Assessing the ideal free distribution: Do guppies use aggression as publicinformation about patch quality?

Koops, MA Abrahams, MV

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

32

INGLESE

Article

Animal Sciences","Neurosciences & Behavoir

ETHOLOGY

0179-1613 → ACNP

105

9

1999

737 - 746

ISI

0179-1613(199909)105:9<737:ATIFDD>2.0.ZU;2-X

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.