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Behavioral dominance interactions between Nicrophorus orbicollis and N. tomentosus burying beetles (Coleoptera: Silphidae)

Asymmetric interference competition, where one species is behaviorally dominant over another, appears widespread in nature with the potential to structure ecological communities through trade-offs between competitive dominance and environmental tolerance. The details of how species interact and the...

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Autores principales: Schrempf, Scott D., Burke, Kevin W., Wettlaufer, Jillian D., Martin, Paul R.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: PeerJ Inc. 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7912668/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33665013
http://dx.doi.org/10.7717/peerj.10797
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author Schrempf, Scott D.
Burke, Kevin W.
Wettlaufer, Jillian D.
Martin, Paul R.
author_facet Schrempf, Scott D.
Burke, Kevin W.
Wettlaufer, Jillian D.
Martin, Paul R.
author_sort Schrempf, Scott D.
collection PubMed
description Asymmetric interference competition, where one species is behaviorally dominant over another, appears widespread in nature with the potential to structure ecological communities through trade-offs between competitive dominance and environmental tolerance. The details of how species interact and the factors that contribute to behavioral dominance, however, are poorly known for most species, yet such details are important for understanding when and why trade-offs occur. Here, we examine behavioral interactions between two species of burying beetles (Coleoptera: Silphidae) that compete for limited breeding resources (i.e., small vertebrate carcasses) in nature, to identify behaviors involved in interference competition and to test if large body size, species identity, or time of arrival best predict behavioral dominance among species. To test these ideas, we placed same-sex individuals of Nicrophorus orbicollis (early to mid-summer breeder) and N. tomentosus (late summer to fall breeder) into an enclosure together with a 25–30 g mouse carcass (Mus musculus). We then video-recorded all behaviors, including neutral and aggressive interactions, for 13 h per trial (N = 14 trials). For each interaction, we assigned a winner based on which beetle retained its position instead of fleeing or retained possession of the carcass; the overall behavioral dominant was determined as the individual that won the most interactions over the length of the trial. We found that large body size was the best predictor of behavioral dominance. In most interactions, N. orbicollis was larger and dominant over N. tomentosus; however, when N. tomentosus was larger they outcompeted smaller N. orbicollis, illustrating the importance of body size in aggressive contests. The order of arrival to the carcass (priority effects) did not predict behavioral dominance. The larger size and abundance of N. orbicollis in nature suggest a competitive asymmetry between the species, supporting the idea that N. orbicollis constrains the ability of N. tomentosus to breed earlier in the summer.
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spelling pubmed-79126682021-03-03 Behavioral dominance interactions between Nicrophorus orbicollis and N. tomentosus burying beetles (Coleoptera: Silphidae) Schrempf, Scott D. Burke, Kevin W. Wettlaufer, Jillian D. Martin, Paul R. PeerJ Animal Behavior Asymmetric interference competition, where one species is behaviorally dominant over another, appears widespread in nature with the potential to structure ecological communities through trade-offs between competitive dominance and environmental tolerance. The details of how species interact and the factors that contribute to behavioral dominance, however, are poorly known for most species, yet such details are important for understanding when and why trade-offs occur. Here, we examine behavioral interactions between two species of burying beetles (Coleoptera: Silphidae) that compete for limited breeding resources (i.e., small vertebrate carcasses) in nature, to identify behaviors involved in interference competition and to test if large body size, species identity, or time of arrival best predict behavioral dominance among species. To test these ideas, we placed same-sex individuals of Nicrophorus orbicollis (early to mid-summer breeder) and N. tomentosus (late summer to fall breeder) into an enclosure together with a 25–30 g mouse carcass (Mus musculus). We then video-recorded all behaviors, including neutral and aggressive interactions, for 13 h per trial (N = 14 trials). For each interaction, we assigned a winner based on which beetle retained its position instead of fleeing or retained possession of the carcass; the overall behavioral dominant was determined as the individual that won the most interactions over the length of the trial. We found that large body size was the best predictor of behavioral dominance. In most interactions, N. orbicollis was larger and dominant over N. tomentosus; however, when N. tomentosus was larger they outcompeted smaller N. orbicollis, illustrating the importance of body size in aggressive contests. The order of arrival to the carcass (priority effects) did not predict behavioral dominance. The larger size and abundance of N. orbicollis in nature suggest a competitive asymmetry between the species, supporting the idea that N. orbicollis constrains the ability of N. tomentosus to breed earlier in the summer. PeerJ Inc. 2021-02-23 /pmc/articles/PMC7912668/ /pubmed/33665013 http://dx.doi.org/10.7717/peerj.10797 Text en © 2021 Schrempf et al. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, reproduction and adaptation in any medium and for any purpose provided that it is properly attributed. For attribution, the original author(s), title, publication source (PeerJ) and either DOI or URL of the article must be cited.
spellingShingle Animal Behavior
Schrempf, Scott D.
Burke, Kevin W.
Wettlaufer, Jillian D.
Martin, Paul R.
Behavioral dominance interactions between Nicrophorus orbicollis and N. tomentosus burying beetles (Coleoptera: Silphidae)
title Behavioral dominance interactions between Nicrophorus orbicollis and N. tomentosus burying beetles (Coleoptera: Silphidae)
title_full Behavioral dominance interactions between Nicrophorus orbicollis and N. tomentosus burying beetles (Coleoptera: Silphidae)
title_fullStr Behavioral dominance interactions between Nicrophorus orbicollis and N. tomentosus burying beetles (Coleoptera: Silphidae)
title_full_unstemmed Behavioral dominance interactions between Nicrophorus orbicollis and N. tomentosus burying beetles (Coleoptera: Silphidae)
title_short Behavioral dominance interactions between Nicrophorus orbicollis and N. tomentosus burying beetles (Coleoptera: Silphidae)
title_sort behavioral dominance interactions between nicrophorus orbicollis and n. tomentosus burying beetles (coleoptera: silphidae)
topic Animal Behavior
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7912668/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33665013
http://dx.doi.org/10.7717/peerj.10797
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