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Presence of conspecific females motivates egg cannibalism owing to lower risk of filial cannibalism

A cannibal has to weigh the benefits of the consumption and removal of competing conspecifics against the potential loss of fitness through filial cannibalism. We examined the role of the presence of conspecific females in informing adaptive cannibalism decisions. Females of the hemipteran bug Geoco...

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Main Authors: Law, Yao Hua, Rosenheim, Jay A.
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Elsevier 2013
Online Access:http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/29256/1/29256.pdf
http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/29256/
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0003347212005283
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spelling my.upm.eprints.292562016-04-25T04:31:01Z http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/29256/ Presence of conspecific females motivates egg cannibalism owing to lower risk of filial cannibalism Law, Yao Hua Rosenheim, Jay A. A cannibal has to weigh the benefits of the consumption and removal of competing conspecifics against the potential loss of fitness through filial cannibalism. We examined the role of the presence of conspecific females in informing adaptive cannibalism decisions. Females of the hemipteran bug Geocoris pallens express low egg cannibalism when alone but become much more cannibalistic in the presence of conspecific females and do not discriminate between their own eggs and those of other females. Experimentation showed that females that could not commit filial cannibalism exhibited strong egg cannibalism that was not reduced by the presence of conspecific females, whereas females that could commit filial cannibalism were very cannibalistic only in the presence of conspecifics. An experiment also showed that the presence of conspecific females triggered a stronger egg cannibalism response in G. pallens than did a heterospecific egg predator. These results suggest that G. pallens females become cannibalistic in the presence of conspecifics because they interpret conspecific presence primarily as an indication of decreased likelihood of committing filial cannibalism, and less so as an indication of lower expected survival of eggs or future resource competition. Our study highlights the importance of informational cues, in this case the presence of conspecifics, in modulating the expression of cannibalism. Elsevier 2013-02 Article PeerReviewed application/pdf en http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/29256/1/29256.pdf Law, Yao Hua and Rosenheim, Jay A. (2013) Presence of conspecific females motivates egg cannibalism owing to lower risk of filial cannibalism. Animal Behaviour, 85 (2). pp. 403-409. ISSN 0003-3472; ESSN: 1095-8282 http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0003347212005283 10.1016/j.anbehav.2012.11.015
institution Universiti Putra Malaysia
building UPM Library
collection Institutional Repository
continent Asia
country Malaysia
content_provider Universiti Putra Malaysia
content_source UPM Institutional Repository
url_provider http://psasir.upm.edu.my/
language English
description A cannibal has to weigh the benefits of the consumption and removal of competing conspecifics against the potential loss of fitness through filial cannibalism. We examined the role of the presence of conspecific females in informing adaptive cannibalism decisions. Females of the hemipteran bug Geocoris pallens express low egg cannibalism when alone but become much more cannibalistic in the presence of conspecific females and do not discriminate between their own eggs and those of other females. Experimentation showed that females that could not commit filial cannibalism exhibited strong egg cannibalism that was not reduced by the presence of conspecific females, whereas females that could commit filial cannibalism were very cannibalistic only in the presence of conspecifics. An experiment also showed that the presence of conspecific females triggered a stronger egg cannibalism response in G. pallens than did a heterospecific egg predator. These results suggest that G. pallens females become cannibalistic in the presence of conspecifics because they interpret conspecific presence primarily as an indication of decreased likelihood of committing filial cannibalism, and less so as an indication of lower expected survival of eggs or future resource competition. Our study highlights the importance of informational cues, in this case the presence of conspecifics, in modulating the expression of cannibalism.
format Article
author Law, Yao Hua
Rosenheim, Jay A.
spellingShingle Law, Yao Hua
Rosenheim, Jay A.
Presence of conspecific females motivates egg cannibalism owing to lower risk of filial cannibalism
author_facet Law, Yao Hua
Rosenheim, Jay A.
author_sort Law, Yao Hua
title Presence of conspecific females motivates egg cannibalism owing to lower risk of filial cannibalism
title_short Presence of conspecific females motivates egg cannibalism owing to lower risk of filial cannibalism
title_full Presence of conspecific females motivates egg cannibalism owing to lower risk of filial cannibalism
title_fullStr Presence of conspecific females motivates egg cannibalism owing to lower risk of filial cannibalism
title_full_unstemmed Presence of conspecific females motivates egg cannibalism owing to lower risk of filial cannibalism
title_sort presence of conspecific females motivates egg cannibalism owing to lower risk of filial cannibalism
publisher Elsevier
publishDate 2013
url http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/29256/1/29256.pdf
http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/29256/
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0003347212005283
_version_ 1643829706518167552
score 13.211869

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