Department of Evolutionary Biology, Unit of Integrative Zoology, University of Vienna, Althanstraße 14, 1090 Vienna, Austria.
Department of Behavioural and Cognitive Biology, University of Vienna, Althanstraße 14, 1090 Vienna, Austria.
Biol Lett. 2020 May;16(5):20200094. doi: 10.1098/rsbl.2020.0094. Epub 2020 May 13.
The trade-off between speed and accuracy affects many behavioural processes like predator avoidance, foraging and nest-site selection, but little is known about this trade-off relative to territorial behaviour. Some poison frogs are highly territorial and fiercely repel calling male intruders. However, attacks need to be conducted cautiously, as they are energetically costly and bear the risk of own injury or accidentally targeting the wrong individual. In this study, we investigated the speed-accuracy trade-off in the context of male territoriality during the breeding season in the brilliant-thighed poison frog, . In our experiment, we presented the call of an invisible 'threatening' intruder together with a visible 'non-threatening' intruder, using acoustic playback and a frog model, respectively. Contrary to our prediction, neither reaction time nor approach speed of the tested frogs determined the likelihood of erroneous attacks. However, younger individuals were more likely to attack the non-threatening model than older ones, suggesting that experience plays an essential role in identifying and distinguishing rivalling individuals in a territorial context.
速度与准确性的权衡影响着许多行为过程,如捕食者回避、觅食和巢址选择,但相对于领地行为,人们对此权衡知之甚少。一些毒蛙具有强烈的领地意识,会强烈击退求偶的雄性入侵者。然而,攻击需要谨慎进行,因为这会耗费大量精力,并冒着自身受伤或错误攻击目标的风险。在这项研究中,我们在繁殖季节研究了雄性领地行为中速度-准确性的权衡关系,研究对象是绚丽腿毒蛙。在我们的实验中,我们使用声音回放和青蛙模型分别呈现了看不见的“威胁”入侵者和可见的“非威胁”入侵者的叫声。与我们的预测相反,测试青蛙的反应时间和接近速度都不会影响错误攻击的可能性。然而,年轻个体比年老个体更有可能攻击非威胁模型,这表明在领地环境中,经验在识别和区分竞争个体方面起着至关重要的作用。