versus Brute Force: When Should Males Begin Guarding Resources?

Härdling, Roger; Kokko, Hanna; Elwood, Robert W.

doi:10.1086/381043

Cited by 33 publications

(35 citation statements)

References 44 publications

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“…Second, swordtails live in dynamic groupings in which females move between the home ranges of several males (Franck et al 1998). A male that is exclusively guarding a resource that females can utilise is more likely to gain access to females when they arrive and will save energy that would have been used in searching for females (Brown 1964;Archer 1988;Huntingford and Turner 1987;Grant 1993;Härdling et al 2004). In the present study it appears that male swordtails defend a food resource and probably take advantage of female presence at that resource.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Both male size (Beaugrand et al 1991;Benson and Basolo 2006) and sword length (Benson and Basolo 2006) influence the outcome of competitive interactions. Moreover many studies of resource defence, in fish and other taxa, cite male size as a major influencing factor (Beaugrand et al 1991;Morris et al 1992;Beaugrand and Goulet 2000;Härdling et al 2004;Benson and Basolo 2006;Ward et al 2006). Larger, stronger males are usually able to outcompete smaller males (Härdling et al 2004;Ward et al 2006) and so can persevere in individual contests and, if the norm for that species, achieve dominance (Ward et al 2006).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The function of aggression in the swordtail, Xiphophorus helleri: resource defence

Magellan

Kaiser

2009

J Ethol

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Competition for mating opportunities may involve exclusion of intrasexual competitors (direct) or defending resources necessary to attract mates (indirect). Male swordtails (Xiphophorus helleri) engage in direct competition. Moreover in natural populations they defend a home range. This study aimed to test whether this home range defence is a form of food resource defence, which may therefore have a female attraction function. Male swordtails did defend a food resource and showed increased aggression in the presence of both food and females. However, food resource defence decreased when females were present, suggesting that both food and females are treated as defendable resources.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The function of aggression in the swordtail, Xiphophorus helleri: resource defence

Magellan

Kaiser

2009

J Ethol

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“…Mate guarding is most typically described in a variety of animals as a behaviour in which males closely follow their mates to prevent cuckoldry during a female's fertile period (Gowaty 1996), and its expression in the breeding season is mediated by T (Moore 1984). However, females do not have to be fertile for mate guarding to be selectively advantageous (Härdling et al 2004). Even in the nonbreeding season, mate guarding can function to increase a male's assurance of paternity (Artiss & Martin 1995;Guillemain et al 2003).…”

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confidence: 99%

The role of testosterone in male downy woodpeckers in winter home range use, mate interactions and female foraging behaviour

Kellam¹,

Lucas²,

Wingfield

2006

Animal Behaviour

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Studies of the role of testosterone (T) in birds have typically focused on sexual or aggressive behaviours of males during the breeding period, but males of nonmigratory species may invest in mate and territory long before breeding, and the influence of T in facilitating nonbreeding-season behaviours is poorly understood. We gave free-living male downy woodpeckers, Picoides pubescens, T-implants during the winter to determine whether elevated levels of T increased a male's ability to exclusively occupy territory-based resources, and whether elevated T strengthened a male's investment in an existing pair bond relationship. We also explored how a female's foraging efficiency might be affected by her mate's behaviour if he had elevated T. We found little difference between control and T-implanted males with regard to home range exclusivity. Surprisingly, male-male display rates were significantly lower in T-implanted males than in controls. Regarding male-female interactions, T-implanted males that experienced high incursion rates from other males maintained more frequent spatial association with their mate, suggesting that T facilitates male behaviours that could restrict the mate's access to other male birds. Female mates of T-males showed reduced foraging rates, but because male-female aggression was similar between treatment groups, the cause for this reduction is unknown. The results indicate that exogenous T during winter affects a variety of behaviours in male woodpeckers, and proximate influences on pair bond maintenance in winter may be a fruitful avenue for future research.Hormones have a vital influence on avian mate choice and life history. For example, male courtship, mate guarding, defence of breeding territory, the number of female mating partners per season and female choice of males depend on testosterone (T) levels in males to some degree (Moore 1984;Wingfield & Farner 1993;Enstrom et al. 1997). However, relatively few studies have examined T's contribution to facilitating male social behaviours outside the traditional breeding season, even though, in resident species, both defence of breeding territory and pairing activities may take place. In some species, T and related control mechanisms may regulate these nonbreeding-season behaviours (Wingfield et al. 1997;Hau et al. 2004). Thus, if behaviours related to defence of breeding territory and maintenance of the pair bond relationship in the nonbreeding period increase a male's fitness (and/or the fitness of his existing or future mate), increases in plasma T before the breeding period could also be advantageous.At the same time, elevated and prolonged T levels could have significant fitness costs. These may include physical wounding or depredation resulting from aggressive or otherwise conspicuous behaviours, immunosuppression and heightened energetic demands (Wingfield Buchanan et al. 2001). High male T levels might also lower the fitness of the male's mate, a possibility that is often overlooked. Increased interaction between mates cou...

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“…Their results also pointed to a role of interference competition among males in promoting patterns of size-assortative mating in G. pulex (Bollache & Cézilly 2004). In addition, if takeovers are rare, Hardling et al (2004) showed that the best option for mate-searching males must be to choose the best single female available, which is likely to be a large female (Elwood et al 1987).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Mating patterns ofGammarus lacustris(Amphipoda: Gammaridae) from three populations across a gradient on the Tibetan Plateau

Chen

2013

Italian Journal of Zoology

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The large-male mating advantage and size-assortative mating are two different size-based patterns which deviate from random mating in Gammarus species. The size-assortative pairing in gammarid amphipods may have arisen for microhabitat segregation, loading constraints, sexual selection, or a combination of them. This study investigated the mating patterns of Gammarus lacustris from three populations along an altitudinal gradient in the northeastern Tibetan plateau. We demonstrated that the species shows a size-related non-random mating pattern. There is a strong sexual size dimorphism (SSD) in G. lacustris, which does not vary along the altitudinal gradient. The ultimate cause of male-biased SSD is likely the stronger selection acting on male than on female body size, either because large males have a higher mating success than smaller males (large male advantage at the highest elevation population), or because they mate with larger females with more fecundity in three populations, or both, which results in size-assortative mating of G. lacustris. Additionally, the loading constraint hypothesis (size-assortative patterns potentially increased their fitness in fast-flowing water) cannot be excluded.

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Priority versus Brute Force: When Should Males Begin Guarding Resources?

Abstract: $15.00. All rights reserved.can also be nonlinear if takeovers are moderately common; if this is the case, then males of intermediate size guard the longest.

Cited by 33 publications

References 44 publications

The function of aggression in the swordtail, Xiphophorus helleri: resource defence

The function of aggression in the swordtail, Xiphophorus helleri: resource defence

The role of testosterone in male downy woodpeckers in winter home range use, mate interactions and female foraging behaviour

Mating patterns ofGammarus lacustris(Amphipoda: Gammaridae) from three populations across a gradient on the Tibetan Plateau

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