Hymenopteran contests and agonistic behaviour

Hardy, Ian C.W.; Goubault, Marlène; Batchelor, Tim P.

doi:10.1017/cbo9781139051248.010

Cited by 49 publications

(76 citation statements)

References 264 publications

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“…Subjective RV effects have been found across a range of taxa [3], including parasitoids [5,7,10,11,16]. The greater importance of the subjective component that we evaluated accords with recent findings that subjective RV is the predominant influence on contest outcomes in the parasitoids Eupelmus vuilleti and Dinarmus basalis [5,16].…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 62%

“…In these species, subjective RV effects operate via egg maturation state, whereas egg load effects have only been found in Goniozus when other asymmetries were absent [7]. Further, subjective RV appears responsible for a ‘winner effect’ in E. vuilleti [9], contrasting with previous theory, and evidence from non-parasitoid taxa, that winner–loser effects are influenced by RHP changes [7,17]. In G. legneri as well, winner–loser effects appear owing to changes in RHP [7].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Subjective and objective components of resource value additively increase aggression in parasitoid contests

Stockermans

Hardy

2013

Biol. Lett.

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Two major categories of factors are predicted to influence behaviour in dyadic contests; differences in the abilities of the contestants to acquire and retain resources (resource holding potential), and the value of the contested resource (resource value, RV; which comprises objective and subjective components). Recent studies indicate that subjective components affect contest behaviour in several animal taxa but few have simultaneously investigated objective RV components. We find that both an objective (host size) and a subjective (contestant age) component of RV affect contest intensity in the parasitoid wasp Goniozus legneri. These additively influence aggressiveness, with a larger effect from the subjective component than the objective component. The greater influence of subjective RV adds weight to the recent surge of recognition of this RV component's importance in contest behaviour.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 62%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Subjective and objective components of resource value additively increase aggression in parasitoid contests

Stockermans

Hardy

2013

Biol. Lett.

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“…In most social species, larger groups exhibit greater aggression and win most territorial confrontations (Adams , Palmer , Tanner , Hardy et al. ). We thus expect C. mimosae colonies with increased density to exhibit higher levels of aggression and greater expansion success against heterospecific competitors than control and decreased‐density colonies.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Impacts of worker density in colony‐level aggression, expansion, and survival of the acacia‐ant Crematogaster mimosae

Ruiz-Guajardo

Grossenbacher

Grosberg

et al. 2017

Ecological Monographs

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Experimental studies assessing the impact of demographic changes on aggression and inter‐group competitive outcomes in communities of social species are rare. This gap in our knowledge is important, not only because social species are foundational elements of many terrestrial ecosystems, but because interference competition among social groups often involves decision‐like processes influenced by demographic and environmental contexts. In East Africa, the symbiotic ant Crematogaster mimosae is a co‐dominant competitor that engages in high‐mortality, intra‐ and interspecific battles for sole possession of host trees. We manipulated worker density on C. mimosae Acacia host trees, and the colony's opportunity to expand onto neighboring trees to identify how these factors influenced colony‐level aggression, expansion success, and longer‐term survivorship. Worker density on focal trees was increased through translocation of domatia‐bearing branches, and was decreased using partial tree fumigations. We examined impacts of density manipulations on aggression and immediate expansion success under two different risk scenarios. We tied focal trees to either an experimentally emptied‐tree (low‐risk treatment), or to a C. nigriceps‐occupied tree (high‐risk treatment). Expansion success onto emptied neighbor trees was 100% for controls and increased‐density colonies, but only 50% for decreased‐density colonies, despite the fact that host trees are a limiting resource in this system. Success expanding onto trees occupied by a heterospecific competitor reached 36%, 40%, and 79% in decreased, control, and increased‐density trees, respectively. Our results show that changes in worker density due to disturbances or inter‐group battles have the potential to disrupt competitive hierarchies. Worker density manipulations also affected longer‐term colony persistence. Behavioral and genetic data revealed that 12 months after expansions 100% of the decreased‐density colonies, and 25% of control and increased‐density colonies, had been supplanted by neighboring opportunistic conspecifics. Intraspecific aggression may have lower costs in C. mimosae because aggressive colonies can incorporate workers or queens from defeated competitors. The unexpectedly high frequency of conflicts between conspecific C. mimosae, in combination with behaviors decreasing the cost of intraspecific competition relative to interspecific conflict, may create opportunities for the survival of subordinate competitors in this ant–plant system.

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“…Such weapons include horns in female dung beetles, genus Onthophagus (Emlen et al, ). In O. sagittarius female–female battles are common, but instead of fighting over access to males as in jacanas, female dung beetles feud for resources to raise offspring [Watson & Simmons, , b ; similar cases are found in wasps (Hardy, Goubault & Batchelor, )]. Cases like these are worth exploring because the rules that apply to female–female contests are different than those that apply to male–male competition (e.g.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Intrasexually selected weapons

2018

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We propose a practical concept that distinguishes the particular kind of weaponry that has evolved to be used in combat between individuals of the same species and sex, which we term intrasexually selected weapons (ISWs). We present a treatise of ISWs in nature, aiming to understand their distinction and evolution from other secondary sex traits, including from 'sexually selected weapons', and from sexually dimorphic and monomorphic weaponry. We focus on the subset of secondary sex traits that are the result of same-sex combat, defined here as ISWs, provide not previously reported evolutionary patterns, and offer hypotheses to answer questions such as: why have only some species evolved weapons to fight for the opposite sex or breeding resources? We examined traits that seem to have evolved as ISWs in the entire animal phylogeny, restricting the classification of ISW to traits that are only present or enlarged in adults of one of the sexes, and are used as weapons during intrasexual fights. Because of the absence of behavioural data and, in many cases, lack of sexually discriminated series from juveniles to adults, we exclude the fossil record from this review. We merge morphological, ontogenetic, and behavioural information, and for the first time thoroughly review the tree of life to identify separate evolution of ISWs. We found that ISWs are only found in bilateral animals, appearing independently in nematodes, various groups of arthropods, and vertebrates. Our review sets a reference point to explore other taxa that we identify with potential ISWs for which behavioural or morphological studies are warranted. We establish that most ISWs come in pairs, are located in or near the head, are endo- or exoskeletal modifications, are overdeveloped structures compared with those found in females, are modified feeding structures and/or locomotor appendages, are most common in terrestrial taxa, are frequently used to guard females, territories, or both, and are also used in signalling displays to deter rivals and/or attract females. We also found that most taxa lack ISWs, that females of only a few species possess better-developed weapons than males, that the cases of independent evolution of ISWs are not evenly distributed across the phylogeny, and that animals possessing the most developed ISWs have non-hunting habits (e.g. herbivores) or are faunivores that prey on very small prey relative to their body size (e.g. insectivores). Bringing together perspectives from studies on a variety of taxa, we conceptualize that there are five ways in which a sexually dimorphic trait, apart from the primary sex traits, can be fixed: sexual selection, fecundity selection, parental role division, differential niche occupation between the sexes, and interference competition. We discuss these trends and the factors involved in the evolution of intrasexually selected weaponry in nature.

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Hymenopteran contests and agonistic behaviour

Cited by 49 publications

References 264 publications

Subjective and objective components of resource value additively increase aggression in parasitoid contests

Subjective and objective components of resource value additively increase aggression in parasitoid contests

Impacts of worker density in colony‐level aggression, expansion, and survival of the acacia‐ant Crematogaster mimosae

Intrasexually selected weapons

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