Title: “Resource distribution mediates social and mating
behavior in a family living lizard”
Authors: Ben Halliwell, Tobias Uller,
Erik Wapstra, and Geoffrey M. Whilea
Published in Behavioral Ecology in 2017
This study investigated the impact of resource distribution
on mating systems using Liopholis whitii,
or White’s Skink, an Australian lizard in the skink family. Researchers made
two enclosures, one with aggregated nest sites and one with evenly dispersed
nest sites. They observed that social and genetic polygyny was more common in
the enclosure with aggregated nest sites as compared to the enclosure with dispersed
nest sites. They also observed that male reproductive success was somewhat more
varied in the aggregated nest site treatment, due to sexual selection (although
it was unclear whether this was female choice or male-male competition).
The results of this experiment support the theory that
mating systems are more a result of ecological constraints than they are
innate. I learned in animal behavior class that where there are dispersed clumps
of resources, monogamy is more likely to be the resultant mating system, and
where resources occur in denser clumps there is more opportunity for polygyny
or other mating systems. That was clearly demonstrated by this study. The
authors noted, however, that female territoriality may have limited males in the
aggregated treatment ability to associate with several females. This study also
shows that in polygynous systems there is more variation in male reproductive
success (where some males monopolize access to the majority of the females and other
males have little to no reproductive success) but it would be interesting to
see why that is the case here. It seemed like the researchers had trouble
drawing any conclusions in this area, and some of their results were in
contrast to observations of wild populations.
Resource distribution mediates social and mating behavior in a family living lizard
Resource distribution mediates social and mating behavior in a family living lizard
2 comments:
Thank you for your notes drawn from you Animal Behavior class! I had never considered that component before.
Why are dispersed resources predicted to promote monogamy (and vice versa)?
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