Ma. Koops et Mv. Abrahams, Assessing the ideal free distribution: Do guppies use aggression as publicinformation about patch quality?, ETHOLOGY, 105(9), 1999, pp. 737-746
Aggression can be costly to foragers, yet some recent research suggests tha
t foragers should use aggression as a cue to patch quality (the attractive
aggression hypothesis). If aggression is predictive of patch quality, then
the attractive aggression hypothesis predicts that the distribution of fora
gers should follow the distribution of aggression. If, instead, aggression
is repulsive because it is costly, then the distribution of foragers should
diverge from the distribution of aggression. We tested the attractive aggr
ession hypothesis using female guppies, Poecilia reticulata, and found that
the distribution of foragers followed the distribution of food, but was un
affected by the distribution of aggression. These data do not support the a
ttractive aggression hypothesis, but instead suggest that the distribution
of aggression is a consequence of the distribution of foragers, and that ag
gression is not used as public information about patch quality.