Intraspecific variation in the egg-wrapping behaviour of female smooth newts, Lissotriton vulgaris

2011 ◽  
Vol 32 (1) ◽  
pp. 77-82 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zoltán Tóth ◽  
Herbert Hoi ◽  
Attila Hettyey
Keyword(s):  
Body Size ◽  
Parental Care ◽  
Empirical Evidence ◽  
Individual Variation ◽  
Plant Material ◽  
Offspring Survival ◽  
Lissotriton Vulgaris ◽  
Time Periods ◽  
Second Period ◽  
Day By Day

AbstractIn many species of the Salamandridae family, females provide parental care by carefully wrapping plant material around their eggs. As this behaviour has been shown to have a large effect on offspring survival, variation in this trait is expected to be low. Detailed investigations are, however, lacking. In the present study, we analyzed the consistency of egg-wrapping behaviour in two time periods within a breeding season in female smooth newts (Lissotriton vulgaris). We found a surprisingly low proportion of wrapped eggs of around 47% during the first period (when males were present) and an almost doubled ratio of around 92% in the second period (when males were absent). Also, the variation between individuals was significantly lower in the second period than in the first one. Furthermore, the bigger the females were, the more the proportion of wrapped eggs increased day by day within the first period; however, this relationship did not fully explain the observed difference between the two periods. Our results suggest that parental care in smooth newts can be influenced by the presence of mating partners and body size, and provide the first empirical evidence for within-individual variation in egg-wrapping in a salamandrid species.

scholarly journals Intraspecific Variation in Maximum Ingested Food Size and Body Mass in Varecia rubra and Propithecus coquereli

2011 ◽  
Vol 2011 ◽  
pp. 1-8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adam Hartstone-Rose ◽  
Jonathan M. G. Perry
Keyword(s):  
Body Size ◽  
Body Mass ◽  
Individual Variation ◽  
Size Variation ◽  
Maximum Size ◽  
Least Squares Regression ◽  
Scaling Relationship ◽  
Varecia Rubra ◽  
Food Size ◽  
The Relationship

In a recent study, we quantified the scaling of ingested food size (Vb )—the maximum size at which an animal consistently ingests food whole—and found that Vb scaled isometrically between species of captive strepsirrhines. The current study examines the relationship between Vb and body size within species with a focus on the frugivorous Varecia rubra and the folivorous Propithecus coquereli. We found no overlap in Vb between the species (all V. rubra ingested larger pieces of food relative to those eaten by P. coquereli), and least-squares regression of Vb and three different measures of body mass showed no scaling relationship within each species. We believe that this lack of relationship results from the relatively narrow intraspecific body size variation and seemingly patternless individual variation in Vb within species and take this study as further evidence that general scaling questions are best examined interspecifically rather than intraspecifically.

scholarly journals Game equilibria and unification dynamics in networks with heterogeneous agents

2017 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
pp. 184797901773167 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vladimir Matveenko ◽  
Alexei Korolev ◽  
Maria Zhdanova
Keyword(s):  
Heterogeneous Agents ◽  
Comparative Statics ◽  
Star Network ◽  
Complete Networks ◽  
Time Periods ◽  
Second Period ◽  
Adjustment Dynamics

We study game equilibria in a model of production and externalities in network with two types of agents who possess different productivities. Each agent may invest a part of her endowment (it may be, for instance, time or money) in the first of two time periods; consumption in the second period depends on her own investment and productivity as well as on the investments of her neighbors in the network. Three ways of agent’s behavior are possible: passive (no investment), active (a part of endowment is invested), and hyperactive (the whole endowment is invested). For star network with different productivities of agents in the center and in the periphery, we obtain conditions for existence of inner equilibrium (with all active agents) and study comparative statics. We introduce adjustment dynamics and study consequences of junction of two complete networks with different productivities of agents. In particular, we study how the behavior of nonadopters (passive agents) changes when they connect to adopters (active or hyperactive) agents.

Show me you care: female mate choice based on egg attendance rather than male or territorial traits

2020 ◽  
Vol 31 (4) ◽  
pp. 1054-1064 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anyelet Valencia-Aguilar ◽  
Kelly R Zamudio ◽  
Célio F B Haddad ◽  
Steve M Bogdanowicz ◽  
Cynthia P A Prado
Keyword(s):  
Mate Choice ◽  
Parental Care ◽  
Paternal Care ◽  
Genetic Relatedness ◽  
Female Mate Choice ◽  
Male Reproductive Success ◽  
Offspring Survival ◽  
Territory Quality ◽  
Female Mate

Abstract Female mate choice is often based on male traits, including signals or behaviors, and/or the quality of a male’s territory. In species with obligate paternal care, where care directly affects offspring survival, females may also base their mate choices on the quality of a sire’s care. Here, we quantified male reproductive success in a natural population of the glass frog Hyalinobatrachium cappellei, a species with male parental care, to determine the influence of territory quality, male traits, and paternal care behaviors on female mate choice. We found that attending males have a higher chance of gaining new clutches than nonattending males. Our results indicate that females do not select males based only on body condition, calling persistence, or territory traits. Instead, our findings support the hypothesis that females choose males based on care status. Indeed, males already attending a clutch were 70% more likely to obtain another clutch, and the time to acquire an additional clutch was significantly shorter. We also found that males adjust their parental care effort in response to genetic relatedness by caring only for their own offspring; however, remaining close to unrelated clutches serves as a strategy to attract females and increase chances of successful mating. Thus, males that establish territories that already contain clutches benefit from the signal eggs provide to females.

scholarly journals Empirical evidence for fast temperature-dependent body size evolution in rotifers

Hydrobiologia ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 796 (1) ◽  
pp. 191-200 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aleksandra Walczyńska ◽  
Lluis Franch-Gras ◽  
Manuel Serra
Keyword(s):  
Body Size ◽  
Empirical Evidence ◽  
Temperature Dependent ◽  
Size Evolution ◽  
Body Size Evolution

New smallest specimen of the pterosaurPteranodonand ontogenetic niches in pterosaurs

2017 ◽  
Vol 92 (2) ◽  
pp. 254-271 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. Christopher Bennett
Keyword(s):  
Body Size ◽  
Parental Care ◽  
Large Body ◽  
Taxonomic Diversity ◽  
Ecological Niches ◽  
Adult Size ◽  
Niobrara Formation ◽  
Large Body Size ◽  
Juvenile Specimen

AbstractA new juvenile specimen ofPteranodonfrom the Smoky Hill Chalk Member of the Niobrara Formation of western Kansas had an estimated wingspan in life of 1.76 m, ~45% smaller than the smallest previously known specimens, but does not differ in morphology from larger specimens. Its presence indicates that juveniles were capable of flying long distances, so it falsifies the interpretation ofPteranodonas growing rapidly to adult size under parental care before flying. Instead juveniles were precocial, growing more slowly to adult size while flying and feeding independently for several years before going to sea. Because juveniles are otherwise unknown in the Smoky Hill Chalk Member, they must have occupied different environments and ecological niches than adults; thusPteranodonexhibited ontogenetic niches. Evidence is presented that most other pterosaurs (e.g.,Rhamphorhynchus,Pterodactylus,Anhanguera) also exhibited various ontogenetic niches, which, along with their large body size, suggests that pterosaur taxonomic diversity was rather low, like that of crocodilians.

scholarly journals Evolutionary causes and consequences of consistent individual variation in cooperative behaviour

2010 ◽  
Vol 365 (1553) ◽  
pp. 2751-2764 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ralph Bergmüller ◽  
Roger Schürch ◽  
Ian M. Hamilton
Keyword(s):  
Individual Differences ◽  
Empirical Evidence ◽  
Individual Variation ◽  
Animal Personality ◽  
Evolutionary Stability ◽  
Behavioural Syndrome ◽  
Phenotypic Traits ◽  
Cooperative Behaviour ◽  
Heritable Variation ◽  
Fitness Consequences

Behaviour is typically regarded as among the most flexible of animal phenotypic traits. In particular, expression of cooperative behaviour is often assumed to be conditional upon the behaviours of others. This flexibility is a key component of many hypothesized mechanisms favouring the evolution of cooperative behaviour. However, evidence shows that cooperative behaviours are often less flexible than expected and that, in many species, individuals show consistent differences in the amount and type of cooperative and non-cooperative behaviours displayed. This phenomenon is known as ‘animal personality’ or a ‘behavioural syndrome’. Animal personality is evolutionarily relevant, as it typically shows heritable variation and can entail fitness consequences, and hence, is subject to evolutionary change. Here, we review the empirical evidence for individual variation in cooperative behaviour across taxa, we examine the evolutionary processes that have been invoked to explain the existence of individual variation in cooperative behaviour and we discuss the consequences of consistent individual differences on the evolutionary stability of cooperation. We highlight that consistent individual variation in cooperativeness can both stabilize or disrupt cooperation in populations. We conclude that recognizing the existence of consistent individual differences in cooperativeness is essential for an understanding of the evolution and prevalence of cooperation.

Genetic sources of individual variation in parental care behavior

2015 ◽  
Vol 69 (12) ◽  
pp. 1933-1943 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel P. Wetzel ◽  
Margret I. Hatch ◽  
David F. Westneat
Keyword(s):  
Parental Care ◽  
Individual Variation ◽  
Care Behavior
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