Female-Female Competition in Bornean Orangutans

The mostly solitary ranging of orangutans and the large areas over which they traverse have hampered quantification of Bornean orangutan ranging patterns and feeding competition. Because of their semisolitary existence, female orangutans have few competitive interactions among themselves. However, contest and scramble types of competition occur, and researchers consider both to be important for the species. Using 9 yr of data and >22,300 h of observation of adult female orangutans in Gunung Palung National Park in Indonesian Borneo, we examined both forms of competition. Based on our analyses, we have 4 conclusions: 1) Adult female orangutans have highly overlapping home ranges, and thus there is potential for scramble competition to impose a cost. 2) Adult female orangutans actively avoid each other, suggesting that scramble competition indeed imposes a cost. 3) Adult females have distinct core areas that overlap to a lesser degree than home ranges do. 4) Analyses of contest competition reveal a slight spatial component to female competition for the first time. Preliminary evidence for core area defense and passive range exclusion may be among the mechanisms responsible for maintaining distinct adult female core areas.     

Feeding Competition and Agonistic Relationships Among Bwindi <Emphasis Type="Italic">Gorilla beringei</Emphasis>

Testing predictions of socioecological models, specifically that the types of feeding competition and social relationships female primates exhibit are strongly influenced by the distribution, density, and quality of food resources, requires studies of closely related populations of subjects living under different ecological conditions. I examined feeding competition and the resulting female social relationships in mountain gorillas (Gorilla beringei beringei) of Bwindi Impenetrable National Park, Uganda, which has ecological conditions distinctive from those where other gorilla populations live. I observed 1 group of gorillas for 29 mo to examine the proportion of time spent foraging on fruit, the relationship between patch size and occupancy patterns of fruit trees, and agonistic interactions. Patch occupancy time while foraging in fruit trees decreased with increasing number of gorillas in a tree and decreasing tree size, suggesting that fruit trees represent limiting patches and can lead to intragroup scramble competition. Gorillas exhibited higher levels of aggression while feeding on fruit versus other food resources, which indicates intragroup contest competition. I observed a linear dominance hierarchy with no bidirectionality via displacements, and a similar hierarchy via aggression, though a notable proportion of the dyads contained 2-way interactions. However, most aggression was of low intensity (vocalizations) and the recipient typically ignored it. Despite differences in ecological conditions and diet between the Virunga Volcanoes and Bwindi, agonistic relationships among females are largely similar in the 2 populations and are best characterized as dispersal individualistic.     

食物丰容对圈养猩猩行为的影响

于2007年2～4月对成都动物园圈养猩猩铁里进行了两个食物丰容试验,即用PVC+轮胎和圆木+轮胎试验,每期8 d,观察和记录了猩猩在丰容试验前、后以及两种丰容方式中的各种行为发生次数.结果 表明食物丰容有效地恢复了圈养猩猩的多种摄食行为,增加了猩猩的运动相关行为,减少了休息相关行为;但对刻板行为的影响不明显.     

Competition for Resources and Its Behavioral Consequences Among Female Primates

Via the current model on the evolutionary ecology of female social relationships, Sterck et al. (1997) argue that ecological conditions determine how competition over food resources affects female fitness. The relative importance of different modes of competition then affects female social relationships and dispersal patterns. I outline the model and review relevant data. There are 3 modes of feeding competition: within-group scramble (WGS), within-group contest (WGC), and between-group contest (BGC), which occur in various combinations in different populations of nonhuman primates. Ecological measures support predictions that limiting resources lead to WGS and clumped resources induce WGC. The ecological basis of BGC remains elusive, but it is probably linked to resource abundance. Tests of the proxies of feeding competition support the idea that short-term search substrates and increasing group size lead to WGS, while high-quality patches of intermediate size relative to group size lead to WGC. However, when tested across populations, independent measures of aggression rates do not always match the actual or presumed competitive regimes. This mismatch might be explained by confounding factors and the predominately indirect measures of feeding competition. Predicted relationships between feeding competition and female social relationships/dispersal are only partly supported. This might be attributed to the fact that few studies have taken ultimate approaches using mechanistic correlates of fitness (net energy gain) or lifetime reproductive success to measure consequences of feeding competition. But to resolve existing inconsistencies, additional factors need to be taken into account as well, for example, male sexual strategies may affect female feeding competition; constraints on group size may enforce female dispersal; and demography may alter rates of alliances. More explicitly, ultimate approaches are needed to test the consistency of the socioecological model.     

Factors Affecting Mortality,Fertility, and Well-being in Relation to Species Differences in Captive Orangutans

For the past 20 years, field biologists have recognized Sumatran and Bornean orangutans as belonging to 2 separate subspecies. Primatologists have recently suggested that they may be full species and that the Bornean species could be divided into 3–5 subspecies. Statistical analyses of factors affecting the mortality, fertility, and well-being of captive orangutans have revealed some important differences between Bornean, Sumatran, and hybrid orangutans that could support the suggestion. Hybrid orangutans appeared to be genetically weaker, with much lower survival rates than pure subspecific individuals. The weakness also may have contributed to their higher rate of infant rejection. In addition, infertility was 3 times higher in Bornean orangutans than in Sumatran and hybrid orangutans.     

Grooming Between Male Chimpanzees at Ngogo,Kibale National Park. II. Influence of Male Rank and Possible Competition for Partners

Allogrooming contributes to the development and maintenance of social relationships, including those that involve alliances, in many primate species. Variation in relatedness, dominance rank, and other factors can produce variation in the value of others as grooming partners. Several models have been developed to account for variation in the distribution of grooming in relation to dominance ranks. These start from the premise that individuals are attracted to high-ranking partners, but time limits, direct competition, and prior grooming engagement between high-ranking individuals can constrain access to them. Sambrook et al. (1995) formalized some of these models and showed the importance of taking group size variation into account when assessing them. Chimpanzees form multimale communities in which males are the philopatric sex. Males commonly associate and groom with each other; they also form dominance hierarchies and form alliances that influence dominance ranks and mating success. Both male rank and the rank distance between partners are significantly correlated with the distribution of grooming between males in an extremely large chimpanzee community at Ngogo, Kibale National Park, Uganda, that has more males than any other known community. High-ranking males had more grooming partners than mid- or low-ranking males. Grooming predominantly went up the dominance hierarchy, but was also concentrated among males that were close in rank. Rank and rank distance apparently both affected grooming independently of reciprocity in grooming and independently of the frequency with which males associated in temporary parties. However, the data do not clearly indicate how constraints on access to partners might have operated. Published data from a smaller chimpanzee community at Mahale show no rank or rank distance effect on male grooming. These results and earlier, conflicting findings on the association between dominance rank and grooming in male chimpanzees indicate that variation in group size, i.e., the number of males per community, probably influences the strength of any such effects, as happens for grooming between females in several cercopithecine species. Data on coalitions at Ngogo support the argument that high-ranking males are valuable social partners, and similarity in strategies of alliance formation may influence the distribution of grooming.     

Differences Between Vervets (Cercopithecus aethiops) and Patas Monkeys (Erythrocebus patas) in Agonistic Interactions Between Adult Females

We examined agonistic interactions between adult females in wild, unprovisioned patas monkeys (Erythrocebus patas) and vervets (Cercopithecus aethiops). The dominance hierarchy of patas is far less clear than that of vervets. Patas had fewer interactions per dyad, fewer dyads with interactions, and a high percentage (18%) of reversals in which lower-ranking females won in agonistic interactions with higher-ranking females. Although the rank ordering of the kinds of interactions patas and vervets displayed is similar, with avoidance being the most frequently observed agonistic response to approaches by other females, patas were chased and supplanted more often than vervets were. The resources over which females were supplanted also differ between species. Supplants over food comprise smaller proportion of total supplants patas than for vervets. Patas appear to feed on less usurpable foods than vervets. We conclude that (1) Erythrocebus and Cercopithecus spp., except C. aethiops, should not be categorized with other Cercopithecinae, and C. aethiops should not be categorized with other Cercopithecus spp. and Erythrocebus, in discussions and analyses of relationships between females within groups and (2) ecological conditions, i.e., usurpability of foods, can override phylogenetic history as the selective pressure determining the nature of female competitive relationships within groups.     

Food segregation in three species of portunid crabs

Gastric mills of 2,619 specimens of portunid crabs(Portunus pelagicus, P. sanguinolentus andCharybdis feriatus) in Tolo Harbour, Hong Kongwere examined. Of these, 1,498 containedrecognizable food items. A total of 34 food items wereidentified, 10 of which (29.4%) were common to thethree crab species. The principal food items werebivalves, decapods, fish and algae. However, thepercent frequency of occurrence of these food itemsdiffered significantly (ANOVA, p < 0.001) among thecrabs. In addition to these principalfood items, differences were noted in other dietarycategories: P. pelagicusand P. sanguinolentus fed on the brittle starOphiura kinbergi, whereas P.sanguinolentus and C. feriatus fed on detritusand gastropods. The diet of P. sanguinolentuswas found to be more similar to C. feriatus thanto P. pelagicus. Exploitation of different fooditems and selective feeding on common prey may reduceinter-specific competition for natural food resourcesand allow the three portunid crabs to co-exist in thesame habitat. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Comparison of competitive ability between native and introduced salmonids: evidence from pairwise contests

Brown trout, Salmo trutta, and rainbow trout, Oncorhynchus mykiss, have been introduced to freshwaters in Hokkaido, Japan. Today, it is recognized that these introduced salmonids have negative impacts on native salmonids such as white-spotted charr, Salvelinus leucomaenis, and masu salmon, O. masou. In particular, interspecific competition may be an important mechanism that could contribute to the exclusion for native salmonids. In this study, experimental pairwise contests were conducted to compare interference competitive ability between native and introduced salmonids. We demonstrated that brown trout were competitively superior to white-spotted charr and masu salmon whereas rainbow trout were superior to white-spotted charr. We suggest that introduced brown trout negatively impact both white-spotted charr and masu salmon, and introduced rainbow trout negatively impact white-spotted charr.     

中国粮食作物的野生近缘植物及其保存概况

中国的主要粮食作物约有20种,它们的多数都有野生近缘植物.目前,中国保存的粮食作物野生近缘植物资源约1.5万份,分别保存在国家作物种质资源库和种质圃内.     

Local Competition Between Foraging Relatives: Growth and Survival of Bruchid Beetle Larvae

Kin selection theory states that when resources are limited and all else is equal, individuals will direct competition away from kin. However, when competition between relatives is completely local, as is the case in granivorous insects whose larval stages spend their lives within a single seed, this can reduce or even negate the kin-selected benefits. Instead, an increase in competition may have the same detrimental effects on individuals that forage with kin as those that forage with non-kin. In a factorial experiment we assessed the effects of relatedness and competition over food on the survival and on fitness-related traits of the bruchid beetle Callosobruchus maculatus. Relatedness of competitors did not affect the survival of larvae. Larval survival substantially decreased with increasing larval density, and we found evidence that beetles maturing at a larger size were more adversely affected by competition, resulting in lower survival rates. Furthermore, females showed a reduction in their growth rate with increasing larval density, emerging smaller after the same development time. Males increased their growth rate, emerging earlier but at a similar size when food was more limited. Our results add to the growing number of studies that fail to show a relationship between relatedness and a reduction in competition between relatives in closed systems, and emphasize the importance of the scale at which competition between relatives occurs.     

Intra- and interspecific dominance hierarchies and variation in foraging tactics of two species of stream-dwelling chars

Aggressive interactions, foraging behavior, habitat use and diet were studied in sympatric populations of white-sported char,Salvelinus leucomaenis, and Dolly Varden,Salvelinus malma, in a Japanese mountain stream. Underwater observations on individuals of both species revealed two distinct behavioral regimes: aggressive drift foragers and non-aggressive benthos foragers. Aggressive drift foragers defended partial territories around focal points from which they made forays to capture invertebrates drifting in the water column. Non-aggressive benthos foragers cruised around and beneath cobble in large foraging ranges that overlapped each other. Intra- and interspecific, size-dependent dominance hierarchies were recognized among aggressive drift foragers, whereas non-aggressive benthos foragers showed no such relationships. Terrestrial invertebrates were the most abundant prey in the diets of drift foragers, whereas a very small proportion of the diet of benthos foragers was made up of these taxa. Benthos foragers showed more complex diet composition than drift foragers. These results suggest that non-aggressive benthos foragers may avoid not only interference but also exploitative competition by using alternative foraging tactics. The proportion of drift foragers to benthos foragers among white-spotted char was more than 35 times that among Dolly Varden. The significant difference in the proportion of each species using the two types of foraging strategy results in interspecific food segregation in sympatric populations.     

Competition, breeding success and ageing rates in female meerkats

Competition between females is particularly intense in cooperatively breeding mammals, where one female monopolises reproduction in each group. Chronic competition often affects stress and may therefore have long-term consequences for fitness, but no studies have yet investigated whether intrasexual competition has effects of this kind and, in particular, whether it affects rates of reproductive senescence. Here, we use long-term data from a wild population of meerkats to test whether reproductive success and senescence in dominant females are affected by the degree of intrasexual competition experienced prior to dominance acquisition. Females that experienced greater competition had lower breeding success and higher rates of reproductive senescence. Furthermore, females that were evicted from the group more frequently as subordinates had lower breeding success when dominant. We conclude that the intense intrasexual competition between females in cooperatively breeding groups may carry fitness costs over a longer period than is usually recognised.     

Food limitation of population density in the orb-wed spider,Nephila clavata

Field studies were conducted to clarify whether variation in food availability among habitats influences population density, and whether population density has a negative effect on foraging success in the orb-web spider, Nephila clavata. Lifetime food consumption per individual (i.e., foraging success) strongly correlated with mean body size of adult females and mean fecundity in populations. Also, there was a positive correlation between foraging success and population density. Since foraging success reflected potential prey availability in the habitat, food resource appeared to be a limiting factor for populations in this spider. Mean fecundity per individual correlated with population density of the following year, suggesting that decreased reproduction is a major component of food limitation on population density. Consistent defferences in mean body size between particular sites were observed over years, while such difference was less obvious in density. Thus, ranking of food abundance among habitats seems to be predictable between years. A field experiment revealed that an artificial increase in population density had no negative effect on the feeding rate of individuals, suggesting that intraspecific competition for food is not important in this species.     

Contextual Factors Meditating Contests Between Male Chacma Baboons in Botswana: Effects of Food,Friends and Females

We examined aggressive displays among male chacma baboons (Papio ursinus) over a 23-mo period in the Okavango Delta of Botswana. High-ranking males were more likely than middle- or low-ranking males to participate in displays. Regardless of rank, all males were more likely to participate in chases or physical fights if their opponents rank was similar to their own. Most chases and fights, including those that led to injuries, were also between similarly-ranked males. The rate of both aggressive displays and approach-retreat interactions increased in the weeks before rank reversals, suggesting that rank challenges were preceded by a period when males assessed each others competitive ability and/or motivation. Aggressive displays between disparately-ranked opponents occurred most frequently in contests involving resources of high fitness value: the defense of meat, the defense of estrous females, and the protection of infants against infanticidal attacks. Silent displays were more likely to occur in these three contexts than were displays that occurred as part of more slowly escalating interactions, in which opponents first exchanged calls. Results suggest that competitive encounters among male baboons follow patterns predicted by evolutionary game theory.     

Food selection by freshwater snails in the Gezira irrigation canals,Sudan

Stomach content analysis was carried out on samples of the freshwater snail species Biomphalaria pfeifferi, Bulinus truncatus, Bulinus forskalii (Pulmonata, Planorbidae), Lymnaea natalensis (Pulmonata, Lymnaeidae), Melanoides tuberculata, Cleopatra bulimoides (Prosobranchia, Thiaridae) and Lanistes carinatus (Prosobranchia, Ampullariidae) from different irrigation canals in Sudan. In order to evaluate overlap in diet selection among these species, sites with two or more of the above-mentioned species present were selected. For some species food choice was examined in relation to size groupings. In addition, samples of Marisa cornuarietis (Prosobranchia, Ampullariidae) from small ponds in Sudan, samples of Biomphalaria pfeifferi and Helisoma duryi (Pulmonata, Planorbidae) from drainage canals in an irrigation scheme in northern Tanzania, and samples of H. duryi from fish ponds in the coastal area of Kenya were also analysed. The results indicate a great similarity in the food choice of these species, especially among the pulmonate species. All species feed on fine detritus, epiphytic algae and decaying macrophytes. No fresh fragments of aquatic macrophytes were found and animal remains were found only on a few occasions. However, the stomach contents of the ampullarid species were characterized by large fragments of dead macrophyte tissue, while the composition of the finer particles showed a great resemblance to that of the pulmonate species. The diet of the thiarid species is essentially the same as that of the pulmonate species, although in one site Cleopatra bulimoides showed a greater preference for green algae. Apart from the avoidance of blue-green algae, there was little evidence of selection of certain algal components of the Aufwuchs for the pulmonate species. Detritus constitutes the major component of the stomach content of all these snail species.     

Formal biting in stumptailed macaques (Macaca arctoides)

Form and function of a specific kind of biting were studied in a captive group of stumptailed macaques (Macaca arctoides) composed of 1 adult male and 10 females. Behavior patterns were recorded with all occurrence and scan sampling techniques. Formal biting consisted of slowly gripping with teeth a part of the body of an apparently willing partner, most often the forearms, lips, or eyebrows. It may occur either following an agonistic interaction or outside the context of aggression. Such biting was directed from dominants towards subordinates, and appeared especially frequently between individuals having frequent agonistic interactions. It is concluded that this behavior represents a ritualized interaction expressing formal dominance between partners.     

Food overlap in co-existing populations of the land snails Cepaea nemoralis (L.) and Cepaeahortensis (Müll)

Faecal analysis of adult Cepaea nemoralis and Cepaea hortensis from a mixed population on chalk grassland shows that the two snail species select the same plant material as food. Herbs are selected in preference to grasses and Urtica dioica is particularly favoured. C. hortensis has the more pronounced preference for senescent material. These results are discussed in relation to competition between the two species.