Signaling Aggression

Staaden, Moira J. van; Searcy, William A.; Hanlon, Roger T.

doi:10.1016/b978-0-12-380858-5.00008-3

Cited by 50 publications

(39 citation statements)

References 96 publications

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“…However, if a small, 537 unpaired male encounters a lone female, he will pair with her and perform aggressive displays 538 to repel other small, unpaired male competitors. Intriguingly, if a large competitor challenges 539 the small male, the small male will swiftly shift to surreptitious or deceptive tactics and not 540 engage in aggressive displays (van Staaden, Searcy, Hanlon, 2011). This remarkable ability to 541…”

Section: Discussion 423mentioning

confidence: 99%

Giant Australian cuttlefish use mutual assessment to resolve male-male contests

et al. 2015

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Section: Discussion 423mentioning

confidence: 99%

Giant Australian cuttlefish use mutual assessment to resolve male-male contests

et al. 2015

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“…Game theoretical models of aggressive behaviour (reviewed in [1][2][3]) and empirical tests in both vertebrates [4,5] and invertebrates [6,7] find that competitors use signals to resolve contests before escalating to dangerous combat. Some mantis shrimp species (Stomatopoda) use their raptorial appendages to crack and kill hard-shelled prey with strikes that deliver forces exceeding their body weight by a thousand times or more [8,9].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Contests with deadly weapons: telson sparring in mantis shrimp (Stomatopoda)

Green

Patek

2015

Biol. Lett.

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Mantis shrimp strike with extreme impact forces that are deadly to prey. They also strike conspecifics during territorial contests, yet theoretical and empirical findings in aggressive behaviour research suggest competitors should resolve conflicts using signals before escalating to dangerous combat. We tested how Neogonodactylus bredini uses two ritualized behaviours to resolve size-matched contests: meral spread visual displays and telson (tailplate) strikes. We predicted that (i) most contests would be resolved by meral spreads, (ii) meral spreads would reliably signal strike force and (iii) strike force would predict contest success. The results were unexpected for each prediction. Contests were not resolved by meral spreads, instead escalating to striking in 33 of 34 experiments. The size of meral spread components did not strongly correlate with strike force. Strike force did not predict contest success; instead, winners delivered more strikes. Size-matched N. bredini avoid deadly combat not by visual displays, but by ritualistically and repeatedly striking each other's telsons until the loser retreats. We term this behaviour 'telson sparring', analogous to sparring in other weapon systems. We present an alternative framework for mantis shrimp contests in which the fight itself is the signal, serving as a non-lethal indicator of aggressive persistence or endurance.

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“…Recent studies have confirmed that soft song is an aggressive signal; soft song can predict aggressive escalation in both passerine Ballentine et al 2008;Hof and Hazlett 2010;Akcay et al 2011) and non-passerine birds (Rek and Osiejuk 2011). Additionally, playback experiments with mounted specimens have shown that soft song is a reliable aggressive signal in male-male conflict (Searcy and Beecher 2009;van Staaden et al 2011;Searcy et al 2014). In a previous study, we found that the relationship between soft song production and subsequent attack is significant in the Brownish-flanked Bush Warbler Cettia fortipes (Xia et al 2013b).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 97%

Reliability of the Brownish-flanked Bush Warbler’s soft song in male-male conflict

et al. 2015

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Background: Soft song is a low-amplitude song produced by many birds. Recent studies have confirmed that soft song is an aggressive signal. For example, the Brownish-flanked Bush Warblers Cettia fortipes use soft song in male-male conflicts, particularly prior to attacks. Although stable signaling systems require that signals be honest on average, models predict that cheating is an acceptable strategy for some individuals or in some contexts. Methods: This study aimed to test the reliability of soft song as an aggressive signal in the brownish-flanked bush warbler. We used mounted specimens accompanied by broadcast songs or soft songs to simulate a male attempting to invade an existing territory. Results: We found the mounted specimen that coupled playback of soft songs suffered more and quicker attacks from the territory owner and that the relationship between soft song and subsequent attack in the territory owner was far from perfect. We observed territory owners that both over-signaled (i.e., produced soft song but did not attack) and under-signaled (i.e., attacked without producing soft song). Under-signaling territory owners were relatively more commonly than were over-signaling territory owners, particularly in simulated intrusion that coupled playback of soft song with a mount specimen. Conclusions:We discuss the cost of producing soft song and the potential benefit of the unreliable use of soft song and propose a new hypothesis for under-signaling with soft song; i.e., under-signaling territory owners might benefit from taking the initiative in fights.

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Signaling Aggression

Cited by 50 publications

References 96 publications

Giant Australian cuttlefish use mutual assessment to resolve male-male contests

Giant Australian cuttlefish use mutual assessment to resolve male-male contests

Contests with deadly weapons: telson sparring in mantis shrimp (Stomatopoda)

Reliability of the Brownish-flanked Bush Warbler’s soft song in male-male conflict

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