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Examination of prior contest experience and the retention of winner and loser effects

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  • Michael M. Kasumovic
  • Damian O. Elias
  • Senthurran Sivalinghem
  • Andrew C. Mason
  • Maydianne C.B. Andrade

Abstract

In many animal taxa, prior contest experience affects future performance such that winning increases the chances of winning in the future (winner effect) and losing increases the chances of losing in the future (loser effect). It is, however, not clear whether this pattern typically arises from experience effects on actual or perceived fighting ability (or both). In this study, we looked at winner and loser effects in the jumping spider Phidippus clarus. We assigned winning or losing experience to spiders and tested them against opponents of similar fighting ability in subsequent contests at 1-, 2-, 5-, and 24-h intervals. We examined the strength of winner and loser effects, how long effects persist, as well as how experience affected perceived and actual fighting ability. Our results demonstrate that winner and loser effects are of approximately the same magnitude, although loser effects last longer than winner effects. Our results also demonstrate that previous experience alters actual fighting ability because both the assessment and escalation periods were affected by experience. We suggest that the retention time of experience effects depends on expected encounter rates as well as other behavioral and ecological factors. In systems with short breeding seasons and/or rapidly fluctuating populations, context-dependent retention of experience effects may allow males to track their status relative to the fluctuating fighting ability of local competitors without paying the costs necessary to recall or assess individual competitors. Copyright 2010, Oxford University Press.

Suggested Citation

  • Michael M. Kasumovic & Damian O. Elias & Senthurran Sivalinghem & Andrew C. Mason & Maydianne C.B. Andrade, 2010. "Examination of prior contest experience and the retention of winner and loser effects," Behavioral Ecology, International Society for Behavioral Ecology, vol. 21(2), pages 404-409.
  • Handle: RePEc:oup:beheco:v:21:y:2010:i:2:p:404-409
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    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1093/beheco/arp204
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    Cited by:

    1. Anna Favati & Hanne Løvlie & Olof Leimar, 2017. "Individual aggression, but not winner–loser effects, predicts social rank in male domestic fowl," Behavioral Ecology, International Society for Behavioral Ecology, vol. 28(3), pages 874-882.
    2. Clare C. Rittschof & Samantha A. Hilber & M. Scarlett Tudor & Colette M. St Mary, 2012. "Modeling male reproductive strategies and optimal mate number in an orb-web spider," Behavioral Ecology, International Society for Behavioral Ecology, vol. 23(1), pages 1-10.

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