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Effects of age and body size on the male territorial system of the dragonfly, Nannophya pygmaea rambur (Odonata: Libellulidae)

1987; Elsevier BV; Volume: 35; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1016/s0003-3472(87)80276-2

1095-8282

Yoshitaka Tsubaki, Tomohiro Ono,

Ecology and Vegetation Dynamics Studies

Nannophya pygmaea males defended a small area including small bodies of water. Females visited these sites to oviposit and were usually captured by territorial males. There was considerable turnover in territory ownership at some sites during the course of the reproductive season. Some changes in ownership occurred because an intruder defeated the resident in an aerial contest. Old males were often replaced by young ones. High-quality territories, which attracted more females than others, were highly contended and larger males usually occupied these territories. Larger males occupied high-quality territories for more days than smaller males. Smaller or old males adjusted their behaviour to their social environment, occupying low-quality territories or sneaking into established territories if excluded from favoured ones. As a result, larger males had a higher lifetime mating success than smaller ones. However, multiple regression analysis showed that most of the variation in male mating success could be explained by two variables related to weather conditions (number of synny days during the reproductive span of each male, and number of synny days while each male occupied a high-quality territory) and not by male size.