Juhász-Nagy Pál Doctoral School, University of Debrecen, Debrecen, Hajdú-Bihar, Hungary.
MTA-DE Behavioural Ecology Research Group, Department of Evolutionary Zoology and Human Biology, University of Debrecen, Debrecen, Hajdú-Bihar, Hungary.
PeerJ. 2022 Jul 29;10:e13660. doi: 10.7717/peerj.13660. eCollection 2022.
Individuals' access to resources is often decided during dyadic contests the outcome of which is determined by the fighting (or competitive) ability of the participants. Individuals' fighting ability (termed also as resource-holding power or potential, RHP) is usually associated with individual features (, sex, age, body size) and is also frequently signalled through various ornaments like the black throat patch (bib) in many birds. Individual personality is a behavioural attribute often linked to fighting ability as well. Based on earlier studies, however, the relationship between personality and fighting ability is far from being straightforward. While accounting for sex and body size, we studied whether exploratory behaviour, an aspect of personality, predicts fighting ability when competing for food during winter in free-living Eurasian tree sparrows (). We also investigated whether the bib can serve as a potential indicator of individual competitiveness in this species.
We captured adult tree sparrows, marked them with a unique combination of colour rings, and collected data about the individuals' sex, body size, bib size and exploratory behaviour. Birds were then released and the agonistic behaviour of the marked individuals was recorded while foraging in groups on bird feeding platforms.
The probability of winning a fight, a proxy for fighting ability of individuals, was not related to exploratory behaviour, in either of the sexes. However, bib size was positively related to probability of winning in females, but not in males. Body size was not associated with probability of winning neither in males, nor in females.
Our results suggest that, at least in tree sparrows, the outcome of dyadic encounters over food during the non-breeding period are not determined by the exploratory personality of individuals. However, our findings provide further support for a status signalling role of the black bib in tree sparrows, and hint for the first time that bib size might function as a status signal in females as well. Finally, our results do not confirm that body size could serve as an indicator of fighting ability (, RHP) in this species.
个体获取资源的机会通常在对偶竞争中决定，而竞争的结果取决于参与者的战斗（或竞争）能力。个体的战斗能力（也称为资源持有能力或潜力，RHP）通常与个体特征（如性别、年龄、体型）相关联，并且经常通过各种装饰物（如许多鸟类的黑色喉斑）来表示。个体个性是一种与战斗能力相关的行为特征。然而，根据早期的研究，个性与战斗能力之间的关系远非简单。在考虑了性别和体型之后，我们研究了在自由生活的欧亚树麻雀（）冬季争夺食物时，探索行为（个性的一个方面）是否可以预测战斗能力。我们还调查了在这个物种中，喉斑是否可以作为个体竞争力的潜在指标。
我们捕获成年树麻雀，用独特的颜色戒指组合标记它们，并收集有关个体的性别、体型、喉斑大小和探索行为的数据。然后将鸟类释放，并在鸟类喂食平台上的群体觅食过程中记录标记个体的攻击行为。
作为个体战斗能力的代表，获胜的概率与探索行为无关，无论是在雄性还是雌性中。然而，在雌性中，喉斑大小与获胜的概率呈正相关，但在雄性中则没有。体型既与雄性也与雌性的获胜概率无关。
我们的结果表明，至少在树麻雀中，非繁殖期争夺食物的对偶遭遇的结果并不取决于个体的探索个性。然而，我们的发现进一步支持了黑色喉斑在树麻雀中的地位信号作用，并首次暗示喉斑大小在雌性中也可能作为一种地位信号。最后，我们的结果不支持体型可以作为该物种战斗能力（即 RHP）的指示物。
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