How do fighting ability and nest value influence usurpation contests in Polistes wasps?

2009 ◽  
Vol 63 (9) ◽  
pp. 1377-1385 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elizabeth A. Tibbetts ◽  
John R. Shorter
Keyword(s):  
Fighting Ability ◽  
Polistes Wasps

scholarly journals Polymorphic Microsatellite Loci in the Independent-founding Wasp Polists versicolor (Hymenoptera: Vespidae)

Sociobiology ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 63 (2) ◽  
pp. 845
Author(s):  
Yumi Takahashi ◽  
Ayano Yamada ◽  
Sidnei Mateus ◽  
Ronaldo Zucchi ◽  
Fabio Nascimento ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Social Interactions ◽  
Microsatellite Loci ◽  
Genetic Relatedness ◽  
Conflicts Of Interest ◽  
Microsatellite Primers ◽  
Expected Heterozygosity ◽  
Polistes Wasps ◽  
Polymorphic Microsatellite ◽  
Genetic Conflicts ◽  
Data Banks

Microsatellite primers developed for a given species are sometimes useful for another in the same genus, making possible to search for pre-existing suitable primers in the data banks such as GenBank. We examined whether existing primers developed for Polistes wasps could be used for the independent-founding wasp Polistes versicolor. We tested 50 microsatellite primers from three Polistes species and found that five microsatellite loci show polymorphism in size in P. versicolor. These five loci were highly polymorphic, having four to 10 alleles in P. versicolor with an expected heterozygosity of 0.530–0.836. These loci can be used to study parameters concerning genetic relatedness such as social interactions in colonies and genetic conflicts of interest among nestmate individuals.

Rapid bystander assessment of intrinsic fighting ability: behavioural and heart rate responses in rainbow trout

2007 ◽  
Vol 74 (6) ◽  
pp. 1743-1751 ◽  
Author(s):  
Johan Höjesjö ◽  
Peter Andersson ◽  
Anders Engman ◽  
Jörgen I. Johnsson
Keyword(s):  
Heart Rate ◽  
Rainbow Trout ◽  
Fighting Ability

scholarly journals Contextual Factors that Heighten Interest in Coalitional Alliances with Men Possessing Formidable Facial Structures

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mitch Brown ◽  
Donald F. Sacco ◽  
Nicole Barbaro ◽  
Kelsey Drea
Keyword(s):  
Contextual Factors ◽  
Height Ratio ◽  
Physical Strength ◽  
Intergroup Interactions ◽  
Fighting Ability ◽  
The Social ◽  
Creativity Studies ◽  
The Military ◽  
Coalitional Value

Individuals use facial width-to-height ratio (fWHR) to infer dominance and fighting ability of others. We hypothesized that broad assessments of target formidability from fWHR would form a basis for determining men’s coalitional value, with high-fWHR men being especially valuable in roles requiring physical strength. Across five studies (N=1,445), we identified the social affordance of male facial structures connoting formidability and how judgments influence coalitional decisions. In addition to replicating previous findings indicating high-fWHR men are more desirable for tasks requiring physical strength, we found that such men are aversive for tasks requiring creativity (Studies 1 and 2). High-fWHR men were additionally perceived as more effective in combat roles in the military (Study 3). Finally, in two pre-registered studies, we found that activation of competitive motivations heightens individuals’ interest in formidable allies during intergroup interactions (Study 4), but not interest in approaching them (Study 5). We interpret findings using evolutionary and social affordance theories and discuss hypothesized ancestral origins of selecting formidable allies.

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.

Status Signaling Is Absent within Age-and-Sex Classes of Harris' Sparrows

The Auk ◽  
1988 ◽  
Vol 105 (3) ◽  
pp. 424-49 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wendy M. Jackson ◽  
Sievert Rohwer ◽  
Robin L. Winnegrad
Keyword(s):  
Social Status ◽  
Adult Males ◽  
Fighting Ability ◽  
Status Signaling ◽  
Adult Females ◽  
The Status ◽  
Signaling Hypothesis ◽  
Mixed Age ◽  
Badge Size ◽  
Age And Sex

Abstract We tested the status-signaling hypothesis in two groups of same-age and same-sex Harris' Sparrows (Zonotrichia querula). Unlike flocks of mixed age and sex composition, badge size did not correlate with social status in these groups; thus, status signaling does not appear to occur within age-and-sex classes of Harris' Sparrows. Other predictions of the status-signaling hypothesis we tested were that (1) fighting ability and social status should be correlated, and (2) fighting ability and badge size should be correlated. We used a multivariate assessment of body size as an indicator of fighting ability and found no support for either prediction in the flock of adult females. In the flock of adult males, large birds were more dominant (Prediction 1) but fighting ability and badge size were not correlated (contra Prediction 2).

scholarly journals Muscularity and Strength Affect Individual Variation in Self-Perception of Fighting Ability in Men

2019 ◽  
Vol 10 ◽  
Author(s):  
José Antonio Muñoz-Reyes ◽  
Pablo Polo ◽  
Carlos Rodríguez-Sickert ◽  
Paula Pavez ◽  
Nohelia Valenzuela ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Individual Variation ◽  
Self Perception ◽  
Fighting Ability

scholarly journals Fueling rebellion: Maritime piracy and the duration of civil war

2019 ◽  
Vol 22 (2) ◽  
pp. 128-147
Author(s):  
Brandon Prins ◽  
Anup Phayal ◽  
Ursula E Daxecker
Keyword(s):  
Civil War ◽  
Natural Resources ◽  
Civil Wars ◽  
Causal Process ◽  
Maritime Piracy ◽  
Fighting Ability ◽  
Rebel Groups ◽  
Conflict Duration ◽  
Resource Wealth

Extant research shows that the presence of natural resources can prolong civil wars. But research also indicates that as rebel groups become stronger, conflicts tend to shorten. These studies suggest an unclear association among the three variables—resources, rebel strength, and conflict duration. If resources increase the fighting ability of rebels, then why do they not shorten conflicts? To understand this relationship, we examine incidents of maritime piracy, which unlike other resources are more clearly exploited by rebel groups rather than states and offer new insight on how this might affect the persistence of civil war. The findings suggest that the use of piracy by weaker rebel groups shortens conflict but prolongs it when exploited by stronger rebel groups. We think our conditional analyses allow us to discern insurgencies driven at least in part by greedy rebels and therefore better illuminate the causal process by which resource wealth prolongs civil war.

Social choices in farm animals: to fight or not to fight?

1997 ◽  
Vol 20 ◽  
pp. 45-53 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Mendl ◽  
H.W. Erhard
Keyword(s):  
Social Status ◽  
Social Groups ◽  
Farm Animals ◽  
Alternative Strategies ◽  
Aggressive Interactions ◽  
Fighting Ability ◽  
Young Pigs ◽  
Attack Latency ◽  
Free Ranging ◽  
Mixed Groups

AbstractFrom an animal production and welfare perspective, an important social choice made by farm animals is whether and how vigorously to fight others. The choice to fight (i.e. simultaneous escalated aggression by both contestants) may result in severe injury when unfamiliar animals first meet or compete for highly valued resources. Game theory models of aggressive interactions predict that animals have evolved to stop or avoid fighting when they assess their chances of winning a contest to be poor. Assessment may occur during or before a fight. If it occurs before a fight, reliable cues of fighting ability must exist. If farm animals can establish relative social status by assessment prior to fighting, it may be possible to construct social groups which contain individuals of differing abilities such that most disputes are resolved through assessment and levels of damaging aggression are kept low. Social status appears to be established by assessment rather than fighting in free-ranging deer and sheep when asymmetries exist in reliable cues of their fighting abilities such as roaring rate and horn size. However, there have been few detailed studies of other farmed species and findings are equivocal. Work on young pigs suggests that, in pair-wise encounters, individuals are unable to assess weight-related asymmetries in their abilities without fighting. However, recent studies of groups of pigs suggest that some form of assessment prior to fighting may occur. Individuals were classified as high (H) or low (L) aggressive on the basis of their behaviour in an attack latency test. When litters of H pigs were mixed with litters of L pigs, significantly fewer pairs of unfamiliar pigs fought than when newly mixed groups were made up of litters of H pigs only, or litters of L pigs only. Thus, fighting was least frequent when there was a marked asymmetry in the aggressiveness of unfamiliar individuals. Another study raised the possibility that H and L pigs may be following alternative strategies which, under certain circumstances, are similarly beneficial in welfare and production terms. Further work is required to substantiate these findings and to determine whether aggressiveness is a reliable cue of fighting ability and, if so, how it is manifest and assessed.

scholarly journals Assessment of physical strength from gait: data from the Maasai of Tanzania

2019 ◽  
Vol 15 (3) ◽  
pp. 20180803 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bernhard Fink ◽  
Marina L. Butovskaya ◽  
Todd K. Shackelford
Keyword(s):  
Men And Women ◽  
Male And Female ◽  
Physical Strength ◽  
Fighting Ability ◽  
Northern Tanzania

In industrialized societies, male gait provides information about physical strength. Male physical strength may be used by men and women to assess the fighting ability of rivals and the quality of potential mates, respectively. Women more than men discriminate between strong and weak walkers when assessing gait attractiveness. We presented videos of British men's gait—pre-categorized into strong and weak walkers—to male and female members ( n = 100) of the traditional Maasai in northern Tanzania in Africa. Maasai men and women judged the gaits of physically strong men less attractive than those of weak men and judged strong walkers to be weaker than weak walkers. These findings counter results from industrialized societies where participants accurately assessed strength from gait, thus arguing against a universal perception of physical strength from gait information.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document