Male contests in the scarlet rosefinch (Carpodacus erythrinus) in relation to asymmetries in resource holding power and pairing status

1989 ◽  
Vol 25 (2) ◽  
pp. 137-140 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mats Bj�rklund
Keyword(s):  
Holding Power ◽  
Resource Holding Power ◽  
Carpodacus Erythrinus ◽  
Male Contests

Human third-party observers accurately track fighting skill and vigour along their unique paths to victory

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Neil Robert Caton ◽  
Barnaby Dixson
Keyword(s):  
Biological Sciences ◽  
Third Party ◽  
Contest Competition ◽  
Contest Theory ◽  
Fighting Ability ◽  
Psychological Mechanisms ◽  
Holding Power ◽  
Animal Contest ◽  
Resource Holding Power ◽  
Unique Path

Sexual selection via male-male contest competition has shaped the evolution of agonistic displays, weaponry, and fighting styles, and is further argued to have shaped human psychological mechanisms to detect, process, and respond appropriately to cues of fighting ability. Drawing on the largest fight-specific dataset to date across the sports and biological sciences (N = 2,765), we examined how different indicators of fighting ability in humans reflect unique paths to victory and indicate different forms of perceived and actual resource-holding power (RHP). Overall, we discovered that: (1) both striking skill and vigour, and grappling skill and vigour, individually and collectively predict RHP; (2) different RHP indicators are distinguished by a unique path to victory (e.g., striking skill is a knockout-typical strategy, whereas grappling vigour is a submission-typical strategy); and (3) third-party observers accurately track fighting skill and vigour along their unique paths to victory. Our argument that different measures of RHP are associated with unique paths to victory, and third-party observers accurately track fighting vigour and skill along their unique paths to victory, advance our understanding not only of human contest competition, but animal contest theory more broadly.

Aggression towards unfamiliar intruders by male lizards Eurolophosaurus nanuzae depends on contestant’s body traits: a test of the dear enemy effect

Behaviour ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 154 (6) ◽  
pp. 693-708 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eduardo C. Quintana ◽  
Conrado A.B. Galdino
Keyword(s):  
Saving Energy ◽  
Potential Threat ◽  
Dear Enemy ◽  
Holding Power ◽  
Resource Holding Power ◽  
Dear Enemy Phenomenon ◽  
Dear Enemy Effect ◽  
Tail Condition

A reduction of territory owners’ aggression towards their neighbours in relation to the intrusion of strangers characterises the dear enemy phenomenon. Supposedly, the disparity in aggression levels of territory owners is due to a higher threat imposed by strangers compared to the threat imposed by neighbours. To evaluate the occurrence of the phenomenon in males of the small-sized lizard Eurolophosaurus nanuzae we performed a field manipulative study. We considered three models to run intrusions in males’ territories: neighbour, tailed stranger (unfamiliar) and tailless stranger intruders. Our results lend support to the presence of dear enemy for this species as residents acted more aggressively towards strangers than to neighbours. In addition, the information we provide supports the relative threat hypothesis as territory owners were more aggressive towards tailed stranger intruders than to tailless stranger intruders. In this sense, tail condition can represent a trait that signals the ‘resource holding power’ (RHP) of a lizard. Therefore, we show that beyond neighbourhood recognition, residents are able to evaluate the potential threat of stranger intruders in general, thereby extending the evolutionary gains of the dear enemy by saving energy even in the context they are expected to acts with higher costs.

Differences in Site Fidelity Among Territorial Males of the Carpenter Bee Xylocopa Varipuncta (Hymenoptera: Anthophoridae)

Behaviour ◽  
1993 ◽  
Vol 125 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 199-217 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Alcock
Keyword(s):  
General Population ◽  
Site Fidelity ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Carpenter Bee ◽  
Small Minority ◽  
Holding Power ◽  
Resource Holding Power ◽  
Male Mate ◽  
Aerial Combat

AbstractLekking males of the carpenter bee Xylocopa (Neoxylocopa) varipuncta compete for landmark territories, where they are occasionally visited by receptive females. In a study conducted over three flight seasons, less than 10% of marked males qualified as long-term residents (i.e. bees that held the same hovering station for 90 min or more on at least two afternoons). However, among the small minority of long-term residents were some bees that returned to the same landmark for up to 3 hr every afternoon for several weeks. These males defeated many intruders in aerial combat during each afternoon. The hypothesis that site-faithful males were individuals of unusual resource-holding power is not supported. Long-term residents were not larger on average than short-term territory holders. Moreover, the frequency of mating by long-term residents was very similar to that of males in the general population, suggesting that long-term residents did not hold territories that were exceptionally attractive to females. Thus, the basis for site fidelity in this species remains elusive. The rarity of site-faithful males in this species may be related to great daily fluctuations in the numbers of potentially receptive females visiting the landmark territories, which may make the timing of male mate-attracting behavior far more important than regularly returning to defend any one site.

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