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Behavioral Ecology Advance Access published online on March 8, 2007
Behavioral Ecology, doi:10.1093/beheco/arm014
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© The Author 2007. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the International Society for Behavioral Ecology. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org

Risk-taking behavior predicts aggression and mating success in a fiddler crab

Leeann T. Reaney and Patricia R.Y. Backwell

School of Botany and Zoology, The Australian National University, Canberra, ACT 0200, Australia

Address correspondence to L.T. Reaney. E-mail: leeann.reaney{at}anu.edu.au.


  Abstract

Evidence is growing that an individual's propensity to take risks in the presence of a predator is correlated to behaviors that can affect individual fitness. We examined whether risk-taking behavior predicts aggression, surface activity levels, and mating success in male fiddler crabs, Uca mjoebergi. Risk-taking behavior was highly consistent among individuals, remained stable over time, and was unrelated to male size. We found that males that took greater risks in the presence of a potential predator also behaved more aggressively when searching for a new territory. In addition, bold males exhibited higher surface activity levels and spent more time courting females compared with their shy counterparts. Although risk-taking behavior was independent of other sexually selected traits, it accurately predicted male mating success in U. mjoebergi. We suggest nonsexually selected traits, such as risk taking, may represent important behavioral predictors of success in other species.

Key words: aggression, correlated behavior, fiddler crab, mating success, risk-taking behavior.

Received 16 September 2006; revised 17 December 2006; accepted 17 January 2007.


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