Behavioural modifications during egg-brooding in the hermit crab, Pagurus bernhardus L.

Neil, Susan J.; Elwood, Robert W.

doi:10.1016/0022-0981(85)90052-8

Cited by 35 publications

(13 citation statements)

References 26 publications

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“…The crabs were removed from their shells by cracking the shells open in a bench vice. Males only were used in the experiments, thus avoiding sex di¡erences in behaviour that arise during the breeding season (Neil & Elwood 1985), which encompasses the time of the experiment. Only crabs between 0.12 g and 0.53 g in weight, which were free from (i) obvious parasites, (ii) loss of appendages and (iii) recent moult, were used.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Analysis of repeated signals during shell fights in the hermit crab Pagurus bernhardus

Briffa

Elwood

Dick

1998

Proc. R. Soc. Lond. B

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Shell exchanges between hermit crabs may occur after a period of shell rapping, when the initiating or attacking crab brings its shell rapidly and repeatedly into contact with the shell of the non-initiator or defender, in a series of bouts. There are two opposing models of hermit crab shell exchange and the function of shell rapping. The negotiation model views shell exchange as a mutualistic activity, in which the initiator supplies information about the quality of its shell via the fundamental frequency of the rapping sound. The aggression model views shell rapping as either detrimental to the defending crab, or as providing it with information about the initiator's ability or motivation to continue, or both. The negotiation model makes no predictions about the temporal pattern of rapping, but under the aggression model it would be expected that crabs that rapped more vigorously would be more likely to e¡ect an exchange. Repeating the signal could be expected under either model. Crabs that achieve an exchange rap more vigorously, rapping is more persistent when a clear gain in shell quality may be achieved, and the vigour is greater when the relative resource-holding potential (or`¢ghting ability') is high. These ¢ndings support the aggression model rather than the negotiation model. Contrary to the predictions of game theory, crabs that do not e¡ect an exchange appear to signal that they are about to give up. The data suggest that rapping is performed repeatedly because the accumulation of all of the performances acts as a signal of stamina.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Analysis of repeated signals during shell fights in the hermit crab Pagurus bernhardus

Briffa

Elwood

Dick

1998

Proc. R. Soc. Lond. B

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“…For example, when compared to males, brooding females of the isopod Idotea baltica decreased movements and selected a microhabitat with a lower risk of predation (Jormalainen et al 2001). Brooding males of the water bug Abedus herberti did not forage when they were carrying embryos (Smith 1976), and brooding females of the hermit crab Pagurus bernhardus minimised exposure to predation by reducing the frequency of shellchanging behaviour relative to both males and nongravid females (Neil & Elwood 1985). However, given the inherent variability of the physical environment, organisms should maintain a certain level of behavioural plasticity in response to this variation.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Influence of water motion and reproductive attributes on movement and shelter use in the marine snail Littorina saxatilis

Pardo¹,

Johnson²

2006

Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser.

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Extrinsic factors such as the physical environment can control the activities of animals, but their effect on behaviour can vary substantially among individuals within a given population depending on more intrinsic factors such as differences in the need to search for food or mates. We examined the activity of the brooding intertidal gastropod Littorina saxatilis under a range of different physical stressors experienced during high tide to test 2 hypotheses: (1) activity is affected by hydrodynamic conditions and (2) different reproductive groups respond in different ways to these conditions, specifically that gravid females exhibit more risk-avoidance behaviour in relation to other individuals. Two components of activity (magnitude of movement and shelter use) were measured for 3 reproductive groups (males, non-gravid females and gravid females) under temporally varying conditions of different environmental factors, including water flow, maximum wave force and water temperature. Movement (specifically, net distance displaced) of snails decreased with increases in water flow and maximum wave force. Reproductive groups did not differ in the form of their response function to water flow, but instead differed in the magnitude of their response, with gravid females moving the shortest distances. Gravid females were also the only group to increase their use of shelters in response to increases in maximum wave force, and this response was positively related to their fecundity. We interpret these behaviours as responses to increased risk of dislodgment and conclude that the behaviour of gravid females (i.e. use of shelters and reduced movements) should increase their survival as well as that of the offspring they carry.

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“…They were then sexed as only male crabs were used in order to avoid sexrelated behavioural differences found in previous studies (Neil and Elwood 1985). Crabs were sexed by eye according to the presence of well-developed pleopods on the abdomens of females and reduced pleopods on the abdomens of males.…”

Section: Shell Allocationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Consistent crustaceans: the identification of stable behavioural syndromes in hermit crabs

Mowles

Cotton

Briffa

2012

Behav Ecol Sociobiol

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Consistent individual variation in behaviour has been termed 'animal personality' and has been identified across a range of behavioural contexts including aggression, boldness in response to a threatening stimulus and exploration. When behaviours are correlated across multiple functional behavioural categories or 'contexts', 'behavioural syndromes' are said to be present. It is possible, however, that behavioural syndromes may also show consistencies.Here we investigated the presence of behavioural syndromes linking startle responses, exploration and aggression in hermit crabs and assessed their stability across two situations (low versus high predation risk). Correlation analyses detected behavioural syndromes between startle responses, a measure of 'boldness', and the latency to investigate a novel object, as well as the latency to attack an opponent in an aggressive context. The startle responseinvestigation and startle response-aggression syndromes were stable between situations, whilst there was a lack of relationship between investigation and aggression in each situation. Here we propose that these consistent individual differences in the expression of behavioural syndromes reveal the presence of animal personality, manifesting in not just one, but a suite of interacting traits.

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Behavioural modifications during egg-brooding in the hermit crab, Pagurus bernhardus L.

Cited by 35 publications

References 26 publications

Analysis of repeated signals during shell fights in the hermit crab Pagurus bernhardus

Analysis of repeated signals during shell fights in the hermit crab Pagurus bernhardus

Influence of water motion and reproductive attributes on movement and shelter use in the marine snail Littorina saxatilis

Consistent crustaceans: the identification of stable behavioural syndromes in hermit crabs

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