Male harassment drives females to alter habitat use and leads to segregation of the sexes

Darden, Safi K.; Croft, Darren P.

doi:10.1098/rsbl.2008.0308

Cited by 110 publications

(102 citation statements)

References 20 publications

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“…Kodric-Brown & Nicoletto 2005). The findings in the present study and those in previous studies (Kodric-Brown & Nicoletto 2005, Darden & Croft 2008 suggest that a reduction in predator fauna in upstream sites may drive both phenotypic plasticity (in development of peduncle muscle) and selection toward increased rheotactic behaviour in the UN guppies.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 70%

“…Therefore, increased rheotactic behaviour in the UN may be a plastic response to reduced predator fauna in a fast flowing river. Darden & Croft (2008) found that in high predation (lowland) sites, predation risk is greater in the deeper regions of a river. Interestingly, the authors also found that, in response to male presence, females will move into deeper waters, thereby increasing their predation risk (Darden & Croft 2008).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Darden & Croft (2008) found that in high predation (lowland) sites, predation risk is greater in the deeper regions of a river. Interestingly, the authors also found that, in response to male presence, females will move into deeper waters, thereby increasing their predation risk (Darden & Croft 2008). The authors argue that this behaviour may increase the risk of female predation, but that this cost is balanced by a reduced level of harassment from males.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Upstream guppies (Poecilia reticulata, Peters, 1859) go against the flow

et al. 2012

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Guppies (Poecilia reticulata Peters 1859) in lakes and from captive-bred populations are predicted to show little rheotaxis compared to conspecifics in a stream environment that are regularly exposed to flash floods associated with involuntary downstream migration. Here we test this hypothesis using an artificial stream, examining guppies of two wild riverine populations, one lake population, and one ornamental strain. Guppies from the most upstream riverine habitat show the most pronounced rheotaxis and are less likely to be swept downstream during flooding events. However, there is no significant difference between guppies from the lowland riverine habitat, the Pitch Lake and ornamental strain. We propose that station-keeping behaviours are most strongly selected in the upstream population because large spatial differences exist in ecology and environment between up-and downstream habitats. Given that these sites are separated by barrier waterfalls that prevent compensatory upstream migration, natural selection operates particularly strong against upstream guppies that have been displaced downstream during flooding events. Resumo: Populações de guppies (Poecilia reticulata Peters) que vivem em lagos e em cativeiro podem demonstrar menos reotaxia em comparação com populações que habitam rios e que estão frequentemente expostas a enchentes e que provocam a migração involuntária para jusante. Neste trabalho, vamos testar esta hipótese num rio artificial utilizando guppies de duas populações selvagens que habitam em rios, uma população que habita em lagos, e uma linhagem ornamental. Os resultados demonstram que os guppies de rios que provêm de localidades a montante demonstram maior reotaxia, diminuindo assim probabilidade de serem arrastados para jusante em períodos de enchentes. No entanto, não foram encontradas diferenças significativas entre guppies de localidades a jusante, do lago Pitch ou ornamentais. Este resultado pode dever-se ao facto de existirem grandes diferenças ecológicas entre os habitats localizados a jusante e a montante dos rios. Devido ao facto de estas localidades estarem separadas por cachoeiras, impossibilitando a migração rio-acima, a seleção natural poderá estar a actuar contra guppies que sejam arrastados rio abaixo durantes os períodos de cheias Palavras-chave: Guppy (Poeciliareticulata), reotaxia, piscina comportamento, migração, seleção natural. Neotrop., vol. 12, no. 3 were conducted because guppies infected with Gyrodactylus spp. are more likely to be swept downstream than uninfected counterparts van (van Oosterhout et al. 2007a). Briefly, guppies were anaesthetised with 0.02% MS222 and using a stereo-microscope and fibre optic illumination, gyrodactylids were removed with watchmaker's tweezers. Fish were clean of all ectoparasites and showed no symptoms of disease in the two weeks prior to the experiment. The behaviour of guppies was recorded in an artificial stream (length × width × depth = 112.2 × 12 × 4.0 cm 3 ). The water flow rate was 15.4 (±1.2) cm.s -1 , compar...

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 70%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Upstream guppies (Poecilia reticulata, Peters, 1859) go against the flow

et al. 2012

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“…This is an indication that females showed increased mobility and an alteration in space use in the male treatment. The most likely explanation is that they are attempting to avoid male attention by moving to a different shoal or area of the habitat [16,17], as supported by their greater likelihood to be the initiators of fission events in the presence of males. Secondly, females behaved more aggressively towards other females in a group while foraging at a food patch if males were present than if males were not present.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Male sexual harassment alters female social behaviour towards other females

Darden

Watts

2011

Biol. Lett.

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Male harassment of females to gain mating opportunities is a consequence of an evolutionary conflict of interest between the sexes over reproduction and is common among sexually reproducing species. Male Trinidadian guppies Poecilia reticulata spend a large proportion of their time harassing females for copulations and their presence in female social groups has been shown to disrupt female -female social networks and the propensity for females to develop social recognition based on familiarity. In this study, we investigate the behavioural mechanisms that may lead to this disruption of female sociality. Using two experiments, we test the hypothesis that male presence will directly affect social behaviours expressed by females towards other females in the population. In experiment one, we tested for an effect of male presence on female shoaling behaviour and found that, in the presence of a free-swimming male guppy, females spent shorter amounts of time with other females than when in the presence of a free-swimming female guppy. In experiment two, we tested for an effect of male presence on the incidence of aggressive behaviour among female guppies. When males were present in a shoal, females exhibited increased levels of overall aggression towards other females compared with female only shoals. Our work provides direct evidence that the presence of sexually harassing males alters female -female social behaviour, an effect that we expect will be recurrent across taxonomic groups.

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“…This increase in prey availability may allow lobsters to gain the energy required during shorter distance forays from shelter than during spring. Regarded as a cryptic and somewhat sedentary species, large mo ve ments from shelter are probably only undertaken when forced by prey-, mate-, or shelter-shortages (Croft et al 2003, Pittman & McAlpine 2003, Austin et al 2004, Edgar et al 2004, Bowler & Benton 2005, Darden & Croft 2008. This highlights the danger of relying solely on homerange analysis as an indication of activity or movement behaviour.…”

Section: Seasonalitymentioning

confidence: 99%