High male density favors maintenance over reproduction in a butterfly

Rina Geiger, Michaël Beaulieu, Kristin Franke and Klaus Fischer

Behavioral Ecology, 2018, vol. 29, issue 5, 1031-1037

Abstract: The social environment experienced by an individual may have striking effects on its trait expression. We show that an increasing number of conspecifics increased male body mass and the probability of success in aggressive interactions, but decreased courtship activity and tended to decrease sperm number in B. anynana butterflies. Thus, males kept at high densities favored maintenance whereas males kept at low-density favored reproduction, indicating prudent strategic investment.

Keywords: courtship behavior; density-dependence; intraspecific competition; resource-allocation trade-off; social plasticity; strategic investment (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
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