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Resource availability and predation risk influence contest behavior and dominance hierarchies in crayfish

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Abstract

Theory-based predictions on asymmetries in animal contests have seldom been tested in situations where payoff asymmetries exist among contestants otherwise clearly matched for physical fighting capacity (i.e., resource holding potential, RHP). We examined the effects of food availability and predation risk on contest outcomes and the maintenance of dominance hierarchies in size-matched male noble crayfish pairs (Astacus astacus). Following theoretical predictions, dominant status established via contests staged in a non-resource context successfully predicted contest outcome (resource use) once resources were made available. Still, resource availability significantly increased the aggressive motivation of subordinates and sometimes resulted in hierarchy reversals. In subsequent resource-based contests, subordinates increased their fighting intensity, whereas dominants reduced their fighting motivation, potentially reflecting hunger-driven payoff asymmetries. Moreover, the data support the “asset-protection” principle by showing for the first time that predation risk lowered the aggressive motivation of dominants. At the same time, the percentage of fighting bouts won by subordinates increased significantly, leading to reversal of prior dominance relationships in 30 % of pairs. Compared to pairs where the hierarchy was retained through the different contests, pairs where dominance was reversed were characterized by smaller RHP asymmetries, which is again consistent with theory. These results show how animal contest behavior can be sensitive to the complex interactive effects of prior experience, resource value and RHP. Furthermore, in systems where repeated contests lead to dominance hierarchies, reversals within the hierarchy may occur more often when the RHP asymmetry between contestants is small.

Significance Statement

Contest outcome and resulting dominance status of contestants may be influenced by relative resource value and perceived costs involved in animal contests, especially when individuals are similar in major correlates of fighting ability, i.e., often body and weapon size. However, empirical evidence is scant. Using size-matched male crayfish pairs, we investigated the effects of food availability and predation threat on fighting behavior on individual and pair level and on hierarchy maintenance in repeated contests. Our study reveals novel evidence, indicating that crayfish are capable of changing their decisions during contests in response to food availability and predation threat, which can alter the hierarchy. For example, dominants reduced their aggressiveness in the presence of predation threat. Overall, hierarchy reversals were more likely in pairs where the difference in fighting ability between contestants was smaller.

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Acknowledgments

We thank the staff of the Finnish Game and Fisheries Research Institute Evo for obtaining the crayfish and Aki Puhka for his help in running the experiments. We are especially grateful to two anonymous referees and Darrell Kemp for their constructive comments and suggestions that helped us to improve the manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Integrative Ecology Unit, Department of Biosciences, University of Helsinki, P.O. Box 65, FI-00014, Helsinki, Finland

    Christina Gruber & Heikki Hirvonen

  2. Natural Resources Institute Finland, Survontie 9 A, 40500, Jyväskylä, Finland

    Jouni Tulonen

  3. Department of Environmental and Biological Sciences, University of Eastern Finland, P.O. Box 111, FI-80101, Joensuu, Finland

    Raine Kortet

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  1. Christina Gruber
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  2. Jouni Tulonen
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  3. Raine Kortet
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  4. Heikki Hirvonen
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Correspondence to Christina Gruber.

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Funding

This study was funded by the Academy of Finland (RK, CG; project no. 127398), the Emil Aaltonen foundation (RK, CG), and the Doctoral Programme in Wildlife Biology Research (LUOVA; CG).

Conflict of Interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Ethical approval

All applicable international, national, and institutional guidelines for the care and use of animals were followed. The experiments were carried out with and within the limits of the permission (12/03) given by the committee of the Finnish Game and Fisheries Research Institute for animal experiments. This article does not contain any studies with human participants performed by any of the authors.

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Informed consent was not obtained as the study did not involve human participants.

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Communicated by D. Kemp

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Gruber, C., Tulonen, J., Kortet, R. et al. Resource availability and predation risk influence contest behavior and dominance hierarchies in crayfish. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 70, 1305–1317 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00265-016-2139-6

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