Author(s): Barata, Eduardo N. ; Saraiva, João L. ; Canário, Adelino V.M. ; Oliveira, Rui F.
Date: 2009
Persistent ID: http://hdl.handle.net/10174/1469
Origin: Repositório Científico da Universidade de Évora
Subject(s): Blenniidae; peacock blenny; Salaria pavo; Ria Formosa; Behavior; Reproduction; sex-role reversal; nest aggregations
The effect of nest aggregation in courtship behaviour was tested experimentally in an ecologically constrained, sex-role reversed population of the peacock blenny Salaria pavo. Mixed sex groups of eight males and eight females were tested in experimental tanks, containing eight potential nests either aggregated or dispersed. In the aggregated treatment, males spent more time inside their nests and monopolized other potential nests, causing a female-biased operational sex ratio (OSR). In the aggregated treatment, females also expressed more courtship behaviour. The results in general support the prediction that the aggregation of nests promotes male monopolization of potential nests, resulting in fewer nest-holding males and therefore a female-biased OSR that leads to the reversal o f sex roles.
