Predator-inspection behaviour in female three-spined sticklebacks Gasterosteus aculeatus is associated with status of gravidity.
Differences in predator-inspection behaviour between gravid and non-gravid female as well as between male and female three-spined sticklebacks Gasterosteus aculeatus were investigated. Gravid females confronted with a live rainbow trout Oncorhynchus mykiss showed bolder inspection behaviour than non-gravid ones. The behaviour of gravid females was comparable with that of males, maybe because both face a high risk of predation. The results indicate that antipredator behaviour in female G. aculeatus is not fixed but adjusted to their reproductive state.
Frommen
J G
JG
Konrad Lorenz Institute for Ethology, Austrian Academy of Sciences, Savoyenstr. 1a, 1160 Vienna, Austria. j.frommen@klivv.oeaw.ac.at
Mehlis
M
M
Bakker
T C M
TC
D000818:Animals; D004924:Escape Reaction / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D008297:Male; D017686:Oncorhynchus mykiss / Q000502:physiology; D012098:Reproduction / Q000502:physiology*; D023701:Smegmamorpha / Q000502:physiology*