Delago Antonia, Aonuma Hitoshi
Laboratory of Neuro-Cybernetics, Research Institute for Electronic Science, Hokkaido University, Sapporo, Japan.
Zoolog Sci. 2006 Sep;23(9):775-83. doi: 10.2108/zsj.23.775.
Fighting behavior in male crickets is already well described, and some of the mechanisms underlying aggression and aggressive motivation have already been revealed. Much less is known about female/female interactions. Here, we report that adult female crickets that had been isolated for several days readily entered into agonistic interactions with conspecific individuals. Characteristic dyadic encounters between isolated females escalated in a stepwise manner and were concluded with the establishment of a dominant/subordinate relationship. For 15 to 30 minutes following an initial fight, former subordinate females showed a dramatic change in agonistic behavior. If they were paired with the former dominant opponent during this interval, a significant majority did not enter into any aggressive interaction but instead actively avoided the opponent. A similar experience-based and time-dependent increase in avoidance was observed when former subordinate females were paired with unfamiliar naïve opponents. However, when faced with an unfamiliar subordinate individual in the second encounter, no such increase in avoidance behavior was observed. We propose that the observed changes in the behavior of former subordinate females are the consequence of a change in the general state of arousal and of the recognition of dominance status, but not of individual recognition. The fact that former dominant individuals did not show similar experience-based changes in agonistic behavior suggests that dominant/subordinate relationships between pairs of female crickets are maintained mainly by the behavior of subordinate individuals.
雄性蟋蟀的争斗行为已有详尽描述，一些攻击行为及攻击动机背后的机制也已被揭示。然而，关于雌性/雌性之间的互动却知之甚少。在此，我们报告称，隔离数天的成年雌性蟋蟀会轻易与同种个体展开争斗互动。隔离雌性之间典型的二元相遇会逐步升级，并以建立主导/从属关系而告终。在首次争斗后的15至30分钟内，之前处于从属地位的雌性蟋蟀的争斗行为发生了显著变化。如果在此期间它们与之前的主导对手配对，绝大多数不会进入任何攻击互动，而是积极避开对手。当之前处于从属地位的雌性蟋蟀与不熟悉的天真对手配对时，也观察到了类似的基于经验和时间的回避行为增加。然而，在第二次相遇时面对不熟悉的从属个体时，并未观察到这种回避行为的增加。我们认为，观察到的之前处于从属地位的雌性蟋蟀行为变化是觉醒状态改变和对主导地位的认知的结果，而非个体识别的结果。之前处于主导地位的个体在争斗行为中未表现出类似的基于经验的变化，这一事实表明，雌性蟋蟀对之间的主导/从属关系主要由从属个体的行为维持。
