Risk-sensitive mating decisions in a visually compromised environment

Abstract

Reproductive activities are often conspicuous and can increase the risk of predation. Evidence suggests that individuals are capable of responding to predators in a risk-sensitive manner. However, most studies tend to consider only the predator-mediated responses of males and females in isolation and with little regard to differences in local environmental conditions. Here, we experimentally investigate the effects of environmental visibility (turbidity) and predation risk on reproductive decisions in the sand goby, Pomatoschistus minutus, when exposed to a visually oriented predator, the European perch, Perca fluviatilis. We found that gobies were more reluctant to spawn in the predator's presence, although larger males spawned sooner than smaller males. Interestingly, latency to spawning was unaffected by the visual environment, suggesting that gobies may be relying on non-visual cues under turbid conditions.

Risk-Sensitivity in Sensorimotor Control

“…Risk-sensitivity has been studied extensively in economics and psychology (Trimpop, 1994 ; Kahneman and Tversky, 2000 ; Gigerenzer, 2002 ; Samuelson and Nordhaus, 2009 ). In biology, the concept of risk-sensitivity has previously been mainly applied to foraging, feeding, and reproduction (Houston, 1991 ; Hurly and Oseen, 1999 ; Shafir et al, 1999 ; Kirshenbaum et al, 2000 ; Shapiro, 2000 ; Bateson, 2002 ; Goldshmidt and Fantino, 2004 ; Heilbronner et al, 2008 ; Matsushima et al, 2008 ; Wong et al, 2009 ; Bardsen et al, 2010 ; Kawamori and Matsushima, 2010 ). There have also been investigations on the neural substrate of risk-sensitivity in economic decision tasks in which macaque monkeys “gambled” for fluid rewards (McCoy and Platt, 2005 ; Hayden et al, 2008 ; Long et al, 2009 ).…”

Effects of salinity on nest-building behaviour in a marine fish

“…In sand gobies, several studies have previously reported differences in male reproductive behaviour linked to body size, with adjustment of nesting behaviour to environmental factors (e.g. water turbidity, predation risk, intrasexual competition), contingent upon the size of the male [ 40 , 42 , 60 ]. It has been suggested that this may be due to differences in the costs and benefits incurred by small and large males in response to different environmental conditions [ 42 ].…”

“…In addition to evaluating the effects of salinity, we also assessed the relationship between the nest-related behaviours and male body size. We considered that body size may be important because recent studies have suggested that individuals with different body sizes vary in their responses to environmental conditions [ 40 , 42 , 60 ]. In particular, these studies found the association between male size, the level of nest elaboration and motivation to spawn successfully to be positive only in the absence of environmental disturbance, such as predation risk or water turbidity.…”

Environmental change mediates mate choice for an extended phenotype, but not for mate quality

“…In the case of the sand gobies, differences in water turbidity influence perception of predation and large and small males have been shown to respond differently to the threat of predation in a reproductive context (Wong et al. ). Similarly, large and small males may respond differentially to increasing salinity levels, due to the varying levels of osmotic stress imposed on different body sizes and/or the size‐dependent abilities of male sand gobies to protect embryos from infection at lower salinities (Lehtonen et al.…”