1
|
Li CY, Pan CY, Hsu Y. Age-dependent winner-loser effects in a mangrove rivulus fish, Kryptolebias marmoratus. Anim Cogn 2023; 26:1477-1488. [PMID: 37294474 DOI: 10.1007/s10071-023-01797-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/13/2023] [Revised: 05/12/2023] [Accepted: 06/02/2023] [Indexed: 06/10/2023]
Abstract
The outcomes of recent fights can provide individuals information about their relative fighting ability and affect their contest decisions (winner-loser effects). Most studies investigate the presence/absence of the effects in populations/species, but here we examine how they vary between individuals of a species in response to age-dependent growth rate. Many animals' fighting ability is highly dependent on body size, so rapid growth makes information from previous fights unreliable. Furthermore, fast-growing individuals are often at earlier developmental stages and are relatively smaller and weaker than most other individuals but are growing larger and stronger quickly. We therefore predicted winner-loser effects to be less detectable in individuals with high than low growth rates and to decay more quickly. Fast-growing individuals should also display stronger winner than loser effects, because a victory when small indicates a strength which will grow, whereas a loss might soon become irrelevant. We tested these predictions using naïve individuals of a mangrove killifish, Kryptolebias marmoratus, in different growth stages. Measures of contest intensity revealed winner/loser effects only for slow-growth individuals. Both fast- and slow-growth fish with a winning experience won more of the subsequent non-escalated contests than those with a losing experience; in fast-growth individuals this effect disappeared in 3 days, but in slow-growth fish it did not. Fast-growth individuals also displayed winner effects but not loser effects. The fish therefore responded to their contest experiences in a way which reflected value of the information from these experiences to them, consistent with our predictions.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Cheng-Yu Li
- Department of Biology, University of Maryland, 4094 Campus Dr, College Park, MD, 20742, USA
| | - Chun-Ying Pan
- Department of Life Science, National Taiwan Normal University, No. 88, Section 4, Tingchou Rd, Taipei, 11677, Taiwan
| | - Yuying Hsu
- Department of Life Science, National Taiwan Normal University, No. 88, Section 4, Tingchou Rd, Taipei, 11677, Taiwan.
| |
Collapse
|
2
|
Hardy ICW, Mesterton-Gibbons M. The evolutionarily stable strategy, animal contests, parasitoids, pest control and sociality. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2023; 378:20210498. [PMID: 36934756 PMCID: PMC10024983 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2021.0498] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/24/2022] [Accepted: 09/28/2022] [Indexed: 03/21/2023] Open
Abstract
The evolutionarily stable strategy, ESS, concept was first used in biology to understand sex ratio bias and, shortly afterwards, to explore the logic of contests over essential and indivisible resources. ESS models formed the basis of much subsequent research on animal behaviour and placed game-theoretic thinking firmly within the behavioural ecology approach. Among behavioural ecologists studying parasitoids, it was those asking questions about the evolution of sex ratios who first made extensive use of the game-theoretic approach. A later growth of interest in parasitoid host defence and fighting behaviour made use of these tractable study species to explore contests and their connections to further aspects of life-history evolution plus some pest control applications. Our aims are to (i) introduce the topic of contests, which are engaged in by a very wide array of animal taxa, and the importance, both historical and conceptual, of the game-theoretic approach to their study, and (ii) review recent studies of parasitoid contests, including those that have considered the context of social evolution and the performance of parasitoids as agents of biological control. We consider that game-theoretic models are eminently testable and applicable and will likely endure as valuable tools in studies of parasitoid biology. This article is part of the theme issue 'Half a century of evolutionary games: a synthesis of theory, application and future directions'.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Ian C. W. Hardy
- Department of Agricultural Sciences, University of Helsinki, PO Box 27, FI-00014 Helsinki, Finland
| | - Mike Mesterton-Gibbons
- Department of Mathematics, Florida State University, 1017 Academic Way, Tallahassee, FL 32306-4510, USA
| |
Collapse
|
3
|
Abstract
AbstractGroups of social animals are often organized into dominance hierarchies that are formed through pairwise interactions. There is much experimental data on hierarchies, examining such things as winner, loser, and bystander effects, as well as the linearity and replicability of hierarchies, but there is a lack evolutionary analyses of these basic observations. Here I present a game theory model of hierarchy formation in which individuals adjust their aggressive behavior toward other group members through reinforcement learning. Individual traits such as the tendency to generalize learning between interactions with different individuals, the rate of learning, and the initial tendency to be aggressive are genetically determined and can be tuned by evolution. I find that evolution favors individuals with high social competence, making use of individual recognition, bystander observational learning, and, to a limited extent, generalizing learned behavior between opponents when adjusting their behavior toward other group members. The results are in qualitative agreement with experimental data, for instance, in finding weaker winner effects compared to loser effects.
Collapse
|
4
|
Kamada S, Nagayama T. Anxiety induces long-term memory forgetting in the crayfish. J Comp Physiol A Neuroethol Sens Neural Behav Physiol 2021; 207:459-467. [PMID: 33881581 DOI: 10.1007/s00359-021-01487-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/10/2020] [Revised: 04/10/2021] [Accepted: 04/12/2021] [Indexed: 02/07/2023]
Abstract
When two male crayfish encounter, agonistic bouts are initiated and a winner-loser relationship is established. Larger animals are more likely to win with their physical advantage, but they are frequently beaten by small dominant animals with previous winning experience. This winner effect remains for several days. In mammals, anxiety impairs learning and induces memory forgetting. In this study, dominant crayfish were exposed to electrical shocks two days after their first win, after which they were paired with large or small naive opponents the following day. Our results showed that electrical shock-applied dominant animals were beaten by large naive opponents, but overcame small naive opponents, suggesting that electrical shocks cause animals to forget their previous winner effect. Electrical shocks appeared to elicit serotonin-mediated anxiety since electrical shocks had no effect on mianserin-injected dominant animals. A 0.5 µM serotonin injection induced a caused anxiety-like reaction, while a 1.0 µM serotonin injection-induced no changes in posture and walking activity. For pairings between dominant and naive animals 1 day after serotonin injection, 0.5 µM serotonin caused similar forgetting of the winner effect, but 1.0 µM serotonin had no effect. Serotonin of low concentrations mediated anxiety and stimulated forgetting of the winner's memory.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Satomi Kamada
- Department of Biology, Faculty of Science, Yamagata University, Yamagata, 990-8560, Japan
| | - Toshiki Nagayama
- Department of Biology, Faculty of Science, Yamagata University, Yamagata, 990-8560, Japan.
| |
Collapse
|
5
|
McCambridge JE, Painting CJ, Walker LA, Holwell GI. Contests between male New Zealand sheet-web spiders, Cambridgea plagiata (Araneae: Desidae). NEW ZEALAND JOURNAL OF ZOOLOGY 2021. [DOI: 10.1080/03014223.2021.1909081] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/21/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Josephine E. McCambridge
- School of Biological Sciences, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand
- AsureQuality Ltd, Auckland, New Zealand
| | - Christina J. Painting
- School of Biological Sciences, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand
- School of Science, University of Waikato, Hamilton, New Zealand
| | - Leilani A. Walker
- Auckland War Memorial Museum Tāmaki Paenga Hira, Auckland, New Zealand
| | - Gregory I. Holwell
- School of Biological Sciences, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand
| |
Collapse
|
6
|
Legros J, Tang G, Gautrais J, Fernandez MP, Trannoy S. Long-Term Dietary Restriction Leads to Development of Alternative Fighting Strategies. Front Behav Neurosci 2021; 14:599676. [PMID: 33519392 PMCID: PMC7840567 DOI: 10.3389/fnbeh.2020.599676] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/27/2020] [Accepted: 12/15/2020] [Indexed: 11/25/2022] Open
Abstract
In competition for food, mates and territory, most animal species display aggressive behavior through visual threats and/or physical attacks. Such naturally-complex social behaviors have been shaped by evolution. Environmental pressure, such as the one imposed by dietary regimes, forces animals to adapt to specific conditions and ultimately to develop alternative behavioral strategies. The quality of the food resource during contests influence animals' aggression levels. However, little is known regarding the effects of a long-term dietary restriction-based environmental pressure on the development of alternative fighting strategies. To address this, we employed two lines of the wild-type Drosophila melanogaster Canton-S (CS) which originated from the same population but raised under two distinct diets for years. One diet contained both proteins and sugar, while the second one was sugar-free. We set up male-male aggression assays using both CS lines and found differences in aggression levels and the fighting strategies employed to establish dominance relationships. CS males raised on a sugar-containing diet started fights with a physical attack and employed a high number of lunges for establishing dominance but displayed few wing threats throughout the fight. In contrast, the sugar-free-raised males favored wing threats as an initial aggressive demonstration and used fewer lunges to establish dominance, but displayed a higher number of wing threats. This study demonstrates that fruit flies that have been raised under different dietary conditions have adapted their patterns of aggressive behavior and developed distinct fighting strategies: one favoring physical attacks, while the other one favoring visual threats.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Jeanne Legros
- Research Center on Animal Cognition (CRCA), Center for Integrative Biology, Toulouse University, CNRS, UPS, Toulouse, France
| | - Grace Tang
- Department of Neuroscience and Behavior, Barnard College of Columbia University, New York, NY, United States
| | - Jacques Gautrais
- Research Center on Animal Cognition (CRCA), Center for Integrative Biology, Toulouse University, CNRS, UPS, Toulouse, France
| | - Maria Paz Fernandez
- Department of Neuroscience and Behavior, Barnard College of Columbia University, New York, NY, United States
| | - Séverine Trannoy
- Research Center on Animal Cognition (CRCA), Center for Integrative Biology, Toulouse University, CNRS, UPS, Toulouse, France
| |
Collapse
|
7
|
|
8
|
Liu PC, Hao DJ, Hu HY, Wei JR, Wu F, Shen J, Xu SJ, Xie QY. Effect of Winning Experience on Aggression Involving Dangerous Fighting Behavior in Anastatus disparis (Hymenoptera: Eupelmidae). JOURNAL OF INSECT SCIENCE (ONLINE) 2020; 20:5847615. [PMID: 32458992 PMCID: PMC7251529 DOI: 10.1093/jisesa/ieaa038] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/10/2020] [Indexed: 06/11/2023]
Abstract
Aggressive behavior is widely observed in animal species for acquiring important resources and usually includes both dangerous and nondangerous fighting patterns. Only a few species show dangerous fighting patterns that are defined by fights ending with contestants being severely injured or killed. Prior experience, an important factor in many species, has been demonstrated to affect a contestant's subsequent fighting behavior. Few studies have focused on the effect of experience on aggression involving dangerous fighting patterns. Here, an egg parasitoid wasp, Anastatus disparis, which shows extreme and dangerous fighting behavior to acquire mating opportunities, was used as an experimental model. Our results showed that the fighting intensity of the winning males significantly decreased subsequent fighting behavior, which was inconsistent with general predictions. Transcriptomic analyses showed that many genes related to energy metabolism were downregulated in winners, and winners increased their fighting intensity after dietary supplementation. Our study suggested that fighting in A. disparis is a tremendous drain on energy. Thus, although males won at combat, significant reductions in available energy constrained the intensity of subsequent fights and influenced strategic decisions. In addition, winners might improve their fighting skills and abilities from previous contests, and their fighting intensity after dietary supplementation was significantly higher than that of males without any fighting experience. Generally, in A. disparis, although winners increased their fighting ability with previous experience, the available energy in winners was likely to be a crucial factor affecting the intensity and strategic decisions in subsequent fights.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Peng-Cheng Liu
- The College of Life Science, Anhui Normal University, Anhui Province, China
| | - De-Jun Hao
- The College of Forestry, Nanjing Forestry University, Jiangsu Province, China
| | - Hao-Yuan Hu
- The College of Life Science, Anhui Normal University, Anhui Province, China
| | - Jian-Rong Wei
- The College of Life Science, Hebei University, Hebei Province, China
| | - Fan Wu
- The College of Life Science, Anhui Normal University, Anhui Province, China
| | - Jie Shen
- The College of Life Science, Anhui Normal University, Anhui Province, China
| | - Shen-jia Xu
- The College of Life Science, Anhui Normal University, Anhui Province, China
| | - Qi-Yue Xie
- The College of Life Science, Anhui Normal University, Anhui Province, China
| |
Collapse
|
9
|
Pandey A, Motro U, Bloch G. Juvenile hormone interacts with multiple factors to modulate aggression and dominance in groups of orphan bumble bee (Bombus terrestris) workers. Horm Behav 2020; 117:104602. [PMID: 31647921 DOI: 10.1016/j.yhbeh.2019.104602] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/01/2019] [Revised: 09/16/2019] [Accepted: 09/19/2019] [Indexed: 02/07/2023]
Abstract
Juvenile hormone (JH) is a key regulator of insect development and reproduction. Given that JH commonly affects adult insect fertility, it has been hypothesized to also regulate behaviors such as dominance and aggression that are associated with reproduction. We tested this hypothesis in the bumble bee Bombus terrestris for which JH has been shown to be the major gonadotropin. We used the allatoxin Precocene-I (P-I) to reduce hemolymph JH titers and replacement therapy with the natural JH to revert this effect. In small orphan groups of workers with similar body size but mixed treatment, P-I treated bees showed lower aggressiveness, oogenesis, and dominance rank compared with control and replacement therapy treated bees. In similar groups in which all bees were treated similarly, there was a clear dominance hierarchy, even in P-I and replacement therapy treatment groups in which the bees showed similar levels of ovarian activation. In a similar experiment in which bees differed in body size, larger bees were more likely to be dominant despite their similar JH treatment and ovarian state. In the last experiment, we show that JH manipulation does not affect dominance rank in groups that had already established a stable dominance hierarchy. These findings solve previous ambiguities concerning whether or not JH affects dominance in bumble bees. JH positively affects dominance, but bees with similar levels of JH can nevertheless establish dominance hierarchies. Thus, multiple factors including JH, body size, and previous experience affect dominance and aggression in social bumble bees.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Atul Pandey
- Department of Ecology, Evolution and Behavior, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel
| | - Uzi Motro
- Department of Ecology, Evolution and Behavior, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel
| | - Guy Bloch
- Department of Ecology, Evolution and Behavior, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel.
| |
Collapse
|
10
|
Goubault M, Exbrayat M, Earley RL. Fixed or flexible? Winner/loser effects vary with habitat quality in a parasitoid wasp. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 2019. [DOI: 10.1007/s00265-019-2688-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/26/2022]
|
11
|
Mathiron AG, Pottier P, Goubault M. Keep calm, we know each other: kin recognition affects aggressiveness and conflict resolution in a solitary parasitoid. Anim Behav 2019. [DOI: 10.1016/j.anbehav.2019.03.012] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/17/2022]
|
12
|
Kou R, Hsu CC, Chen SC, Chang PY, Fang S. Winner and loser effects in lobster cockroach contests for social dominance. Horm Behav 2019; 107:49-60. [PMID: 30528558 DOI: 10.1016/j.yhbeh.2018.12.002] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/14/2018] [Revised: 11/09/2018] [Accepted: 12/04/2018] [Indexed: 12/01/2022]
Abstract
In the context of animal aggression, the winner/loser effect is a cross-taxa phenomenon. In the present study, the effect of social contest experience on winning and losing subsequent encounters was investigated in the furious male lobster cockroach, Nauphoeta cinerea. Dominant and subordinate individuals were generated as the result of an encounter between two socially naïve males (SNMs); the winner and loser were designated as 1st encounter dominants and 1st encounter subordinates, respectively. With these dominants and subordinates, three experiments were conducted: (I) the original pair met in a re-encounter, (II) the 1st encounter dominants and subordinates were paired with an inexperienced SNM, (III) the 1st encounter dominants and subordinates were paired with an experienced individual of the same rank. Each experiment was conducted at 1 week, 2 weeks, 3 weeks, 4 weeks and 5 weeks after the 1st encounter fight. Juvenile hormone (JH) III titer was monitored in all individuals before and after each subsequent encounter. Our results showed that, in the original pairing and in the pairing with SNMs, the probability that a 1st encounter dominant (or subordinate) would win (or lose) the subsequent encounter fit well with the 95% confidence interval of the theoretical criteria proposed by Begin et al. (1969), indicating the existence of the winning/losing effect. However, this effect was inconsistent along the five-week observation period. For all 1st encounter dominants, at each week after the 1st encounter, the before subsequent encounter JH III titers distribution was significantly different from that on the 1st encounter day; the distributions of before subsequent encounter JH III titers could be further clustered into two groups, the higher JH III group and the lower JH III group, which were significantly correlated with subsequent winning and losing, respectively. For the 1st encounter subordinates, the distributions of before subsequent encounter JH III titers were not significantly different from that of SNMs, but the titer distributions were significantly shifted to a higher level compared to the 1st encounter day. Compared with before subsequent encounter, the after subsequent encounter hemolymph JH III level was significantly increased in winners and significantly decreased in losers. From these data, we propose that instability of the winner and loser effects may occur due to physiological costs and recovery; this instability may partly explain why the social hierarchy is unstable in this cockroach species.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Rong Kou
- Institute of Cellular and Organismic Biology, Academia Sinica, Taipei 115, Taiwan, ROC.
| | - Chu-Chun Hsu
- Institute of Cellular and Organismic Biology, Academia Sinica, Taipei 115, Taiwan, ROC
| | - Shu-Chun Chen
- Institute of Statistical Science, Academia Sinica, Taipei 115, Taiwan, ROC
| | - Pei-Yung Chang
- Institute of Statistical Science, Academia Sinica, Taipei 115, Taiwan, ROC
| | - Shu Fang
- Biodiversity Research Center, Academia Sinica, Taipei 115, Taiwan, ROC
| |
Collapse
|
13
|
Momohara Y, Aonuma H, Nagayama T. Tyraminergic modulation of agonistic outcomes in crayfish. J Comp Physiol A Neuroethol Sens Neural Behav Physiol 2018; 204:465-473. [PMID: 29488014 DOI: 10.1007/s00359-018-1255-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/20/2017] [Revised: 02/03/2018] [Accepted: 02/23/2018] [Indexed: 01/05/2023]
Abstract
Octopamine, a biogenic amine, modulates various behaviors, ranging from locomotion and aggression to learning and memory in invertebrates. Several studies recently demonstrated that tyramine, the biological precursor of octopamine, also affects behaviors independent of octopamine. Here we investigated the involvement of tyramine in agonistic interaction of the male crayfish Procambarus clarkii. When male crayfish fight, larger animals (3-7% difference in body length) are more likely to win. By contrast, direct injection of tyramine or octopamine counteracted the physical advantage of larger animals. Tyramine or octopamine-injected naive large animals were mostly beaten by untreated smaller naive animals. This pharmacological effect was similar to the loser effect in which subordinate larger animals are frequently beaten by smaller animals. Furthermore, loser effects were partly eliminated by either injection of epinastine, an octopamine blocker, or yohimbine, a tyramine blocker, and significantly diminished by injection of a mixture of both blockers. We also observed that tyramine levels in the subesophageal ganglion were remarkably increased in subordinate crayfish after losing a fight. These results suggest that tyramine modulates aggressive levels of crayfish and contributes to the loser effect in parallel with octopamine.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Yuto Momohara
- Division of Biology, Graduate School of Science and Engineering, Yamagata University, Yamagata, 990-8560, Japan. .,Information Processing Biology Unit, Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University, 1919-1 Tancha, Onna-son, Okinawa, Japan.
| | - Hitoshi Aonuma
- Research Center of Mathematics for Social Creativity, Research Institute for Electronic Science, Hokkaido University, Sapporo, 060-0811, Japan
| | - Toshiki Nagayama
- Department of Biology, Faculty of Science, Yamagata University, Yamagata, 990-8560, Japan
| |
Collapse
|
14
|
Contest experience and body size affect different types of contest decisions. Anim Cogn 2016; 19:1183-1193. [DOI: 10.1007/s10071-016-1028-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/11/2016] [Revised: 08/15/2016] [Accepted: 08/22/2016] [Indexed: 10/21/2022]
|
15
|
Momohara Y, Minami H, Kanai A, Nagayama T. Role of cAMP signalling in winner and loser effects in crayfish agonistic encounters. Eur J Neurosci 2016; 44:1886-95. [PMID: 27086724 DOI: 10.1111/ejn.13259] [Citation(s) in RCA: 20] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/07/2016] [Revised: 04/07/2016] [Accepted: 04/07/2016] [Indexed: 12/31/2022]
Abstract
For territorial animals, establishment of status-dependent dominance order is essential to maintain social stability. In agonistic encounters of the crayfish Procambarus clarkii, a difference of body length of 3-7% is enough for larger animals to become dominant. Despite a physical disadvantage, small winners of the first pairings were more likely to win subsequent conflicts with larger inexperienced animals. In contrast, the losers of the first pairings rarely won subsequent conflicts with smaller naive animals. Such experiences of previous winning or losing affected agonistic outcomes for a long period. The winner effects lasted more than 2 weeks and the loser effect lasted about 10 days. Injection of 5HT1 receptor antagonist into the dominant animals 15-30 min after establishment of dominance order blocked the formation of the winner effects. In contrast, injection of adrenergic-like octopamine receptor antagonist into subordinate animals blocked the formation of the loser. 5HT1 receptors are negatively coupled to adenylyl cyclase and adrenergic-like octopamine receptors are positively coupled. Consistent with this, dominant animals failed to show the winner effect when injected with pCPT-cAMP, a cAMP analogue, and subordinate animals failed to show a loser effect when injected with adenylyl cyclase inhibitor SQ 22536. These results suggest that an increase and decrease of cAMP concentration is essential in mediating loser and winner effects, respectively. Furthermore, formation of the loser effect was blocked by injection of protein kinase A (PKA) inhibitor H89, suggesting long-term memory of the loser effect is dependent on the cAMP-PKA signalling pathway.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Yuto Momohara
- Division of Biology, Graduate School of Science and Engineering, Yamagata University, 990-8560, Yamagata, Japan
| | - Hiroki Minami
- Division of Biology, Graduate School of Science and Engineering, Yamagata University, 990-8560, Yamagata, Japan
| | - Akihiro Kanai
- Division of Biology, Graduate School of Science and Engineering, Yamagata University, 990-8560, Yamagata, Japan
| | - Toshiki Nagayama
- Department of Biology, Faculty of Science, Yamagata University, Yamagata, Japan
| |
Collapse
|
16
|
Mesterton-Gibbons M, Dai Y, Goubault M. Modeling the evolution of winner and loser effects: A survey and prospectus. Math Biosci 2016; 274:33-44. [DOI: 10.1016/j.mbs.2016.02.002] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/06/2015] [Revised: 01/31/2016] [Accepted: 02/01/2016] [Indexed: 10/22/2022]
|
17
|
O'Connor CM, Reddon AR, Ligocki IY, Hellmann JK, Garvy KA, Marsh-Rollo SE, Hamilton IM, Balshine S. Motivation but not body size influences territorial contest dynamics in a wild cichlid fish. Anim Behav 2015. [DOI: 10.1016/j.anbehav.2015.06.001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 24] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
|
18
|
Benelli G. Should I fight or should I flight? How studying insect aggression can help integrated pest management. PEST MANAGEMENT SCIENCE 2015; 71:885-892. [PMID: 25582991 DOI: 10.1002/ps.3974] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/16/2014] [Revised: 12/03/2014] [Accepted: 12/14/2014] [Indexed: 06/04/2023]
Abstract
Aggression plays a key role all across the animal kingdom, as it allows the acquisition and/or defence of limited resources (food, mates and territories) in a huge number of species. A large part of our knowledge on aggressive behaviour has been developed on insects of economic importance. How can this knowledge be exploited to enhance integrated pest management? Here, I highlight how knowledge on intraspecific aggression can help IPM both in terms of insect pests (with a focus on the enhancement of the sterile insect technique) and in terms of biological control agents (with a focus on mass-rearing optimisation). Then, I examine what implications for IPM can be outlined from knowledge about interspecific aggressive behaviour. Besides predator-pest aggressive interactions predicted by classic biological control, I focus on what IPM can learn from (i) interspecific aggression among pest species (with special reference to competitive displacement), (ii) defensive behaviour exhibited by prey against predaceous insects and (iii) conflicts among predaceous arthropods sharing the same trophic niche (with special reference to learning/sensitisation practices and artificial manipulation of chemically mediated interactions).
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Giovanni Benelli
- Insect Behaviour Group, Department of Agriculture, Food and Environment, University of Pisa, Pisa, Italy
| |
Collapse
|
19
|
Benelli G, Romano D, Desneux N, Messing RH, Canale A. Sex differences in fighting-induced hyperaggression in a fly. Anim Behav 2015. [DOI: 10.1016/j.anbehav.2015.02.026] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/01/2023]
|
20
|
Sherratt TN, Mesterton-Gibbons M. The evolution of respect for property. J Evol Biol 2015; 28:1185-202. [DOI: 10.1111/jeb.12648] [Citation(s) in RCA: 37] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/16/2014] [Revised: 04/08/2015] [Accepted: 04/12/2015] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- T. N. Sherratt
- Department of Biology; Carleton University; Ottawa ON Canada
| | | |
Collapse
|
21
|
Benelli G, Desneux N, Romano D, Conte G, Messing RH, Canale A. Contest experience enhances aggressive behaviour in a fly: when losers learn to win. Sci Rep 2015; 5:9347. [PMID: 25792294 PMCID: PMC7365324 DOI: 10.1038/srep09347] [Citation(s) in RCA: 28] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/17/2014] [Accepted: 03/02/2015] [Indexed: 01/08/2023] Open
Abstract
In several animal species, aggressive experience influences the characteristics and outcomes of subsequent conflicts, such that winners are more likely to win again (the winner effect) and losers more likely to lose again (the loser effect). We tested the olive fruit fly, Bactrocera oleae (Diptera: Tephritidae), as a model system to evaluate the role of the winner and loser effects in male-male territorial contests. Further, we conducted experiments to test if winning and losing probabilities are affected only by the outcome of the previous contests, or whether the fighting experience itself is sufficient to induce an effect. Both winners and losers of two consecutive encounters displayed higher intensity of aggression and fought longer in subsequent contests. In both cases, they achieved higher fighting success than naïve males. The enhanced fighting performance of both winners and losers was stimulated by merely experiencing a contest, not necessarily by the relative outcome of previous fights. Overall, this study highlights the fact that previous victories and defeats both enhance aggressive behaviour in olive fruit flies, allowing them to achieve higher fighting success in subsequent contests against inexperienced males.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Giovanni Benelli
- Insect Behaviour Group, Department of Agriculture, Food and Environment, University of Pisa, via del Borghetto 80, 56124 Pisa, Italy
| | - Nicolas Desneux
- French National Institute for Agricultural Research (INRA), Sophia-Antipolis, France
| | - Donato Romano
- Insect Behaviour Group, Department of Agriculture, Food and Environment, University of Pisa, via del Borghetto 80, 56124 Pisa, Italy
| | - Giuseppe Conte
- Insect Behaviour Group, Department of Agriculture, Food and Environment, University of Pisa, via del Borghetto 80, 56124 Pisa, Italy
| | - Russell H Messing
- Kauai Agricultural Research Center, University of Hawaii at Manoa, 7370 Kuamo'o Road, Kapaa, Hawaii 97646, USA
| | - Angelo Canale
- Insect Behaviour Group, Department of Agriculture, Food and Environment, University of Pisa, via del Borghetto 80, 56124 Pisa, Italy
| |
Collapse
|
22
|
Li CY, Yang Y, Lee PY, Hsu Y. Opponent familiarity and contest experience jointly influence contest decisions in Kryptolebias marmoratus. Front Zool 2014; 11:92. [PMID: 25530793 PMCID: PMC4271475 DOI: 10.1186/s12983-014-0092-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/25/2014] [Accepted: 12/04/2014] [Indexed: 11/10/2022] Open
Abstract
Introduction Individual recognition and winner/loser effects both play important roles in animal contests, but how their influences are integrated to affect an individual’s contest decisions in combination remains unclear. Individual recognition provides an animal with relatively precise information about its ability to defeat conspecifics that it has fought previously. Winner/loser effects, conversely, rely on sampling information about how an animal’s ability to win compares with those of others in the population. The less precise information causing winner/loser effects should therefore be more useful to an individual facing an unfamiliar opponent. In this study, we used Kryptolebias marmoratus, a hermaphroditic mangrove killifish, to test whether winner/loser effects do depend on opponent familiarity. In addition, as previous studies have shown that subordinates that behave aggressively sometimes suffer post-retreat retaliation from contest winners, we also explored this aspect of contest interaction in K. marmoratus. Results In the early stages of a contest, subordinates facing an unfamiliar dominant were more likely to signal their aggressiveness with either gill displays or attacks rather than retreating immediately. A winning experience then increased the likelihood that the most aggressive behavioral pattern the subordinates exhibited would be attacks rather than gill displays, irrespective of their opponents’ familiarity. Dominants that received a losing experience and faced an unfamiliar opponent were less likely than others to launch attacks directly. And subordinates that challenged dominants with more aggressive tactics but still lost received more post-retreat attacks from their dominant opponents. Conclusions Subordinates’ contest decisions were influenced by both their contest experience and the familiarity of their opponents, but these influences appeared at different stages of a contest and did not interact significantly with each other. The influence of a losing experience on dominants’ contest decisions, however, did depend on their subordinate opponents’ familiarity. Subordinates and dominants thus appeared to integrate information from the familiarity of their opponents and the outcome of previous contests differently, which warrants further investigation. The higher costs that dominants imposed on subordinates that behaved more aggressively toward them may have been to deter them from either fighting back or challenging them in the future.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Cheng-Yu Li
- Department of Life Science, National Taiwan Normal University, No. 88, Section 4, Ting-Chou Rd, Taipei, 11677 Taiwan
| | - Yusan Yang
- Department of Life Science, National Taiwan Normal University, No. 88, Section 4, Ting-Chou Rd, Taipei, 11677 Taiwan
| | - Pey-Yi Lee
- Department of Life Science, National Taiwan Normal University, No. 88, Section 4, Ting-Chou Rd, Taipei, 11677 Taiwan
| | - Yuying Hsu
- Department of Life Science, National Taiwan Normal University, No. 88, Section 4, Ting-Chou Rd, Taipei, 11677 Taiwan
| |
Collapse
|
23
|
Yasuda CI, Matsuo K, Hasaba Y, Wada S. Hermit crab, Pagurus middendorffii, males avoid the escalation of contests with familiar winners. Anim Behav 2014. [DOI: 10.1016/j.anbehav.2014.07.021] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/24/2022]
|
24
|
Garcia MJ, Murphree J, Wilson J, Earley RL. Mechanisms of decision making during contests in green anole lizards: prior experience and assessment. Anim Behav 2014. [DOI: 10.1016/j.anbehav.2014.03.027] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
|
25
|
Lee VE, Head ML, Carter MJ, Royle NJ. Effects of age and experience on contest behavior in the burying beetle, Nicrophorus vespilloides.. Behav Ecol 2013; 25:172-179. [PMID: 24347998 PMCID: PMC3860834 DOI: 10.1093/beheco/art101] [Citation(s) in RCA: 26] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/22/2013] [Revised: 09/24/2013] [Accepted: 09/30/2013] [Indexed: 12/02/2022] Open
Abstract
Aggression and likelihood of winning contests are expected to change as a male ages. We test this idea in burying beetles, a species which competes over small mammal carcasses as a breeding resource. We find that male size relative to his opponent is far more important in determining contest outcome than any effects of age or social experience. Contest behavior forms an important part of reproductive investment. Life-history theory predicts that as individuals age and their residual reproductive value decreases, they should increase investment in contest behavior. However, other factors such as social experience may also be important in determining age-related variation in contest behavior. To understand how selection acts on contest behavior over an individual’s lifetime, it is therefore important to tease apart the effects of age per se from other factors that may vary with age. Here, we independently manipulate male age and social experience to examine their effects on male contest behavior in the burying beetle Nicrophorus vespilloides. We found that social experience, but not age, influenced male contest behavior but that these changes in behavior did not alter contest outcomes. Male size (relative to his opponent) was overwhelmingly the most important factor determining contest outcome. Our results suggest that in systems with high variation in fighting ability among males, there may be little opportunity for selection to act on factors that influence contest outcomes by altering motivation to win.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Victoria E Lee
- aCentre for Ecology and Conservation, College of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Exeter, Cornwall Campus , Treliever Road, Penryn, Cornwall TR10 9EZ , UK and
| | - Megan L Head
- Division of Evolution, Ecology and Genetics, Research School of Biology , The Australian National University, Acton, ACT 0200 , Australia
| | - Mauricio J Carter
- aCentre for Ecology and Conservation, College of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Exeter, Cornwall Campus , Treliever Road, Penryn, Cornwall TR10 9EZ , UK and
| | - Nick J Royle
- aCentre for Ecology and Conservation, College of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Exeter, Cornwall Campus , Treliever Road, Penryn, Cornwall TR10 9EZ , UK and
| |
Collapse
|
26
|
Momohara Y, Kanai A, Nagayama T. Aminergic control of social status in crayfish agonistic encounters. PLoS One 2013; 8:e74489. [PMID: 24058575 PMCID: PMC3776855 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0074489] [Citation(s) in RCA: 39] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/24/2013] [Accepted: 08/02/2013] [Indexed: 12/19/2022] Open
Abstract
Using pairings of male crayfish Procambarus clarkii with a 3–7% difference in size, we confirmed that physically larger crayfish were more likely to win encounters (winning probability of over 80%). Despite a physical disadvantage, small winners of the first pairings were more likely to win their subsequent conflicts with larger naive animals (winning probability was about 70%). By contrast, the losers of the first pairings rarely won their subsequent conflicts with smaller naive animals (winning probability of 6%). These winner and loser effects were mimicked by injection of serotonin and octopamine. Serotonin-injected naive small crayfish were more likely to win in pairings with untreated larger naive crayfish (winning probability of over 60%), while octopamine-injected naive large animals were beaten by untreated smaller naive animals (winning probability of 20%). Furthermore, the winner effects of dominant crayfish were cancelled by the injection of mianserin, an antagonist of serotonin receptors and were reinforced by the injection of fluoxetin, serotonin reuptake inhibitor, just after the establishment of social order of the first pairings. Injection of octopamine channel blockers, phentolamine and epinastine, by contrast, cancelled the loser effects. These results strongly suggested that serotonin and octopamine were responsible for winner and loser effects, respectively.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Yuto Momohara
- Division of Biology, Graduate School of Science and Engineering, Yamagata University, Yamagata, Japan
| | - Akihiro Kanai
- Division of Biology, Graduate School of Science and Engineering, Yamagata University, Yamagata, Japan
| | - Toshiki Nagayama
- Department of Biology, Faculty of Science, Yamagata University, Yamagata, Japan
- * E-mail:
| |
Collapse
|
27
|
Hsu Y, Huang YY, Wu YT. Multiple contest experiences interact to influence each other's effect on subsequent contest decisions in a mangrove killifish. Anim Cogn 2013; 17:165-75. [PMID: 23760869 DOI: 10.1007/s10071-013-0649-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/13/2013] [Revised: 05/19/2013] [Accepted: 05/23/2013] [Indexed: 10/26/2022]
Abstract
Many animals modify behavioural decisions based on information they have previously acquired. Contest behaviour is often affected by previous contest experiences: individuals behave more and less aggressively after a victory and defeat, respectively (winner/loser effect). Individuals in the field sometimes encounter multiple competitors in quick succession, but whether these experiences interact to influence each other's importance is unclear. We tested five hypotheses for experience interaction (no interaction, retroactive interference, proactive interaction, reinforcement and diminishing returns) using Kryptolebias marmoratus. Focal individuals were paired up with opponents having the same 1-month contest outcome (1 month before the experiment), as this difference in actual or perceived fighting ability has been shown to affect the fish's response to new experiences. We gave the focal individual of a pair a winning or losing experience on day 1. Then both fish of the pair received the same winning, losing or no-contest experience on day 2. Then we organised fights between the two. The effect of a day-1 losing experience did depend on the fish's actual or perceived fighting ability: one-month losers readily showed loser effects from the day-1 losing experience, irrespective of the day-2 experience (i.e. no interaction between day-1 and day-2 experiences). One-month winners, however, only showed loser effects from a day-1 losing experience when the day-2 experience was also a loss (i.e. reinforcement). Day-1 winning experiences did not interact with day-2 experiences in 1-month losers or winners. Therefore, multiple experiences sometimes reinforce each other, but how they combine to influence behaviour depends on an individual's actual or perceived fighting ability.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Yuying Hsu
- Department of Life Science, National Taiwan Normal University, 88, Section 4, Ting-Chou Rd., Taipei, 11677, Taiwan,
| | | | | |
Collapse
|
28
|
Stockermans BC, Hardy ICW. Subjective and objective components of resource value additively increase aggression in parasitoid contests. Biol Lett 2013; 9:20130391. [PMID: 23697643 PMCID: PMC3730650 DOI: 10.1098/rsbl.2013.0391] [Citation(s) in RCA: 38] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Two major categories of factors are predicted to influence behaviour in dyadic contests; differences in the abilities of the contestants to acquire and retain resources (resource holding potential), and the value of the contested resource (resource value, RV; which comprises objective and subjective components). Recent studies indicate that subjective components affect contest behaviour in several animal taxa but few have simultaneously investigated objective RV components. We find that both an objective (host size) and a subjective (contestant age) component of RV affect contest intensity in the parasitoid wasp Goniozus legneri. These additively influence aggressiveness, with a larger effect from the subjective component than the objective component. The greater influence of subjective RV adds weight to the recent surge of recognition of this RV component's importance in contest behaviour.
Collapse
|
29
|
Earley RL, Lu CK, Lee IH, Wong SC, Hsu Y. Winner and loser effects are modulated by hormonal states. Front Zool 2013; 10:6. [PMID: 23399457 PMCID: PMC3598835 DOI: 10.1186/1742-9994-10-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 40] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/05/2012] [Accepted: 02/05/2013] [Indexed: 11/10/2022] Open
Abstract
Introduction Many animals use information acquired from recent experiences to modify their responses to new situations. Animals’ decisions in contests also depend on their previous experience: after recent victories individuals tend to behave more aggressively and after defeats more submissively. Although these winner and/or loser effects have been reported for animals of different taxa, they have only recently been shown to be flexible traits, which can be influenced by extrinsic factors. In a mangrove killifish (Kryptolebias marmoratus), for instance, individuals which lost an earlier contest were more likely than others to alter contest decisions after a recent win/loss. This result suggests that individuals perceiving themselves to have worse fighting abilities are more inclined to adjust contest strategy based on new information. If this is the case, an individual’s propensity to modify behaviour after a win/loss might also be modulated by intrinsic mechanisms related to its ability to fight. Stress and sex steroid hormones are often associated with an individual’s contest behaviour and performance, so, in this study, we tested the hypothesis that an individual’s propensity to change behaviour after wins or losses also depends on its hormonal state. Results Our results show that an individual’s propensity to adjust contest decisions after wins and losses does depend on its hormonal state: individuals with lower levels of cortisol (F), testosterone (T) and 11-ketotestosterone (KT) are more receptive than others to the influence of recent contest experiences, especially losing experiences, and the influences last longer. Furthermore, although winning and losing experiences resulted in significant changes in behaviour, they did not bring about a significant change in the levels of F, T, KT or oestradiol (E2). Conclusions This study shows that an individual’s receptivity to the influence of recent wins and losses is modulated by its internal state, as well as by extrinsic factors. Individuals with hormonal profiles corresponding to lower aggressiveness and a reduced likelihood of winning were more likely to alter contest decisions after a recent win/loss. The results also suggest that F, T, KT and E2 are not the primary physiological mechanisms mediating winner-loser effects in this fish.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Ryan L Earley
- Department of Life Science, National Taiwan Normal University, No, 88, Section 4, Ting-Chou Rd, Taipei 11677, TAIWAN.
| | | | | | | | | |
Collapse
|