Wrestling in the red-spotted newt (Notophthalmus viridescens): resource value and contestant asymmetry determine contest duration and outcome

Verrell, Paul A.

doi:10.1016/s0003-3472(86)80108-7

Cited by 80 publications

(38 citation statements)

References 18 publications

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“…Such a situation is often seen when the contest involves one individual attempting to prise away a resource in the possession of its opponent. Examples other than shell fighting in hermit crabs include contests over shelters in stomatopods (Shuster & Caldwell 1982) and over guarded females in amphipods (Dick & Elwood 1996), damselflies (Cordero 1999) and newts (Verrell 1986).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Use of energy reserves in fighting hermit crabs

Briffa

Elwood

2004

Proc. R. Soc. Lond. B

142

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When animals engage in fights they face a series of decisions, which are based on the value of the contested resource and either their relative or their absolute fighting ability. Certain correlates of fighting ability or 'resource holding potential' such as body size are fixed but physiological correlates are expected to vary during the encounter. We examine the role of energy reserves in determining fight outcomes and parameters during 'shell fighting' in hermit crabs. During these fights, the two contestants perform very different roles of attacker and defender. We show that the balance of the total energy pool, in the form of glucose and glycogen, determines the ability of defenders to resist eviction from their shells. Low glucose in evicted defenders is not caused by depletion of energy reserves, rather mobilization of glycogen appears to be the result of a strategic decision about whether to resist effectively, based on the perceived fighting ability of the attacker. Attackers, however, always initiate the fight so such a decision for this role appears unlikely. In addition to influencing decisions and ability during fights, physiological correlates of fighting ability can in turn be influenced by strategic decisions.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Use of energy reserves in fighting hermit crabs

Briffa

Elwood

2004

Proc. R. Soc. Lond. B

142

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“…Size difference has often been shown to determine contest outcomes in various situations (e.g. Dixon and Cade 1986;Hastings 1988;Tokarz 1985;Turner and Huntingford 1986;Verrell 1986). With sand gobies it was clear that small males were most likely to be forced to leave their nests.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The effect of resource holding potential, nest size and information about resource quality on the outcome of intruder-owner conflicts in the sand goby

Lindström

1992

Behav Ecol Sociobiol

105

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Sand goby, Pomatoschistus minutus Pallas, males need a nest site for successful breeding. The value of the nest increases with size, as larger nests can hold more eggs. In the field using artificial nest sites, takeovers occurred in 29.0% of the cases. The winning intruders were on average 16.3% larger than the owners. These, in turn, were significantly smaller than the nonreplaced males. Replacement probability increased with nest size. Prior ownership was of no importance in experimental situations, but might have affected takeover probabilities in the field. Males assessed the size of a potential nest site on the basis of its external appearance. When intruders and owners were given opposite information about nest size the experiments resulted in takeover rates of around 50% in situations where takeover rates were expected to be extreme. This suggested that intruders might update their information about a site's true value during the fight. The continuous assessment, in turn, might affect their motivation to continue fighting. On average, larger males were more active in initiating displays. However, smaller opponents challenged their larger opponents more actively when they were defending a large nest than when they were defending a small nest. The greater willingness to defend might provide the intruder with more information about the real value of the nest.

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“…Where owners have invested in site-dependent pair bonds (Verrell 1987;Sandell and Smith 1991), they stand to gain more from holding the territory than their floater counterparts. In addition, if owners have sired offspring, and owners' continued investment in the form of nest defence will improve nestling survival (Walton and Nolan 1986;Weatherhead 1990), owners will again have more to gain from the territory than floaters.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Surplus territory contenders in male red-winged blackbirds: where are the desperados?

Shutler

Weatherhead

1992

Behav Ecol Sociobiol

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We tested whether payoff asymmetries could explain why "floater" red-winged blackbirds seldom escalate contests to acquire territories. We removed territorial male "owners" and allowed floater replacements to claim territories. We then released owners to see how three currencies of payoff asymmetries (replacement occupancy time, owner familiarity with neighbors, and owner reproductive investment) affected owners' likelihood and speed of reclaiming their territories (owner success). Neither the duration of an owner's internment nor the amount of time that a floater replacement had held the territory affected owner success (Figs. 1 and 2). Owner success was also not affected by the number of neighbors that they had (Fig. 3). Finally, owner success was the same irrespective of whether or not he was the likely sire of offspring on the territory, or the size of his harem (Fig. 4). Although these results are consistent with the proposal that payoff asymmetries will be irrelevant in contests for valuable resources, they are inconsistent with the proposal's corollary that excluded individuals should become "desperados" and escalate or even fight to the death in contests for those resources. Expected payoffs for passive acquisition of territories in this species may be higher than from a more aggressive desperado strategy.

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Wrestling in the red-spotted newt (Notophthalmus viridescens): resource value and contestant asymmetry determine contest duration and outcome

Cited by 80 publications

References 18 publications

Use of energy reserves in fighting hermit crabs

Use of energy reserves in fighting hermit crabs

The effect of resource holding potential, nest size and information about resource quality on the outcome of intruder-owner conflicts in the sand goby

Surplus territory contenders in male red-winged blackbirds: where are the desperados?

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