The relative costs and benefits of territorial defense and the two conditional male mating tactics in the Comanche Springs pupfish ( Cyprinodon elegans )

Abstract

We examined the aggressive costs and reproductive benefits of territorial defense and its alternatives in a population of the Comanche Springs pupfish (Cyprinodon elegans). The breeding system was characterized by three different male mating tactics: territorial defense, satellite positioning, and sneak spawning. The mating tactic adopted by males reflected the males' sizes. Territorial residents were the largest, satellites were medium-sized, and sneakers were the smallest adult males observed. Consistent with the hypothesis that primary mating tactics are relatively high-cost, high-benefit strategies, we found that territorial males engaged in a number of aggressive encounters but had higher reproductive successes than any other males. However, our observations did not support the premise that conditionally breeding males engage in relatively low-benefit, low-cost tactics. Medium satellites and small sneakers acquired fewer spawns than did territorial males, but both satellites and sneakers were involved in as much aggression as territorials. That is, the data supported the prediction that satellite or sneaker males with the inability to compete for territories would attempt to accrue some reproductive opportunities in the presence of territorial males despite the high costs of spending time on the breeding grounds. Adopting conditional tactics appeared to allow satellites and sneakers to make the best of a bad situation. During a subsequent breeding season, large males were absent from the population, and medium-sized males established territories. The aggressive behavior exhibited by medium residents was similar to the previous year, but these males did not acquire higher reproductive successes than medium satellites had. The implications of switching tactics and the influence of operational sex ratios on the costs and benefits of the male tactics are briefly addressed.

Mating patterns of female Leon Springs pupfish Cyprinodon bovinus

“…These males did not defend larger territories; nor were the males themselves larger compared with other territorial males. In this sense, this species deviates from the more widely distributed C. variegatus (Leiser & Itzkowitz, 2004 b ) and other congeners (Kodric‐Brown, , ; Leiser & Itzkowitz, ) where male size is correlated with territory size and the largest males (and territories) receive the most spawns. It is possible that certain aspects of the microhabitat, such as fine features of the substratum, were preferred by females, but such differences among the territories could not be identified; the three most‐preferred males occupied territories in different areas of the shelf.…”

“…The Pecos gambusia Gambusia nobilis (Baird & Girard 1853) is an opportunistic egg predator and individual fish converge in large numbers on spawning pairs of C. bovinus (Leiser & Itzkowitz, 2003;Gumm et al, 2011). Similarly, individuals of other gambusia species hover around the territories of the Comanche Springs pupfish Cyprinodon elegans Baird & Girard 1853 (Leiser & Itzkowitz, 2002, 2003 and C. variegatus (Leiser, 2003), closely following spawning pairs and preying on recently deposited eggs. These egg predators represent a threat to the majority of the relatively few eggs that a female might lay in a given male's territory and higher densities of the egg predators have been observed in those territories where more spawning occurs (Gumm et al, 2008(Gumm et al, , 2011.…”

Microsatellite DNA analysis of success in conserving genetic diversity after 33 years of refuge management for the desert pupfish complex

“…In the desert pupfish complex, breeding males are intensely territorial (Barlow, 1961; Cox, 1966), suggesting high variance in male reproductive success and, therefore, greatly reduced N e / N (Frankham, 1995). Pupfish have alternative male strategies, including sneakers and satellites (Leiser & Itzkowitz, 2002), that would moderate the effect of territoriality on N e / N , but effects might be especially pronounced in small refuges, where a population of several hundred might include only a handful of territorial males.…”

Variation in adult longevity in a polymorphic grasshopper species

“…Oftentimes, the factors that determine an individual male's strategy relate to its ability to acquire resources, whether in the form of territory, nutrition, or mates (Eberle & Kappeler 2004, Hunt et al 2004, Simmons & Kotiaho 2007. These plastic mating strategies provide males the opportunity to pass on their genes, even during periods when environmental factors may render them otherwise inferior to competing males in a single-strategy mating system (Leiser & Itzkowitz 2002, Lee 2005, Moczek 2008. Alternate behavioral mating tactics such as those exhibited by 'satellite' or 'sneaker' males have dramatic effects on individual life history, characterized by reallocation of energetic reserves (Jennings & Phillip 1992, Fraizer 1997, Bachman & Widemo 1999.…”