Striped mouse

Striped mouse

Striped mouse (Rhabdomys pumilio) on the cover of the August edition of Behaviour

Striped mouse (Rhabdomys pumilio) on the cover of the August edition of Behaviour
My photo and the accompanying paper (see List of publications) were published in this issue.

Sunday, August 12, 2012

Summary: Callander et al. (2012)

 Fighting success in most males is determined by physical strength and the value of the resource over which males fight. Callander et al. (2012) looked at the how much fiddler crabs Uca annulipes valued a territory/burrow as a resource during the breeding season. During the mating season, burrows were deemed more valuable, as males escalated fights to maintain a territory for breeding and mating. In the non-breeding season, however, males did not fight as hard, even though burrows are still considered a valuable resource for access to food. Interestingly, although males with regenerated claws are weaker competitors than males with undamaged appendages, damaged males fought extra hard to avoid evictions during the breeding season and escalated fights more to maintain the resource. Callander et al. (2012) suggest that weaker males should fight harder when the resource is required for breeding.

Sunday, August 5, 2012

Summary: Boyd (2012)

Boyd (2012) indicates that, although ecological models may be limited in their ability to predict various ecosystem responses, they are important for determining what drives ecosystem vulnerability in the face of disturbance. He provides a brief review of Mougi & Kondoh's (2012) network models. These models suggest that positive (mutualistic) and negative (agonistic) interactions play a role in ecosystem stability. He further suggests that ecological network models, while limiting, are important for describing ecosystem characteristics on a general level and for providing an indication of how these systems respond under stressful conditions. He further stresses that management decisions are likely to be driven by the status keystone species in ecological networks.