Interações agonísticas e forrageamento do peixe-donzela, Stegastes fuscus (Peciformes: Pomacentridae)

Authors

  • Juliana V Menegatti Escola Superior São Francisco de Assis
  • Diego L Vescovi Escola Superior São Francisco de Assis
  • Sérgio R Floeter Escola Superior São Francisco de Assis; National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis

Abstract

Damselfishes from the genus Stegastes display aggressive behavior towards other herbivores inside their territories. Models developed to explain this territorial defense have focused on the cost of territorial defense, as measured by changes in time allocated to feeding, as a key determinant of the evolutionary stability of this behavior. In the present work, feeding and chasing behavior rates were measured in the common Brazilian damselfish (Stegastes fuscus) to test if feeding time decreases as time spent in agonistic interactions increases. Furthermore, we tested if juveniles have higher feeding rates than adults due to higher size–specific metabolic rates, and if adults have higher chasing rates than juveniles. The correlation between feeding and chasing rates were not significant (r=-0.122). Mean number of bites on algae at different life stages were also not significantly different (ANOVA F= 2.864; p= 0.067). Mean chasing bouts of juveniles were significantly lower than for subadults and adults (ANOVA F= 3.629; p= 0.034; SNK juvenile < subadult = adult). Adults and subadults seem to spend more time in agonistic behavior due to their dominance of territories based on aggressive behavior and larger size. These data suggest that the time S. fuscus invests in territory defense does not affect its feeding rates, and that the cost to feeding time of agonistic behavior appears to be minimal for this species.

Keywords:

foraging, territorial behavior, herbivory, reef environments, damselfish

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

References

Allen GR (1991) Damselfishes of the world. Mergus: Melle.

Brawley SH & Adey WH (1977) Territorial behavior of treespot damselfish (Eupomacentrus planifrons) increases reef algal biomass and productivity. Environmental Biology of Fishes 2: 45–51.

Brown JL (1964) The evolution of diversity in avian territorial systems. Wilson Bulletin 76: 160–169.

Carpenter FL (1987) Food abundance and territoriality. American Zoologist 27: 387–399.

Ceccarelli DM, Jones GP & McCook LS (2001) Territorial damselfish as determinants of the structure of benthic communities on coral reef. Oceanography and Marine Biology: an Annual Review 39: 355–389.

Cheney KL & Côté IM (2003) Habitat choice in adult longfin damselfish: territory characteristics and relocation times. Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology 287: 1–12.

Choat JH (1991) The biology of herbivorous fishes on coral reefs. In: Sale PF (ed) The Ecology of fishes on Coral Reefs. San Diego: Academic Press, pp 120–155.

Cleveland A (1999) Energetic costs of agonistic behavior in two herbivorous damselfishes (Stegastes). Copeia 1999: 857–867.

Enquist M, Leimar O, Ljungberg T, Mallner Y & Segerdahl N (1990) A test of the sequential assessment game: fighting in the cichlid fish Nannacara anomala. Animal Behaviour 40: 1–14.

Ferreira CEL, Coutinho R, Gonçalves JEA & Peret AC (1998) Herbivory by the dusky damselfish Stegastes fuscus in a tropical rocky shore: effects on the benthic community. Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology 229: 241–264.

Gasparini JL, Moura RL & Sazina I (1999) Stegastes trindadensis n. sp. (Pisces: Pomacentridae), a new damselfish from Trindade Island, off Brazil. Boletim do Museu de Biologia Mello Leitão (Nova Série) 10: 3–11.

Grant JWA (1997) Territoriality. In: Godin J-GJ (ed) Behavioural Ecology of Teleost Fishes. Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp 81–103.

Hixon MA & Brostoff WN (1983) Damselfishes as keystone species in reverse: intermediate disturbance and diversity of reef algae. Science 220: 511–513.

Hixon MA & Brostoff WN (1996) Succession and herbivory. Effects of differential fish grazing on Hawaiian coral–reef algae. Ecological Monographs 66: 67–90.

Horn MH (1989) Biology of marine herbivorous fishes. Oceanography and Marine Biology: an Annual Review 27: 167–272.

Klumpp DW, McKinnan AD & Daniel P (1987) Damselfish territories: zones of high productivity an coral reefs. Marine Ecology Progress Series 40: 41–51.

Klumpp DW & Polunin NVC (1989) Partitioning among grazers of food resources within damselfish territories on a coral reef. Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology 125: 145–169.

Lassuy DR (1980) Effects of “farming” behavior byEupomacentrus lividus and Hemiglyphidodon plagiometopon on algal community structure. Bulletin of Marine Science 30: 304–312.

Lehner PN (1979) Handbook of ethological methods. New York: Garland STPM Press.

Maynard-Smith J (1974) The theory of games and the evolution of animal conflicts. Journal of Theoretical Biology 47: 209–221.

Meadows DW (2001) Centre–edge differences in behaviour, territory size and fitness in clusters of territorial damselfish: Patterns, causes, and consequences. Behaviour 138: 1085–1116.

Myrberg AA & Thresher RE (1974) Interspecific competition and its relevance to the concept of territoriality in reef fishes. American Zoologist 14: 81–96.

Nelson JS (1994) Fishes of the world. 3rd ed. New York: John Wiley & Sons.

Polunin NVC & Koike I (1987) Temporal focusing of nitrogen releaseby a periodically feeding reef fish. Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology 111: 285–296.

Polunin NVC (1988) Efficient uptake of algal production by a single resident herbivorous fish on a reef. Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology 123: 61–76.

Puckett KJ & Dill LM (1985) The energetics of feeding territoriality in the juvenile coho salmon (Oncorhynchuskisutch). Behaviour 92:97–111.

Robertson DR, Sweatman HPA, Fletcher EA & Cleland MG (1976) Schooling as a mechanism for circumventing the territoriality of competitors. Ecology 57: 1208–1220.

Robertson DR & Gaines SD (1986) Interference competition structures habitat use in a local assemblage of coral reef surgeonfishes. Ecology 67: 1372–1383.

Sammarco PW (1983) Effects of fish grazing and damselfish territoriality on a coral reef algae. Algal community structure. Marine Ecology Progress Series 13: 1–14.

Schmidt–Nielsen K (1984) Scaling: why is animal size so important? Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Thresher RE (1991) Geographic variability in the ecology of coral reef fishes: evidence, evolution and possible implications. In: Sale PF (ed) The ecology of fishes on coral reefs. San Diego: Academic Press, pp 401–436.

Watson PJ & Lighton JRB (1994) Sexual selection and the energetics of copulatory courtship in the Sierra dome spider, Linyphia litigiosa. Animal Behaviour 48: 615–626.

West GB, Brown JH & Enquist BJ (1997) A general model for the origin of allometric scaling laws in biology. Science276: 122–126.

Wilson MA, Gatten RE & Greenberg N (1990) Glycolysis in Anolis carolinensis during agonistic encounters. Physiology and Behavior 48: 139–142.

Ydenberg RC & Krebs JR (1978) The tradeoff between territorial defense and foraging in the great tit (Parus major). American Zoologist 27: 337–346.

Zar JH (1999) Biostatistical analysis. New Jersey: Prentice H all.

Vol. 1 No. 2 (2003)

Published:

2003-06-02

Downloads

How to Cite

Menegatti, J. V., Vescovi, D. L., & Floeter, S. R. (2003). Interações agonísticas e forrageamento do peixe-donzela, Stegastes fuscus (Peciformes: Pomacentridae). Natureza Online, 1(2), 45–50. Retrieved from https://naturezaonline.com.br/revista/article/view/48

License

Esta licença permite que outros distribuam, remixem, adaptem e criem a partir do seu trabalho, mesmo para fins comerciais, desde que lhe atribuam o devido crédito pela criação original.