Population and individual consequences of breeding resource availability in the European bitterling (Rhodeus amarus)

0345136 - ÚBO 2011 RIV DE eng J - Journal Article
Konečná, Markéta - Smith, C. - Reichard, Martin
Population and individual consequences of breeding resource availability in the European bitterling (Rhodeus amarus).
Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology. Roč. 64, č. 7 (2010), s. 1069-1079. ISSN 0340-5443. E-ISSN 1432-0762
R&D Projects: GA ČR GA206/09/1163
Institutional research plan: CEZ:AV0Z60930519
Keywords : Acheilognathinae * demography * recruitment * sexual selection * variation in reproductive success
Subject RIV: EG - Zoology
Impact factor: 2.565, year: 2010

Resource availability may affect both individual fitness and population demography. We used two experiments to test how breeding resource abundance and its spatial distribution, combined with female abundance, affected male reproductive behavior, population spawning rate, and embryo development and recruitment in the European bitterling (Rhodeus amarus). We found that at the population level the abundance of breeding resources was more important for bitterling recruitment than resource spatial distribution. In contrast, at the individual level the spatial distribution of resources was more important, but only when resource abundance was not limiting. In the second experiment more rapid embryo development and larger juvenile body size at the end of the growing season was detected at high resource abundance and low female abundance. The abundance of females in spawning condition was the best overall predictor of the intensity of male reproductive behavior in both experiments.
Permanent Link: http://hdl.handle.net/11104/0186471