Department of Biology, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, NO-7491 Trondheim, Norway.
J Fish Biol. 2012 Jul;81(1):21-34. doi: 10.1111/j.1095-8649.2012.03296.x. Epub 2012 May 29.
The present study explored how male size relates to mating competition across a natural range of male and female densities in the two-spotted goby Gobiusculus flavescens. Across this range of social environments, large males were more than twice as likely as small ones to chase other males, to become nest-holders, and to court females, but large males were not significantly more likely to engage in agonistic fin displays. Overall, the study showed that large males court and fight more than small ones across a wide, yet natural, span of social environments. Having a large body size appears to confer competitive advantage for males in any social environment of the study species. Further studies are needed to disentangle whether the benefit of large size is mainly in competition over resources, over matings as such, or both.
本研究探讨了在两种斑点虾虎鱼 Gobiusculus flavescens 的自然雄性和雌性密度范围内，雄性大小如何与交配竞争相关。在这种社会环境范围内，大型雄鱼追逐其他雄鱼、成为巢主和求偶的可能性是小型雄鱼的两倍多，但大型雄鱼进行好斗的鳍展示的可能性并不显著更高。总的来说，这项研究表明，在广泛的自然社会环境范围内，大型雄鱼比小型雄鱼更有可能求偶和争斗。拥有较大的体型似乎为雄性在研究物种的任何社会环境中都提供了竞争优势。进一步的研究需要阐明大型体型的优势主要是在资源竞争、交配竞争还是两者兼而有之。
