Presentation Details
| Winner/loser effects and competitive dominance in convict cichlids. Sophie Bryan, Kathleen Church. Missouri State University, Springfield, Missouri, USA |
Abstract
Dominance hierarchies are common in social animals. Dominant individuals display more aggression and often monopolize resources such as food. Smaller individuals are then unable to outcompete larger ones and are the recipients of, rather than initiators of, aggression. However, other factors are involved, including prior competitive experience (i.e., winner/loser effects) and personality (i.e., individual, repeatable behavioral traits). In this experiment, captive-bred convict cichlids (Amatitlania nigrofasciata) experienced either a “winner” (being significantly larger than two conspecifics) or a “loser” condition (being significantly smaller than the two conspecifics) for one week, as well as repeated individual personality assays. Then, food consumption and aggressive behavior were observed in feeding trials in size-matched groups (N=4 fish). This experiment investigates the relationships between prior experience, the consistency of individual personality traits, and social dominance among same-sized conspecifics. Preliminary results show that competitive dominance in convict cichlids is determined by complex interactions between personality and prior competitive experience.
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No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the author.
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