Animal Decision-Making for Habitat and Mates

ISBN-13: 9783659168369 / Angielski / Miękka / 2012 / 160 str.

Susana Ara Jo Marreiro Varela

Opis

Choosing where to breed and with whom to mate are two of the most important fitness-enhancing decisions in animals' lives. Animals are thus expected to have developed mechanisms of active preference for those habitats and mates that are more likely to produce viable offspring. This implies that animals use some kind of information about environmental quality to identify which of the existing alternatives is likely to be the most advantageous. Two main strategies are possible: either animals choose independently from conspecifics by relying on the information encoded in their genes, or they choose non-independently, by relying on the inadvertent social information (ISI) derived from the reproductive performance of conspecifics as a way of reducing uncertainty. Numerous empirical, theoretical and experimental studies have already provided evidence for the use of ISI in several species of birds, fish and mammals. Here is reported for the first time the use of ISI during mate choice by an invertebrate species, suggesting that such a strategy is probably widespread in nature. It is also discussed the consequences of ISI use as a plausible mechanism for animal group living evolution.

O autorze

Graduated in Biology by the University of Lisbon, Portugal, in 2001 and completed the MSc and PhD degrees in Behavioural Ecology by the University Pierre et Marie Curie (Paris VI), France, in 2002 and 2007, respectively. Back to the University of Lisbon, has been working as a post-doc in the general subject of Animal Communication and Learning.