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The role of body size and fighting experience in predicting contest behaviour in the black field cricket, Teleogryllus commodus

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Abstract

Body size strongly predicts fighting behaviour and outcome in many species, with the larger opponent usually winning contests. However, recent fighting experience can have a strong influence on the establishment of dominance hierarchies, with recent winners being more likely to win subsequent contests, while recent losers are more likely to lose. Recent fighting experience therefore has the potential to modify the effect of body size in determining contest behaviour and outcome. Here, we investigate whether recent fighting experience weakens the role of body size in predicting contest behaviour in the black field cricket, Teleogryllus commodus. We compared the role of body size in determining contest outcome during initial non-physical encounters and escalated aggressive physical encounters (grapples), as well as the probability of escalation occurring, in contests involving either a naïve or experienced smaller male against a naïve larger male. We found that recent fighting experience only affected contest outcome during non-physical encounters. Once a contest had escalated into grappling, the effect of previous wins and losses was no longer apparent and body size strongly predicted contest outcome. Thus, once males can directly assess their opponent's fighting ability, recent fighting experience did not alter the effect of body size on contest behaviour and outcome.

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Acknowledgments

This research was funded by the Australian Research Council (MDJ) and a Joyce Vickery Scientific Research Fund from the Linnaean Society of New South Wales (LTR). We thank James Davies for assistance in maintaining cricket stocks. We also thank Mark Briffa and two anonymous referees for valuable comments that greatly improved this manuscript.

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Correspondence to Leeann T. Reaney.

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Communicated by D. Gwynne

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Reaney, L.T., Drayton, J.M. & Jennions, M.D. The role of body size and fighting experience in predicting contest behaviour in the black field cricket, Teleogryllus commodus . Behav Ecol Sociobiol 65, 217–225 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00265-010-1030-0

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