{"title":"Linear Dominance Hierarchies in Female Grass Shrimp <i>Palaemon pugio</i>.","authors":"Samuel D Rappaport, Joshua P Lord","doi":"10.1086/716227","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>AbstractThe grass shrimp <i>Palaemon pugio</i> is an abundant and ecologically important species in estuarine habitats in the northwest Atlantic and is commonly used as an indicator species for environmental contamination, but little is known about its behavior. We examined aggression and dominance in <i>P. pugio</i> by using experimental arenas and groups of five shrimp that were observed an hour at a time for three days in the laboratory. Female shrimp showed high levels of initial aggression that quickly decreased over time, suggesting the formation of a dominance hierarchy. The dominance hierarchy between groups of females appeared linear, with shrimp at five distinct ranks in most replicates and higher-ranked individuals dominating lower-ranked ones. Dominance was significantly correlated with cheliped size but not body size, suggesting that larger chelipeds in female <i>P. pugio</i> may have evolved as a tool to establish dominance, perhaps to gain access to shelter in salt marshes, seagrass beds, or oyster reefs. Grass shrimp are preyed upon by a wide range of estuarine fish, and females are especially vulnerable; so securing access to shelter may provide a major selective advantage, with the dominance hierarchy evolving to save energy through a long-term reduction in fighting over resources.</p>","PeriodicalId":55376,"journal":{"name":"Biological Bulletin","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.1000,"publicationDate":"2021-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"2","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Biological Bulletin","FirstCategoryId":"99","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1086/716227","RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"2021/9/16 0:00:00","PubModel":"Epub","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"BIOLOGY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 2
Abstract
AbstractThe grass shrimp Palaemon pugio is an abundant and ecologically important species in estuarine habitats in the northwest Atlantic and is commonly used as an indicator species for environmental contamination, but little is known about its behavior. We examined aggression and dominance in P. pugio by using experimental arenas and groups of five shrimp that were observed an hour at a time for three days in the laboratory. Female shrimp showed high levels of initial aggression that quickly decreased over time, suggesting the formation of a dominance hierarchy. The dominance hierarchy between groups of females appeared linear, with shrimp at five distinct ranks in most replicates and higher-ranked individuals dominating lower-ranked ones. Dominance was significantly correlated with cheliped size but not body size, suggesting that larger chelipeds in female P. pugio may have evolved as a tool to establish dominance, perhaps to gain access to shelter in salt marshes, seagrass beds, or oyster reefs. Grass shrimp are preyed upon by a wide range of estuarine fish, and females are especially vulnerable; so securing access to shelter may provide a major selective advantage, with the dominance hierarchy evolving to save energy through a long-term reduction in fighting over resources.
期刊介绍:
The Biological Bulletin disseminates novel scientific results in broadly related fields of biology in keeping with more than 100 years of a tradition of excellence. The Bulletin publishes outstanding original research with an overarching goal of explaining how organisms develop, function, and evolve in their natural environments. To that end, the journal publishes papers in the fields of Neurobiology and Behavior, Physiology and Biomechanics, Ecology and Evolution, Development and Reproduction, Cell Biology, Symbiosis and Systematics. The Bulletin emphasizes basic research on marine model systems but includes articles of an interdisciplinary nature when appropriate.