Male-Male Competition for Nest Sites in the Sand Goby, Pomatoschistus minutus

Lindström, Kai

doi:10.2307/3565664

Cited by 122 publications

(118 citation statements)

References 28 publications

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“…Davies and Halliday, 1979). Larger P. minutus males can hold larger nests that can receive more eggs (Lindström, 1988). Thus in sand gobies, male-male competition for large nests, rather than inter-sexual selective pressures, may have driven larger male size selection.…”

Section: Male Sizementioning

confidence: 99%

Mate preference in the painted goby: the influence of visual and acoustic courtship signals

Amorim

Ponte

Caiano

et al. 2013

Journal of Experimental Biology

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SUMMARYWe tested the hypothesis that females of a small vocal marine fish with exclusive paternal care, the painted goby, prefer high parental-quality mates such as large or high-condition males. We tested the effect of male body size and male visual and acoustic courtship behaviour (playback experiments) on female mating preferences by measuring time spent near one of a two-choice stimuli. Females did not show preference for male size but preferred males that showed higher levels of courtship, a trait known to advertise condition (fat reserves). Also, time spent near the preferred male depended on male courtship effort. Playback experiments showed that when sound was combined with visual stimuli (a male confined in a small aquarium placed near each speaker), females spent more time near the male associated with courtship sound than with the control male (associated with white noise or silence). Although male visual courtship effort also affected female preference in the pre-playback period, this effect decreased during playback and disappeared in the post-playback period. Courtship sound stimuli alone did not elicit female preference in relation to a control. Taken together, the results suggest that visual and mainly acoustic courtship displays are subject to mate preference and may advertise parental quality in this species. Our results indicate that visual and acoustic signals interplay in a complex fashion and highlight the need to examine how different sensory modalities affect mating preferences in fish and other vertebrates.

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Section: Male Sizementioning

confidence: 99%

Mate preference in the painted goby: the influence of visual and acoustic courtship signals

Amorim

Ponte

Caiano

et al. 2013

Journal of Experimental Biology

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“…After spawning the male cares for the eggs until they hatch and the larvae start their independent pelagic life. When availability for nest sites is limited males compete intensively for these sites (Lindström, 1988;Lindström and Pampoulie, 2005). Such habitat partitioning is common within fish communities (Thorman and Wiederholm, 1983) and the alternative use of these resources within different habitats may be a way of maintaining low niche overlap.…”

Section: Distribution and Abundance Patternsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Feeding ecology, population structure and distribution of Pomatoschistus microps (Krøyer, 1838) and Pomatoschistus minutus (Pallas, 1770) in a temperate estuary, Portugal

Leitão

Martinho

Neto

et al. 2006

Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science

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The feeding ecology, growth and spatialetemporal abundance and distribution of Pomatoschistus microps (Krøyer, 1838) and Pomatoschistus minutus (Pallas, 1770) were studied between June 2003 and June 2004, based on beam trawl surveys and macrobenthic samples conducted in the Mondego estuary, Portugal. Polychaetes, molluscs and amphipods were the most important items in the diet of P. microps, while for P. minutus the dominant preys were polychaetes, mysids and decapods. Pomatoschistus microps' recruitment lasted for six months and was composed of three new cohorts per year. Pomatoschistus minutus had an uncommon long reproductive season, from April to November, and population segregation was found, corresponding to the two reproductive peaks. Populations of both species were composed mainly of 0-group individuals with sand gobies presenting a more extended life span. In the Mondego estuary, inter-and intra-specific spatial segregation occurred between the two species and between the 0C and 1C age groups of P. microps. Ó 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.Keywords: Pomatoschistus; diet overlap; life cycle; competition; resource partitioning; Mondego estuary IntroductionHigh fish abundance concentrated in particular areas, is a common feature in estuarine fish communities (Elliott et al., 2002). Consequently, co-occurrence of several similar morphological types (e.g. species of Soleidae, Mugilidae, Gobiidae) with overlap of ecological niches within the communities is expected. Spatial and temporal distribution, abundance patterns of fish assemblages as well as resource partitioning, are therefore, important and interesting issues for understanding the structure and dynamics of these communities (Cabral, 2000). Competition exists when the requirements of two or more individuals for a particular resource exceed the supply of that resource in the environment; or, if their demands do not exceed the supply, but they compete directly to obtain this resource. The study of diet is often used to evaluate competition between fish species (Elliott et al., 2002).Trophic and habitat segregation are among the most important aspects of resource partitioning in fish communities but it has been difficult to assess and prove the main force behind this process (Ross, 1986a). Evidences of coexistent Gobiidae species exhibiting vertical spatial segregation, temporal segregation in spawning and absence of niche shifts when one species was temporarily absent have been reported by NorteCampos and Temming (1994). The Gobiidae is a particularly successful family in both tropical and temperate seas, well represented in estuarine and freshwater environments. Gobiidae present more than 2000 species (Bouchereau and Guelorget, 1998) and virtually all gobies exhibit demersal eggs, male parental care and highly variable number of spawnings per season (Miller, 1984).In the Mondego estuary, four species of Gobiidae are present: Pomatoschistus microps (Krøyer, 1838), Pomatoschistus and Miller, 1966). Although it is usually an annual spe...

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“…We expect this decrease derives from two processes: predation and competition for nesting islets. We assume there will be a strong negative impact of this gull on native species as predation success and competitive abilities are directly linked to body size (Lindstrom 1988;Jonart et al 2007;Oro et al 2009;Schröder et al 2009) and the Caspian gull is much larger than most of the native waterbirds which are potential prey and competitors; (3) Assuming that the large body size of Caspian gull does correspond with its competitive ability, this species will also displace native waterbirds from safe islets located in the center of the reservoir to suboptimal islets located near the shore (i.e., exposed to the predatory activity of native corvids); (4) The increasing population of Caspian gull will lead to increased nest predation on islets visited by this gulls and consequently lower nesting success of native waterbirds at the invaded reservoir as compared with the control one; (5) Over time, the invasion of the Caspian gull will lead to a decline in the population size of small-bodied native predators, namely corvids, as an effect of scramble competition.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

An invasive gull displaces native waterbirds to breeding habitats more exposed to native predators

et al. 2014

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The effect of invasive opportunistic predators may include population changes in both native prey and native predators as well as alteration of predator-prey interactions. We analyzed the activity of native magpie Pica pica and changes in population, nest sites and nesting success probability of native waterbirds (namely: grebes, ducks, rails and native gulls) in response to the population growth of the invasive Caspian gull Larus cachinnans. The study was carried out at a reservoir in southern Poland and at a similar control reservoir where the Caspian gull was absent. Both the invasive gulls and the native magpie are opportunistic predators of nests of native waterbirds. The population increase of the invasive gull led to a decline in the population of native black-headed gulls Larus ridibundus only. However, the invasive gull displaced all the native species from the breeding islets located in the central part of the reservoir to islets located close to the shoreline. The latter were frequently visited by magpies, which depredated on nests along the shores, leading to an up to threefold decrease in nesting success as compared with nests located in the central area of the invaded reservoir. Predation by Caspian gulls was rarely observed. Thus, the invasion of Caspian gull caused complex direct and indirect effects on the waterbird community that included competition for breeding sites, changes in the spatial distribution of nests and alteration of predation rate by native predators. Moreover, the effects of invasion may not be reflected by changes in population size of native species.

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Male-Male Competition for Nest Sites in the Sand Goby, Pomatoschistus minutus

Cited by 122 publications

References 28 publications

Mate preference in the painted goby: the influence of visual and acoustic courtship signals

Mate preference in the painted goby: the influence of visual and acoustic courtship signals

Feeding ecology, population structure and distribution of Pomatoschistus microps (Krøyer, 1838) and Pomatoschistus minutus (Pallas, 1770) in a temperate estuary, Portugal

An invasive gull displaces native waterbirds to breeding habitats more exposed to native predators

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