Abstract
Body size, social setting, and the physical environment can all influence reproductive behaviours, but their interactions are not well understood. Here, we investigated how male body size, male–male competition, and water turbidity influence nest-building behaviour in the sand goby (Pomatoschistus minutus), a marine fish with exclusive paternal care. We found that environmental and social factors affected the nest characteristics of small and large males differently. In particular, association between male size and the level of nest elaboration (i.e. the amount of sand piled on top of the nest) was positive only under clear water conditions. Similarly, male size and nest entrance size were positively associated only in the absence of competition. Such interactions may, in turn, help to explain the persistence of variation in reproductive behaviours, which—due to their importance in offspring survival—are otherwise expected to be under strong balancing selection.
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Acknowledgments
We thank Bella Japoshvili, Andreas Svensson, Milka Keihäs and Johanna Yliportimo for assistance, anonymous reviewers for helpful comments and Tvärminne Zoological Station for working facilities. Financial support was provided by the Department of Biology, University of Turku (to TKL), and The Australian Research Council (to BBMW).
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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.
Ethical standard
All applicable national guidelines for the care and use of animals were followed. The experimental procedures were approved by ELLA—the National Animal Experiment Board of Finland.
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Communicated by Aaron J. Wirsing.
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Lehtonen, T.K., Lindström, K. & Wong, B.B.M. Body size mediates social and environmental effects on nest building behaviour in a fish with paternal care. Oecologia 178, 699–706 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-015-3264-z
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-015-3264-z