Interference versus exploitative competition: causes and consequences

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

Organisms interact with each other in three major ways: competition, cooperation, and predation. Competitive behaviour in animals is remarkably variable within species, ranging from the peaceful sharing of resources to fierce contests. My research program investigates (1) what causes this diversity of aggressive behaviour, and (2) the consequences of aggressive behaviour for animal populations. In this proposal, we will focus on two variables: the degree of visual isolation between competitors and the average number of individuals competing for each mate (operational sex ration, OSR) or each resource unit (competitor to resource ratio, CRR). Specifically, we will test whether adding structure to an environment decreases territory size, increases population density and decreases the ability of dominant individuals to monopolize resources, and whether the scarcity of mates, the scarcity of nest sites, or both, best predict the within-sex aggressive behaviour of male and female convict cichlid fish (Amatitlania nigrofasciata). Taken together with our previous work, these findings will provide a quantitative framework for predicting the degree of aggressive behaviour in animal societies, which is fundamental to understanding the evolution of social and mating systems.