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The territoriality threshold: a model for mutual avoidance in dragonfly mating systems

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Summary

In anisopteran dragonflies a variety of mating systems occurs. Male strategies range from patrolling without site attachment to territorial behaviour with pronounced residentiality. Conceiving site attachment as a strategy of mutual avoidance that reduces the energy spent in intermale fights, we develop a model for the cost and benefit of territoriality. This model suggests that high male density, high inter-male aggressiveness, and short duration of female visits at the mating place will strongly favour localization of males at the mating place and may thus trigger the evolution of territoriality. The predictions of our model are supported by field observations of several dragonfly species.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Lehrstuhl für Biologie V (Ökologie) der RWTH Aachen, Kopernikusstrasse 16, D-5100, Aachen, Germany

    Hans Joachim Poethke & Heinrich Kaiser

Authors
  1. Hans Joachim Poethke
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  2. Heinrich Kaiser
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died July 27, 1986

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Joachim Poethke, H., Kaiser, H. The territoriality threshold: a model for mutual avoidance in dragonfly mating systems. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 20, 11–19 (1987). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00292162

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00292162

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