Sexual segregation in the Darwin's wild sheep,<i>Ovis ammon darwini</i>, (Bovidae, Artiodactyla), in the Mengluoke Mountains of Xinjiang, China

Li, Bang; Wang, Muyang; Blank, David A.; Xu, Wenxuan; Yang, Weikang; Ruckstuhl, Kathreen E.

doi:10.25225/fozo.v66.i2.a7.2017

Cited by 4 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 44 publications

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“…With respect to intraspecific differences in distribution, sexual segregation is well-documented across many different taxa (Ludynia et al 2013;Wang et al 2018;Zak et al 2020). Various causal mechanisms have been proposed, such as dimorphism creating different nutritional requirements, thereby segregating males and females outside the breeding season (Li et al 2017), or avoidance of male harassment by females that have already mated (Ide 2011). Therefore, a general pattern may be that the intraspecific distribution of individuals might differ as a result of sexual conflict.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Fear of sex: sexual conflict exposed as avoidance in a parthenogenetic invertebrate

Lee

Udina

Hansson

2021

Behav Ecol Sociobiol

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Males and females often have divergent evolutionary interests, generating sexual conflicts. This is particularly true in organisms that exhibit facultative sexuality, whereby females are capable of reproducing without fitness costs of mating. Here, we provide the first documented evidence with quantitative tracking showing that sex interacts with social context to determine space-use of females, in a pattern resembling predator avoidance. To achieve this, we labelled Daphnia magna with fluorescent nanoparticles and utilized a 3-D tracking platform to record pairs of individuals swimming. The recordings comprised either same-sex or opposite-sex pairings. We found that females swam faster, deeper, more horizontally, and more linearly when exposed to males than when exposed to females. Simultaneously, we found that male behavior did not differ depending on swimming partner and, importantly, we observed no sexual dimorphism in swimming behaviors when swimming with the same sex. Our results suggest that the presence of males in a population has the potential to influence the distribution of individuals, similarly to known threats, such as predation. This highlights that sexual conflict has clear spatial consequences and should be considered in such ecological frameworks, like the Landscape of Fear (LOF) concept. In a broader context, the connection of the evolutionary and social concept of sexual conflict and the ecological concept of LOF may improve our understanding of population dynamics and the spatial and temporal distribution of individuals in natural ecosystems. Significance statement Despite the wealth of studies that detail how predators affect their prey’s spatial behaviors, studies on the role of sex and social context on spatial behavior are rare. Addressing this dearth of information, we studied the swimming behaviors of an organism that can reproduce with or without sex, when exposed to an individual of either the same or opposite sex. We found no difference between the sexes in swimming behaviors; however, we revealed that females avoided males by swimming deeper in the water column, reminiscent of the response to predation. Our results highlight that social conflict between the sexes strongly affects the demographics of a population and may therefore have a substantial role in the spatial ecology of organisms in the wild.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Fear of sex: sexual conflict exposed as avoidance in a parthenogenetic invertebrate

Lee

Udina

Hansson

2021

Behav Ecol Sociobiol

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Species behavioral characteristics lead to unique fragmentation threats: The Nubian ibex as a case study

Tichon,

Freiman,

Spiegel

et al. 2024

J Wildl Manag

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The behavioral characteristics of species may result in certain populations being inherently more susceptible to fragmentation. For example, species exhibiting spatial sexual segregation or those constrained to elongated and narrow habitats. We studied the fragmentation threats, spatial dynamics, resource utilization, and movement ecology of a particularly vulnerable species that is both sexually segregated and constrained to elongated and narrow habitat—the north Judean Desert population of Nubian ibex (Capra nubiana). From 2016‒2020 we tracked 48 marked ibex (27 male, 21 female), of which 38 (20 male, 18 female) also had global position system (GPS) collars. Using GPS‐collar and camera‐trap data in zones delineated around perennial water sources (PWSs), we calculated ibex drinking frequencies and individual utilization distributions by season and sex, focusing on their overall (95% isopleth) and core (50% isopleth) home ranges. We quantified joint space use between sexes using a utilization distribution overlap index (UDOI) and ibex daily movements and space use via movement indices. Female groups formed philopatric activity centers that were anchored around PWSs year‐round and arranged in a metapopulation‐like structure, with no female movement detected between them. Conversely, movement of adult males changed seasonally, with the cores of male groups anchored around PWSs only during the dry season, and long‐range movement between female activity centers during the rut. Female groups also spent more time at steeper terrain and higher elevations compared with male groups. Outside the rut, groups of males and groups of females exhibited minimal joint space use (i.e., average dry season UDOI was 0.06). These patterns indicate high sensitivity of this population to intersexual fragmentation by obstacles (physical or virtual). Management strategies to mitigate fragmentation threats for such populations should be sex‐specific and landscape‐oriented.

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Seasonal changes in the sexual segregation patterns of Marco Polo sheep in Taxkorgan Nature Reserve

Wang

Blank

Wang³

et al. 2019

J Ethol

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Sexual segregation in the Darwin's wild sheep,Ovis ammon darwini, (Bovidae, Artiodactyla), in the Mengluoke Mountains of Xinjiang, China

Cited by 4 publications

References 44 publications

Fear of sex: sexual conflict exposed as avoidance in a parthenogenetic invertebrate

Fear of sex: sexual conflict exposed as avoidance in a parthenogenetic invertebrate

Species behavioral characteristics lead to unique fragmentation threats: The Nubian ibex as a case study

Seasonal changes in the sexual segregation patterns of Marco Polo sheep in Taxkorgan Nature Reserve

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