Motor pattern during fights in the hermit crab Pagurus bernhardus : evidence for the role of skill in animal contests

Briffa, Mark; Fortescue, Katlyn J.

doi:10.1016/j.anbehav.2017.03.031

Cited by 21 publications

(24 citation statements)

References 38 publications

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“…A central and often exceptionally challenging goal of organismal biology is to measure animal performance in real behavioral contexts (Losos et al, 2002). Recent studies have used movementbased analyses to test how performance influences contest success (Briffa and Fortescue, 2017) or mate choice (Barske et al, 2011), or to ask how theories of sexual selection can be informed by performance measurements (Byers et al, 2010;Manica et al, 2017;Schuppe and Fuxjager, 2018). Our study contributes new evidence and approaches to reveal how the energy animals invest in powering movement can change with behavioral context.…”

Section: Energetics and Effort In Contextmentioning

confidence: 90%

Context-dependent scaling of kinematics and energetics during contests and feeding in mantis shrimp

Green

McHenry

Patek

2019

Journal of Experimental Biology

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Measurements of energy use, and its scaling with size, are critical to understanding how organisms accomplish myriad tasks. For example, energy budgets are central to game theory models of assessment during contests and underlie patterns of feeding behavior. Clear tests connecting energy to behavioral theory require measurements of the energy use of single individuals for particular behaviors. Many species of mantis shrimp (Stomatopoda: Crustacea) use elastic energy storage to power high-speed strikes that they deliver to opponents during territorial contests and to hardshelled prey while feeding. We compared the scaling of strike kinematics and energetics between feeding and contests in the mantis shrimp Neogonodactylus bredini. We filmed strikes with highspeed video, measured strike velocity and used a mathematical model to calculate strike energy. During contests, strike velocity did not scale with body size but strike energy scaled positively with size. Conversely, while feeding, strike velocity decreased with increasing size and strike energy did not vary according to body size. Individuals most likely achieved this strike variation through differential compression of their exoskeletal spring prior to the strike. Post hoc analyses found that N. bredini used greater velocity and energy when striking larger opponents, yet variation in prey size was not accompanied by varying strike velocity or energetics. Our estimates of energetics inform prior tests of contest and feeding behavior in this species. More broadly, our findings elucidate the role behavioral context plays in measurements of animal performance.

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Section: Energetics and Effort In Contextmentioning

confidence: 90%

Context-dependent scaling of kinematics and energetics during contests and feeding in mantis shrimp

Green

McHenry

Patek

2019

Journal of Experimental Biology

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“…Vigour is defined as the intensity and rate of performance of an agonistic behaviour [34] and can be most readily quantified for tactics that are performed repeatedly. In hermit crabs, for example, attackers try to take the gastropod shell of a defender.…”

Section: Vigorous Fightingmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…But given that RHP is already known to be influenced by several other traits [3] how important is skill likely to be in influencing the outcome of fights? As noted above, at present there are very few studies of fighting skill in animals [34,56] and only one of these [34] looks at the effect of motor patterns on outcomes. Nevertheless, when rspb.royalsocietypublishing.org Proc.…”

Section: How Could Skill Promote Successful Fighting?mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…First, winners will obtain enhanced access to resources such as food. While energetic constraints on vigour are well established, initial evidence from animal contests [34] and combat sports [54] indicate that the efficiency and accuracy of agonistic behaviour can also decline with fatigue. Thus, winners that gain more food might be better placed to sustain skilful fighting in future combat due to an enhanced energy balance.…”

Section: (C) Variation In Skillmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The role of skill in animal contests: a neglected component of fighting ability

Briffa¹,

Lane²

2017

Proc. R. Soc. B.

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What attributes make some individuals more likely to win a fight than others? A range of morphological and physiological traits have been studied intensely but far less focus has been placed on the actual agonistic behaviours used. Current studies of agonistic behaviour focus on contest duration and the vigour of fighting. It also seems obvious that individuals that fight more skilfully should have a greater chance of winning a fight. Here, we discuss the meaning of skill in animal fights. As the activities of each opponent can be disrupted by the behaviour of their rival, we differentiate among ability, technique and skill itself. In addition to efficient, accurate and sometimes precise movement, skilful fighting also requires rapid decision-making, so that appropriate tactics and strategies are selected. We consider how these different components of skill could be acquired, through genes, experiences of play-fighting and of real fights. Skilful fighting can enhance resource holding potential (RHP) by allowing for sustained vigour, by inflicting greater costs on opponents and by minimizing the chance of damage. Therefore, we argue that skill is a neglected but important component of RHP that could be readily studied to provide new insights into the evolution of agonistic behaviour.

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“…Our size‐matching procedure and analyses were expected to be effective at reducing the RHP asymmetry between contestants; there was no significant effect of weapon size on the contest outcomes in both trials, although losers in owner roles in trial–1 possessed a smaller weapon than winners in the same role. However, in addition to the unintentional smaller size, this self‐selection method (i.e., two contestants are matched for size; Hsu et al, 2006) may have affected our results, in that losers in trial–1 were perhaps potentially weaker contestants based on traits other than size (e.g., skill; Briffa & Fortescue, 2017) regardless of their role. In contrast to other systems (Kemp & Wiklund, 2004; Pratt, McLain, & Lathrop, 2003), resident status in Pagurus might not always assure intrinsic aggressiveness and/or greater fighting ability in the males.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 95%

Does prior residency interact with loss? A study of male–male contests in the hermit crab Pagurus minutus

2020

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Residency is an important predictor of success in contests with ownership asymmetries. Residency often can interact with a winning experience. However, given that some residents lose a contest even when showing an ownership advantage and that the process leading to loss often determines the loser's subsequent success, prior ownership might also interact with a loss. Here, we staged experimental contests between males of the hermit crab Pagurus minutus with a similar‐sized weapon (i.e., cheliped) to examine this possibility. Male–male contests in this species occur between a solitary intruder and an owner guarding a mature female. We evaluated (a) whether resource ownership and female value affect the contest outcome and (b) whether the probability of winning after losing differs depending on the initial role of the loser (i.e., owner or intruder) by using precopulatory guarding pairs of P. minutus collected from the field. In the first fighting trial, we found an ownership advantage and increasing owner success as the body size of his partner increased. Although some owners lost the fight, in contrast to our prediction, the frequency of losing in the second fighting trial did not differ between prior owners and prior intruders. Because losers from the first fighting trial of male–male contests have no female regardless of their initial role, this shared solitary status might be related to the lack of difference in success in the second fighting trial. Moreover, unlike in other animals, resident status might not always assure greater fighting ability in P. minutus males because guarding Pagurus males can avoid male–male contests by climbing up objects in the field. Losers in the first trial, therefore, may have been weaker contestants based on traits other than size, regardless of whether they were owners or intruders.

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Motor pattern during fights in the hermit crab Pagurus bernhardus : evidence for the role of skill in animal contests

Cited by 21 publications

References 38 publications

Context-dependent scaling of kinematics and energetics during contests and feeding in mantis shrimp

Context-dependent scaling of kinematics and energetics during contests and feeding in mantis shrimp

The role of skill in animal contests: a neglected component of fighting ability

Does prior residency interact with loss? A study of male–male contests in the hermit crab Pagurus minutus

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