Nolen Zachary J, Allen Pablo E, Miller Christine W
Entomology and Nematology Department, University of Florida, 1881 Natural Area Drive, Gainesville, FL, 32611, USA.
Behav Processes. 2017 May;138:1-6. doi: 10.1016/j.beproc.2017.01.020. Epub 2017 Feb 6.
In animal contests, resource value (the quality of a given resource) and resource holding potential (a male's absolute fighting ability) are two important factors determining the level of engagement and outcome of contests. Few studies have tested these factors simultaneously. Here, we investigated whether natural, seasonal differences in cactus phenology (fruit quality) influence interactions between males in the leaf-footed cactus bug, Narnia femorata (Hemiptera: Coreidae). We also considered whether males were more likely to interact when they were similar in size, as predicted by theory. Finally, we examined if male size relative to the size of an opponent predicted competitive success. We found that males have more interactions on cactus with high value ripe fruit, as we predicted. Further, we found that males that were closer in size were more likely to interact, and larger males were more likely to become dominant.
在动物竞争中，资源价值（给定资源的质量）和资源占有潜力（雄性的绝对战斗能力）是决定竞争参与程度和结果的两个重要因素。很少有研究同时测试这些因素。在这里，我们调查了仙人掌物候（果实质量）的自然季节性差异是否会影响叶足仙人掌蝽（Narnia femorata，半翅目：缘蝽科）雄性之间的相互作用。我们还考虑了雄性在体型相似时是否如理论预测的那样更有可能发生相互作用。最后，我们研究了相对于对手体型的雄性体型是否能预测竞争成功。正如我们所预测的，我们发现雄性在具有高价值成熟果实的仙人掌上有更多的相互作用。此外，我们发现体型更接近的雄性更有可能发生相互作用，而体型较大的雄性更有可能占据主导地位。
