The making of winners (and losers): how early dominance interactions determine adult social structure in a clonal fish

Laskowski, Kate L.; Wolf, Max; Bierbach, David

doi:10.1098/rspb.2016.0183

Cited by 37 publications

(41 citation statements)

References 31 publications

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“…The influence of a single winning or losing experience on subsequent aggressive behaviour is typically short-lived and winner–loser effects on contest behaviour have been found to disappear between 60 min and four days after a contest in a range of insect, fish, reptile, bird and rodent species 20 , 51 , 52 , although the effects of repeated social defeat are often cumulative 53 , 54 , and past experience of defeat can modulate winner–loser effects 55 . The winner–loser effects on contest behaviour found in our study were much more persistent and were evident even after experience of formation of a new social group.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Winner–loser effects overrule aggressiveness during the early stages of contests between pigs

Oldham

Camerlink

Arnott

et al. 2020

Sci Rep

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Contest behaviour, and in particular the propensity to attack an unfamiliar conspecific, is influenced by an individual's aggressiveness, as well as by experience of winning and losing (so called 'winnerloser effects'). Individuals vary in aggressiveness and susceptibility to winner-loser effects but the relationship between these drivers of contest behaviour has been poorly investigated. Here we hypothesise that the winner-loser effect on initiation of agonistic behaviour (display, non-damaging aggression, biting and mutual fighting) is influenced by aggressiveness. Pigs (n = 255) were assayed for aggressiveness (tendency to attack in resident−intruder tests) and then experienced two dyadic contests (age 10 and 13 weeks). Agonistic behaviour, up to reciprocal fighting, in contest 2 was compared between individuals of different aggressiveness in the RI test and experiences of victory or defeat in contest 1. Winner-loser effects were more influential than aggressiveness in determining initiation of agonistic behaviour. After accruing more skin lesions in contest 1, individuals were less likely to engage in escalated aggression in contest 2. The interaction between aggressiveness and winner-loser experience did not influence contest behaviour. The results suggest that aggressiveness does not compromise learning from recent contest experience and that reducing aggressiveness is unlikely to affect how animals experience winning and losing. Across species, substantial variation in individuals' reaction to unfamiliar conspecifics has been observed 1,2. In resident−intruder tests, individuals are consistent in whether or not they attack an intruder across repeated tests 3,4. Accordingly, aggressiveness can be viewed as a personality trait and is shaped by the genotype and early experience 5-8. As well as inter-individual differences in aggressiveness, individuals modulate their own aggressive behaviour according to resource value 9 , estimation of own ability 10 , opponent characteristics 11 and internal conditions influencing their evaluation of these factors (for example hormonal status 6 or food deprivation 12). There is also variation in how animals modulate their behaviour following victory or defeat in contests 13 , so called winner-loser effects. Aggressive contests are costly and it is important that animals learn from previous contest outcomes, not only about the identity of animals against which they have previously fought and won or lost 14 , but to extrapolate from past experience to estimate whether they are likely to be successful in future contests. Evidence suggests that aggressive animals are inflexible in modulating their behavioural strategy 15,16 and we therefore hypothesise that highly aggressive animals are less likely to adapt their contest behaviour following victory or defeat than less aggressive animals. Winning a contest increases the likelihood of winning a subsequent contest, and defeated individuals are more likely to lose again 17. Even in hypothetical groups of equal resource holding pote...

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Winner–loser effects overrule aggressiveness during the early stages of contests between pigs

Oldham

Camerlink

Arnott

et al. 2020

Sci Rep

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“…Using natural biological communities, we show that in the absence of adaptation, elevated CO 2 can drive reduced local fish species richness and create novel community structures homogenized by the numerical dominance of a single species (Figure 4). Ecological communities harbor species that occur in disproportionally high abundances due to their competitive dominance [34], and such dominant species or individuals usually remain dominant over time and through ontogeny [35,36]. An over-proliferation of dominants is normally stabilized through predator control, resource limitation, and disturbance regimes, resulting in the maintenance of species diversity [24,37,38].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Species Interactions Drive Fish Biodiversity Loss in a High-CO2 World

et al. 2017

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Accelerating climate change is eroding the functioning and stability of ecosystems by weakening the interactions among species that stabilize biological communities against change [1]. A key challenge to forecasting the future of ecosystems centers on how to extrapolate results from short-term, single-species studies to community-level responses that are mediated by key mechanisms such as competition, resource availability (bottom-up control), and predation (top-down control) [2]. We used CO vents as potential analogs of ocean acidification combined with in situ experiments to test current predictions of fish biodiversity loss and community change due to elevated CO [3] and to elucidate the potential mechanisms that drive such change. We show that high risk-taking behavior and competitive strength, combined with resource enrichment and collapse of predator populations, fostered already common species, enabling them to double their populations under acidified conditions. However, the release of these competitive dominants from predator control led to suppression of less common and subordinate competitors that did not benefit from resource enrichment and reduced predation. As a result, local biodiversity was lost and novel fish community compositions were created under elevated CO. Our study identifies the species interactions most affected by ocean acidification, revealing potential sources of natural selection. We also reveal how diminished predator abundances can have cascading effects on local species diversity, mediated by complex species interactions. Reduced overfishing of predators could therefore act as a key action to stall diversity loss and ecosystem change in a high-CO world. VIDEO ABSTRACT.

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“…one, two, three or four individuals at the food tablet at the same time). We additionally identified the dominant individual in each group as the individual who performed the majority of aggressive encounters while receiving the fewest (Bierbach et al, 2014; Laskowski, Wolf, & Bierbach, 2016). After having identified the dominant individual we also scored the amount of time it spent eating.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Familiarity increases aggressiveness among clonal fish

Doran

Bierbach

Laskowski

2018

Preprint

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Understanding how animal groups form and function is a major goal in behavioural ecology. Both genetic relatedness and familiarity among group mates have been shown to be key mediators of group composition. However, disentangling the two in most species is challenging as the most familiar individuals are often the most related, and vice versa. In order to gain a complete understanding of how individual interactions shape group behaviour it is crucial to understand the role each of this social relationship factors plays individually. To this end, we manipulated the level of familiarity among groups of the naturally clonal, and genetically identical fish, the Amazon molly (Poecilia formosa) and monitored group behaviour in an open-field and when given the opportunity to forage. Contrary to our predictions, fish that were the most familiar with each other showed the highest levels of aggression. Additionally, fish that were less familiar with each other exhibited the highest group cohesion and took the longest to begin feeding, compared to the more familiar fish. These results suggest that familiarity may socially buffer individuals from the perception of risk in novel environments, such as is common in most behavioural tests designed to test group behaviour. Increases in aggression that are associated with increasing familiarity as shown here might be a mechanism by which fish maintain a fission-fusion society with important consequences for the patterns of associations in group living animals.

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The making of winners (and losers): how early dominance interactions determine adult social structure in a clonal fish

Cited by 37 publications

References 31 publications

Winner–loser effects overrule aggressiveness during the early stages of contests between pigs

Winner–loser effects overrule aggressiveness during the early stages of contests between pigs

Species Interactions Drive Fish Biodiversity Loss in a High-CO2 World

Familiarity increases aggressiveness among clonal fish

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