P. Andreas Svensson

Carotenoid-based signals in behavioural ecology : a review

Carotenoids are among the most prevalent pigments used in animal signals and are also important for a range of physiological functions. These concomitant roles havemade carotenoidbased signals a po ...

BEHAVIOURAL RESPONSES TO SIMULATED AVIAN PREDATION IN FEMALE THREE SPINED STICKLEBACKS: THE EFFECT OF EXPERIMENTAL SCHISTOCEPHALUS SOLIDUS INFECTIONS

Barber, I., Walker, P., Svensson, P. A. (2004). Behavioural responses to simulated avian predation in three-spined sticklebacks: the effect of experimental Schistocephalus infections. Behaviour, 141,(11-12),1425-1440.

Strategic male signalling effort in a desert-dwelling fish

Males often use elaborate courtship displays to attract females for mating. Much attention, in this regard, has been focused on trying to understand the causes and consequences of signal variation among males. Far less, by contrast, is known about within-individual variation in signal expression and, in particular, the extent to which males may be able to strategically adjust their signalling output to try to maximise their reproductive returns. Here, we experimentally investigated male courtship effort in a fish, the Australian desert goby, Chlamydogobius eremius. When offered a simultaneous choice between a large and a small female, male gobies spent significantly more time associating with, and courting, the former, probably because larger females are also more fecund. Male signalling patterns were also investigated under a sequential choice scenario, with females presented one at a time. When first offered a female, male courtship was not affected by female size. However, males adjusted their courtship effort towards a second female depending on the size of the female encountered previously. In particular, males that were first offered a large female significantly reduced their courtship effort when presented with a subsequent, smaller, female. Our findings suggest that males may be able to respond adaptively to differences in female quality, and strategically adjust their signalling effort accordingly.

A high aggression strategy for smaller males

Male-male conflict is common among animals, but questions remain as to when, how and by whom aggression should be initiated. Factors that affect agonistic strategies include residency, the value of the contested resource and the fighting ability of the two contestants. We quantified initiation of aggression in a fish, the desert goby, Chlamydogobius eremius, by exposing nest-holding males to a male intruder. The perceived value of the resource (the nest) was manipulated by exposing half of the residents to sexually receptive females for two days before the trial. Resident male aggression, however, was unaffected by perceived mating opportunities. It was also unaffected by the absolute and relative size of the intruder. Instead resident aggression was negatively related to resident male size. In particular, smaller residents attacked sooner and with greater intensity compared to larger residents. These results suggest that resident desert goby males used set, rather than conditional, strategies for initiating aggression. If intruders are more likely to flee than retaliate, small males may benefit from attacking intruders before these have had an opportunity to assess the resident and/or the resource.

The interval between sexual encounters affects male courtship tactics in a desert-dwelling fish

Courtship displays are often important in determining male mating success but can also be costly. Thus, instead of courting females indiscriminately, males might be expected to adjust their signalling effort strategically. Theory, however, predicts that such adjustments should depend on the rate with which males encounter females, a prediction that has been subject to very little empirical testing. Here, we investigate the effects of female encounter rate on male courtship intensity by manipulating the time interval between sequential presentations of large (high quality) and small (low quality) females in a fish, the Australian desert goby Chlamydogobius eremius. Males that were presented with a small female immediately after a large female reduced their courtship intensity significantly. However, males courted large and small females with equal intensity if the interval between the sequential presentations was longer. Our results suggest that mate encounter rate is an important factor shaping male reproductive decisions and, consequently, the evolutionary potential of sexual selection.

Distribution and host plant preference of Idotea baltica (Pallas) (Crustacea:Isopoda) on shallow rocky shores in the central Baltic Sea

Partially due to the mass occurrence of the isopod Idotea baltica, the perennial fucoid vegetation in the Baltic Sea has been destroyed over large areas and replaced by filamentous algae. With a combination of field investigations and laboratory experiments, we tested whether I. baltica preferred Fucus serratus to the dominant red alga Polysiphonia fucoides. In the field, the I. baltica density was higher inside F. serratus than P. fucoides patches when measured per unit area, but the situation was reversed if measured per biomass algae. Diet in the field was well correlated with the distribution of the isopods. A large proportion of the isopod faecal pellets collected in the field contained remnants of microalgae, planktonic animals, and bacteria, but the dominating material was always cells from the actual host plant. In a host plant preference experiment, I. baltica distributed evenly between the two host plant types, but the isopods grazed more heavily on F. serratus. We conclude that although F. serratus is the preferred food item in a choice situation, P. fucoides appears to have the potential to support the I. baltica population with food and shelter. A possible relationship between the weak host plant preference and the low stocks of predatory fish is discussed.

Adjustment of brood care behaviour in the absence of a mate in two species of Nicaraguan crater lake cichlids

In many taxa, parental strategies can vary among individuals. This is especially true in species with biparental care, with males, more often than females, deserting their mates. While there is an abundance of theoretical predictions and empirical data on factors inducing mate abandonment by males, much less is known about what consequences this may have on female behaviour, particularly in the field and in non-avian systems. Here, we compared brood defence rate, behavioural defence types, and brood success of solitary and paired females in two species of Neotropical cichlid fish in their natural habitat. In terms of the rate of territorial aggression towards potential brood predators, solitary females were able to fully compensate in the absence of a male but, in so doing, ended up maintaining smaller territories, which appeared to compromise offspring fitness in at least one of the two species. Hence, our results suggest that even extensive quantitative compensation in parental effort by solitary females may not be enough to ensure adequate qualitative compensation for the lack of male participation, highlighting the importance of distinguishing between these two aspects of compensatory parental care.

The capacity for internal colour change is related to body transparency in fishes

Dear Sir, Chromatophores are large, stellate and spectacular pigment bearing cells, typically located in the skin, that generate body colouration. In many animals, melanocytes ⁄melanophores, the melanin containing chromatophores, are also present in various tissues inside the body, for instance in the ear, brain, abdominal cavity, around internal organs and skeleton. The presence of such internal pigmentation in puzzling as it is hidden from sight. While there is an enormous amount of studies and data on skin chromatophores, from the fine details of the motile machinery to animal behaviour (Aspengren et al., 2009), internal melanocytes have historically been largely ignored, until recently (Aoki et al., 2009; Brito and Kos, 2008; Randhawa et al., 2009; Yajima and Larue, 2008). Remarkably little is still known about their possible functions, and this uncertainty is problematic for the more general question of the role(s) of melanin in itself (Aspengren et al., 2009; Boissy and Hornyak, 2006; Braasch et al., 2009; Hill, 2000; Ito, 2009). While internal melanocytes are prevalent, internal erythrophores and xanthophores appear more uncommon. In fish, however, such cells can be found interspersed with melanocytes and reflective chromatophores in the highly pigmented peritoneum (the endothelium that covers the abdominal cavity) (Nilsson Skold et al., 2008). In juveniles, as well as in adults of species with relatively transparent bodies, internal chromatophores may actually contribute to the overall body colouration, as shown in two-spotted goby females, where abdominal trunk biopsies were analysed (Nilsson Skold et al., 2008). In fishes, skin patterns can be rapidly modified by aggregation or dispersion of the pigment-containing organelles inside the chromatophores present in the skin (i.e. physiological colour change) for background adaptation or signalling displays (Aspengren et al., 2009; Fujii and Oshima, 1994). In comparison, colour change in internal chromatophores has been largely ignored as it has been generally considered that they are not responsive (Boissy and Hornyak, 2006). However, melanocytes in the peritoneum and around the skeleton of the ice goby, Leucopsarion petersii, do indeed adapt to the background by pigment translocations in vivo and in biopsies, thus providing the first evidence for internal colour change (Goda and Fujii, 1996). Recent work on biopsies from the two-spotted goby showed that also internal erythrophores and xanthophores can be responsive (Nilsson Skold et al., 2008). As these examples come from relatively transparent species, it is possible that this phenomenon is more common than earlier believed, especially in species with some degree of body transparency. In order to test if a capacity for internal colour change was related to the degree of body transparency, and to reveal a possible function of these cells, we analysed the regulatory capability of peritoneal melanocytes in eight different teleost species, representing five different orders within the large super order Acanthopterygii and in one member of the super order Clupeomorpha, all with different degrees of body transparency. We used epinephrine and melatonin as potential pigment aggregating agents (see Appendix S1 for methodology). A positive relationship between body transparency and rate of internal colour change would suggest a special adaptive role for internal melanocytes in transparent fish species, and thus constitute a novel function for internal pigments. Our results showed that peritoneal melanocytes were present in all investigated fish species. Especially high densities were found in the gobies and in pipefish, plaice and herring (Figure 1A, B). Internal erythrophores and xanthophores were also observed in the gobies, pipefish and in plaice, but not in the other species. A capacity to regulate peritoneal melanocytes by melatonin and epinephrine was detected in six out of the eight species (Figure 1A, B and Table S1). In all species tested, peritoneal melanocytes had dispersed pigment from the start of the experiment. The epidermal melanocytes of sand goby, black goby and wrasse responded within 30 min, whereas plaice and pipefish only responded appreciably after 2 h. In herring, both controls and treated peritoneum biopsies showed a response after 30 min with an only moderate further

Both male and female identity influence variation in male signalling effort.

BackgroundMale sexual displays play an important role in sexual selection by affecting reproductive success. However, for such displays to be useful for female mate choice, courtship should vary more among than within individual males. In this regard, a potentially important source of within male variation is adjustment of male courtship effort in response to female traits. Accordingly, we set out to dissect sources of variation in male courtship effort in a fish, the desert goby (Chlamydogobius eremius). We did so by designing an experiment that allowed simultaneous estimation of within and between male variation in courtship, while also assessing the importance of the males and females as sources of courtship variation.ResultsAlthough males adjusted their courtship depending on the identity of the female (a potentially important source of within-male variation), among-male differences were considerably greater. In addition, male courtship effort towards a pair of females was highly repeatable over a short time frame.ConclusionDespite the plasticity in male courtship effort, courtship displays had the potential to reliably convey information about the male to mate-searching females. Our experiment therefore underscores the importance of addressing the different sources contributing to variation in the expression of sexually-selected traits.

Do male desert gobies compromise offspring care to attract additional mating opportunities

Males often play a critical role in offspring care but the time and energy invested in looking after young can potentially limit their ability to seek out additional mating opportunities. Recent studies, however, suggest that a conflict between male parental effort and mating effort may not always be inevitable, especially if breeding occurs near the nest, or if parental behaviours are under sexual selection. Accordingly, we set out to experimentally investigate male care and courtship in the desert goby Chlamydogobius eremius, a nest-guarding fish with exclusive paternal care. Despite courtship occurring near the nest, we found that when egg-tending males were given the opportunity to attract additional females, they fanned their eggs less often, engaged in shorter fanning bouts, and spent more of their time outside their nests courting. Our findings highlight the importance of understanding the circumstances under which reproductive tradeoffs are expected to occur and how these, in turn, operate to influence male reproductive decisions.