Male spacing and female choice in a fiddler crab

dc.contributor.authorPerez, Daniela
dc.contributor.authorBackwell, Patricia
dc.date.accessioned2020-06-11T03:44:07Z
dc.date.issued2019
dc.date.updated2021-11-28T07:37:32Z
dc.description.abstractThe aggregation of courting males is widespread among animal taxa, yet we do not understand why males congregate and therefore intensify local competition for female attention. The most commonly invoked theoretical explanation is that females preferentially approach clustered males due to the many benefits they would gain, and clustered males would therefore have higher mating success. However, although theoretical explanations of aggregation formation are well-advanced, empirical studies are scarce, especially in invertebrates. In fact, there is little evidence that females do prefer to approach clustered over spaced displayers. Here we address this question by using robotic crabs to test female preferences in fiddler crabs (a visually displaying species) and show that female do not preferentially approach clustered males. We suggest that if this pattern is more widespread, the most commonly invoked explanation of courting aggregations is of limited use. We offer explanations for the strong clustering behaviour we observe in this species and discuss the implications of this finding for the theoretical underpinnings of this research field.
dc.description.sponsorshipThe work was funded by the Australian Research Council, Discovery Grant to PRYB (DP160100316).en_AU
dc.format.mimetypeapplication/pdfen_AU
dc.identifier.issn1045-2249en_AU
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/1885/204961
dc.language.isoen_AUen_AU
dc.provenancehttp://sherpa.ac.uk/romeo/issn/1045-2249/..."Post-print in Institutional repositories or Central repositories after 12 months embargo" from SHERPA/RoMEO site (as at 3/07/2020). This is a pre-copyedited, author-produced version of an article accepted for publication in Behavioral Ecology following peer review. The version of record [insert complete citation information here] is available online at: https://dx.doi.org/10.1093/beheco/arz147
dc.publisherOxford University Press
dc.relationhttp://purl.org/au-research/grants/arc/DP160100316
dc.rights© 2019 The Author(s).
dc.sourceBehavioral Ecology
dc.titleMale spacing and female choice in a fiddler crab
dc.typeJournal article
dcterms.accessRightsOpen Access
local.bibliographicCitation.issue6en_AU
local.bibliographicCitation.lastpage1774en_AU
local.bibliographicCitation.startpage1769en_AU
local.contributor.affiliationPerez, Daniela, College of Science, ANUen_AU
local.contributor.affiliationBackwell, Patricia, College of Science, ANUen_AU
local.contributor.authoremailu5284815@anu.edu.auen_AU
local.contributor.authoruidPerez, Daniela, u5284815en_AU
local.contributor.authoruidBackwell, Patricia, u4040667en_AU
local.description.notesImported from ARIESen_AU
local.identifier.absfor060201 - Behavioural Ecologyen_AU
local.identifier.absseo970106 - Expanding Knowledge in the Biological Sciencesen_AU
local.identifier.ariespublicationu9511635xPUB1989en_AU
local.identifier.citationvolume30en_AU
local.identifier.doi10.1093/beheco/arz147en_AU
local.identifier.scopusID2-s2.0-85076562360
local.identifier.uidSubmittedByu9511635en_AU
local.publisher.urlhttp://www.oxfordjournals.org/en_AU
local.type.statusAccepted Versionen_AU

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