10.5061/DRYAD.4SD0R
Lehtonen, Topi K.
University of Turku
Data from: Parental coordination with respect to colour polymorphism in a
crater lake fish
Dryad
dataset
2017
behavioural compatibility
morph frequency
Cichlidae
Aggression
colour polymorphism
Holocene
Amphilophus sagittae
2017-02-27T14:31:45Z
2017-02-27T14:31:45Z
en
https://doi.org/10.1093/beheco/arx052
252416 bytes
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CC0 1.0 Universal (CC0 1.0) Public Domain Dedication
In many taxa, success in parental care requires the coordinated efforts of
both parents. Given the evolutionary potential of parental performance, as
well as phenotype-related behavioural differences, it is surprising that
parental coordination in polymorphic species has attracted only very
limited research attention. To redress this gap, I combined multiple
approaches to assess parental performance and coordination of parental
effort in the colour polymorphic and biparental cichlid fish, Amphilophus
sagittae, in its natural crater lake habitat. I compared parents of the
two colour morphs, dark and gold, as well as pairs that had mated colour
assortatively ('same colour' pairs) versus disassortatively
('mixed' pairs). The two morphs differed in terms of a higher
than expected number of single gold morph parents. Interestingly, parental
coordination, in terms of the size of the defended territory and the rate
of aggressive responses towards natural territory intruders, was lower in
mixed than same colour pairs. Mixed pairs also had their territories in
deeper water. However, no pair type differences in early survival of
biparentally defended broods were detected. The findings contribute
towards a better understanding of the role of parental coordination in
polymorphic species, highlighting the importance of considering parental
effort, coordination, and performance in the context of the dynamics of
(colour) polymorphisms in the wild. Indeed, if the observed behavioural
differences will translate into negative fitness effects for mixed pairs,
parental performance can also provide a mechanism selecting for colour
assortative mating and restricting gene flow under mating regimes that are
not completely assortative.
Field study data-sets in ExcelEach of the field experiments and assays of
the study, indicated by subheadings in the paper, has been given a
separate Excel worksheet, with the exception of the assessment of
aggression in natural encounters, which has two worksheets ('Natural
encounters aggress rate' and 'Natural encounters
distance').Data(Lehtonen).xls
Nicaragua
Lake XiloĆ”