The mate-guarding behaviour of male kokanee oncorhynchus nerka

Behaviour ◽  
2002 ◽  
Vol 139 (4) ◽  
pp. 507-528 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yolanda Morbey
Keyword(s):  
Competitive Advantage ◽  
Oncorhynchus Nerka ◽  
Mate Guarding ◽  
Precopulatory Mate Guarding ◽  
Habitat Features ◽  
Egg Deposition ◽  
Random Pairing ◽  
Optimal Duration ◽  
Males And Females ◽  
Game Context

AbstractThe patterns of mate-guarding in kokanee (non-anadromous Oncorhynchus nerka) are analysed and discussed in relation to existing theory of precopulatory mate-guarding. Male salmon typically guard females prior to spawning events and aggressively exclude other males from their vicinity. Mate-guarding is thought to increase the likelihood of releasing gametes before other males (during a spawning event) and fertilising the greatest proportion of the clutch. The optimal duration of mate-guarding can be considered in a game context because the mate-guarding behaviour of other males influences the probability of finding an unguarded female if a male leaves a female in search of other opportunities. At the Meadow Creek spawning channel, males guarded females, searched for unguarded females, or joined groups of non-breeding males and females. In accordance with mate-guarding theory, males continued to guard the same females after presumed spawning events (but during her egg deposition period) more often than expected on the basis of random pairing. This prevented some males from ever pairing with females. Gaining familiarity with habitat features may confer a competitive advantage to mate-guarding males and may favour prolonged mate-guarding. Because of the importance of finding nesting females quickly, before other males, unpaired males may wait for pairing opportunities rather than occupy distant satellite positions to breeding pairs.

Assessments and Decisions During Mate Choice in Gammarus Pulex (Amphipoda)

Behaviour ◽  
1989 ◽  
Vol 109 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 235-245 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert W. Elwood ◽  
Jaimie T.A. Dick
Keyword(s):  
Mate Choice ◽  
Mate Guarding ◽  
Information Gathering ◽  
Gammarus Pulex ◽  
Female Size ◽  
Precopulatory Mate Guarding ◽  
Random Pairing ◽  
Males And Females ◽  
The Difference

AbstractMale Gammarus pulex preferentially enter precopulatory mate guarding with large females close to moulting. The interactions of males and females were observed in an attempt to elucidate the process by which males assess females and, further, to determine how such information gathering influences mating decisions. Males which encountered single females, which had recently been experimentally separated from other males, grabbed and held those females in a perpendicular hold prior to establishing the precopulatory hold. The higher the reproductive quality of the female the more rapid was the male decision to move into the perpendicular hold but this was followed by an increased level of abdomen flexing and antennae touching. Once precopula was established, higher quality females received more stroking with the free gnathopods. When two females were encountered, some males simply took the first contacted and this resulted in random pairing. Other males, however, demonstrated the ability to sequentially sample as well as simultaneously compare females and, if this occurred, they almost invariably took the higher quality female. Discrimination between two females was more rapid as the difference in their qualities increased whereas males engaged in more grabbing and holding when females were of similar moult stages. The data show that assessment of female size and moult stage occurs early in the interaction, whereas subsequent activities such as flexing and stroking are probably involved in courtship, possibly serving to pacify females.

scholarly journals Safe sex: male–female coalitions and pre-copulatory mate-guarding in a fiddler crab

2009 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 180-182 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard N. C. Milner ◽  
Michael D. Jennions ◽  
Patricia R. Y. Backwell
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Dimorphism ◽  
Reproductive Success ◽  
Observational Data ◽  
Fiddler Crab ◽  
Lower Boundary ◽  
Mate Guarding ◽  
Maintenance Costs ◽  
Boundary Maintenance ◽  
Uca Annulipes ◽  
Males And Females

In fiddler crabs both males and females defend territories that are essential for survival. Given pronounced sexual dimorphism in weaponry, how do weaponless females defend their territory from well-armed males? Using observational data and two simple experiments, we test whether male Uca annulipes protect their female neighbours from conspecific intruders. We show that males defend their female neighbours against male but not female intruders. We also show that females sometimes mate with their immediate neighbours. Male defence of female neighbours appears to represent both pre-copulatory mate-guarding and a territorial coalition. Males who ensure that their neighbour remains female could benefit through increased opportunity for future reproductive success and lower boundary maintenance costs.

scholarly journals Morphology and Timing of Spawning of Umatilla Dace (Rhinichthys umatilla) in the Slocan River, British Columbia

2016 ◽  
Vol 130 (3) ◽  
pp. 224
Author(s):  
Louise Porto ◽  
Crystal Lawrence
Keyword(s):  
British Columbia ◽  
Aquatic Macrophytes ◽  
Columbia River Basin ◽  
Terrestrial Vegetation ◽  
Spawning Period ◽  
Habitat Features ◽  
In The Wild ◽  
Males And Females ◽  
First Time ◽  
Timing Of Spawning

Umatilla Dace (Rhinichthys umatilla, Cyprinidae) are endemic to the Columbia River Basin. In Canada, this species is assessed as “threatened”. Little is known about its life history, especially with respect to spawning in the wild. A total of 688 specimens were captured, including 39 mature males and females displaying spawning colouration and tubercles, during minnow trapping and electrofishing surveys conducted on the Slocan River in southern British Columbia, Canada. Fertilized eggs were not observed, but eggs and milt were expressed from ripe individuals. Spawning was estimated to occur from mid-July to mid-September. Aquatic macrophytes and flooded terrestrial vegetation were important habitat features for mature Umatilla Dace leading up to the spawning period on the Slocan River. To our knowledge this is the first time that Umatilla Dace have been captured in spawning condition and observed with spawning colouration and tubercles in the wild in Canada. Results of this study will aid the development of recovery plans and management for this species in British Columbia.

Recently mated males of a lek-mating insect intensify precopulatory mate guarding under male competition

2016 ◽  
Vol 117 ◽  
pp. 21-34 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alicia Jarrige ◽  
Alexandra Kassis ◽  
Tim Schmoll ◽  
Marlène Goubault
Keyword(s):  
Mate Guarding ◽  
Male Competition ◽  
Precopulatory Mate Guarding ◽  
Lek Mating

The reproductive cycle of the newt Triturus italicus

1992 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 121-133 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fabio M. Guarino ◽  
Vincenzo Caputo ◽  
Francesco Angelini
Keyword(s):  
Body Weight ◽  
Reproductive Cycle ◽  
Annual Variation ◽  
Southern Italy ◽  
Fat Body ◽  
Reproductive Activity ◽  
Male And Female ◽  
Egg Deposition ◽  
Males And Females ◽  
Mountain Population

AbstractThis paper describes the reproductive cycle in male and female newts Triturus italicus (Peracca, 1898) from a mountain population living in southern Italy. The male shows a well-defined seasonal testicular cycle: spermatogenesis almost stops from November to March, resuming in April-May; the maturative stage of spermatogenesis occurs in summer and spermiohistogenesis is completed by late October. Spermiation starts in late autumn and culminates in the next spring. The female shows a seasonal ovarian cycle. Vitellogenesis starts in September; ovulation and egg deposition occur between late January and early June. Thus potentially long reproductive activity is demonstrated in both males and females of T italicus. Testicular and ovarian weights seem to be reliable indices of the reproductive status of an animal. Annual variation in gonadal weight appears unrelated to annual variation in fat body weight in both sexes.

The effects of body size, ownership and sex-ratio on the precopulatory mate guarding of Caprella penantis (Crustacea: Amphipoda)

2009 ◽  
Vol 90 (2) ◽  
pp. 275-279 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fumio Takeshita ◽  
Yasuhisa Henmi
Keyword(s):  
Body Size ◽  
Sex Ratio ◽  
Laboratory Experiments ◽  
Mate Guarding ◽  
Operational Sex Ratio ◽  
Receptive Female ◽  
Type I ◽  
Male Body ◽  
Precopulatory Mate Guarding ◽  
Secondary Factor

Precopulatory mate guarding behaviour of the skeleton shrimp Caprella penantis is described. Moreover, the effects of body size, ownership and sex-ratio on mate guarding were examined experimentally in the laboratory. In the field population, the operational sex-ratio was male-biased. Guarding pairs, which were collected from the field, continued guarding for an average of 350 minutes in the laboratory, indicating that the normal guarding duration is approximately 10 hours. In this species, two guarding types were found: Type O and Type I-like. In Type O guarding, the male would fold the female into a horseshoe shape, whilst the male held the female parallel to him in Type I-like guarding. In the laboratory experiments, male body size was the most important factor affecting competition for a receptive female; ownership was the secondary factor. Guarding duration was prolonged when the sex-ratio was male-biased. Thus, the precopulatory mate guarding behaviour of C. penantis is influenced by several factors, such as body size, ownership and sex-ratio.

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