Lehtonen Topi K, McCrary Jeffrey K, Meyer Axel
Lehrstuhl für Zoologie und Evolutionsbiologie, Department of Biology, University of Konstanz, Konstanz, Germany.
Behav Processes. 2010 Jun;84(2):598-601. doi: 10.1016/j.beproc.2010.02.021. Epub 2010 Mar 4.
Territorial animals are known to be able to differentiate between intruding individuals posing a low or high threat and adjust their aggressive response accordingly. However, plastic territorial aggression based on recognising individuals with different attributes is typically assumed to be relevant only in the context of conspecific interactions. In this study, we investigated territorial aggression of neotropical cichlid fish in their natural habitat to assess whether responses to different types of individuals of another species can also be plastic. We show that arrow cichlids (Amphilophus zaliosus) adjusted their territorial aggression regarding the status of heterospecific intruders: breeding individuals of Amphilophus astorquii received a lower level of aggression than non-breeders. The same pattern was also found for the two different types of A. astorquii individuals intruding into conspecific territories. These results suggest that heterospecific individuals should not be ignored when considering selection pressures shaping plasticity of aggressive behaviour in territorial animals.
已知具有领地意识的动物能够区分构成低威胁或高威胁的入侵个体，并相应地调整它们的攻击反应。然而，基于识别具有不同属性个体的可塑性领地攻击通常被认为仅在同种相互作用的背景下才相关。在本研究中，我们调查了新热带丽鱼在其自然栖息地中的领地攻击行为，以评估对另一个物种不同类型个体的反应是否也具有可塑性。我们发现箭丽鱼（Amphilophus zaliosus）会根据异种入侵者的状态调整其领地攻击行为：阿氏丽鱼（Amphilophus astorquii）的繁殖个体受到的攻击水平低于非繁殖个体。在侵入同种领地的两种不同类型的阿氏丽鱼个体中也发现了相同的模式。这些结果表明，在考虑塑造领地动物攻击行为可塑性的选择压力时，不应忽视异种个体。
