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Article: Mucus trail following as a mate-searching strategy in mangrove littorinid snails

TitleMucus trail following as a mate-searching strategy in mangrove littorinid snails
Authors
KeywordsLittoraria
Littorinid
Mangrove
Mate discrimination
Mate search
Mucus trail
Polarity
Trail following
Issue Date2011
PublisherAcademic Press. The Journal's web site is located at http://www.elsevier.com/locate/anbehav
Citation
Animal Behaviour, 2011, v. 82 n. 3, p. 459-465 How to Cite?
AbstractMate searching often involves chemical cues and is a key process in determining fitness in most sexually reproducing animals. Effective mate-searching strategies are, therefore, essential for individuals to avoid wasting resources as a result of misrecognition of mating partners. Marine snails in the genus Littoraria are among the most successful molluscan groups that live closely associated with mangroves. Their population densities are often low, and finding a mate within the complex three-dimensional habitat of tree leaves, branches and trunks requires an effective searching strategy. We tested whether males of L. ardouiniana and L. melanostoma located females by following their mucus trails. In the laboratory, male tracker snails followed mucus trails laid by conspecific female marker snails at a higher intensity compared with other marker-tracker sex combinations in the mating season, but not in the nonmating season, and this was more pronounced in L. ardouiniana. Male trackers did not move faster when following the trails of conspecific female markers compared with other sex combinations; however, tracker snails moved faster in the mating than in the nonmating season, although this might be related to temperature. In both species, males tracked females regardless of trail complexity, and the majority of male trackers were able to detect the direction (polarity) of the trails of conspecific females. Together with previous studies on rocky shore Littorina species, these findings suggest that sex pheromones are incorporated into mucus trails to facilitate the reproductive success of these snails. Mucus trail following is, therefore, an adaptive mate-searching strategy in intertidal gastropod molluscs, and potentially in other gastropod groups in which trail-following behaviour is prevalent. © 2011 The Association for the Study of Animal Behaviour.
Persistent Identifierhttp://hdl.handle.net/10722/140785
ISSN
2023 Impact Factor: 2.3
2023 SCImago Journal Rankings: 0.924
ISI Accession Number ID
References

 

DC FieldValueLanguage
dc.contributor.authorNg, TPTen_HK
dc.contributor.authorDavies, MSen_HK
dc.contributor.authorStafford, Ren_HK
dc.contributor.authorWilliams, GAen_HK
dc.date.accessioned2011-09-23T06:19:09Z-
dc.date.available2011-09-23T06:19:09Z-
dc.date.issued2011en_HK
dc.identifier.citationAnimal Behaviour, 2011, v. 82 n. 3, p. 459-465en_HK
dc.identifier.issn0003-3472en_HK
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/10722/140785-
dc.description.abstractMate searching often involves chemical cues and is a key process in determining fitness in most sexually reproducing animals. Effective mate-searching strategies are, therefore, essential for individuals to avoid wasting resources as a result of misrecognition of mating partners. Marine snails in the genus Littoraria are among the most successful molluscan groups that live closely associated with mangroves. Their population densities are often low, and finding a mate within the complex three-dimensional habitat of tree leaves, branches and trunks requires an effective searching strategy. We tested whether males of L. ardouiniana and L. melanostoma located females by following their mucus trails. In the laboratory, male tracker snails followed mucus trails laid by conspecific female marker snails at a higher intensity compared with other marker-tracker sex combinations in the mating season, but not in the nonmating season, and this was more pronounced in L. ardouiniana. Male trackers did not move faster when following the trails of conspecific female markers compared with other sex combinations; however, tracker snails moved faster in the mating than in the nonmating season, although this might be related to temperature. In both species, males tracked females regardless of trail complexity, and the majority of male trackers were able to detect the direction (polarity) of the trails of conspecific females. Together with previous studies on rocky shore Littorina species, these findings suggest that sex pheromones are incorporated into mucus trails to facilitate the reproductive success of these snails. Mucus trail following is, therefore, an adaptive mate-searching strategy in intertidal gastropod molluscs, and potentially in other gastropod groups in which trail-following behaviour is prevalent. © 2011 The Association for the Study of Animal Behaviour.en_HK
dc.languageengen_US
dc.publisherAcademic Press. The Journal's web site is located at http://www.elsevier.com/locate/anbehaven_HK
dc.relation.ispartofAnimal Behaviouren_HK
dc.subjectLittorariaen_HK
dc.subjectLittoriniden_HK
dc.subjectMangroveen_HK
dc.subjectMate discriminationen_HK
dc.subjectMate searchen_HK
dc.subjectMucus trailen_HK
dc.subjectPolarityen_HK
dc.subjectTrail followingen_HK
dc.titleMucus trail following as a mate-searching strategy in mangrove littorinid snailsen_HK
dc.typeArticleen_HK
dc.identifier.emailWilliams, GA: hrsbwga@hkucc.hku.hken_HK
dc.identifier.authorityWilliams, GA=rp00804en_HK
dc.description.naturelink_to_subscribed_fulltext-
dc.identifier.doi10.1016/j.anbehav.2011.05.017en_HK
dc.identifier.scopuseid_2-s2.0-84865735280en_HK
dc.identifier.hkuros192672en_US
dc.identifier.hkuros247119-
dc.relation.referenceshttp://www.scopus.com/mlt/select.url?eid=2-s2.0-84865735280&selection=ref&src=s&origin=recordpageen_HK
dc.identifier.volume82en_HK
dc.identifier.issue3en_HK
dc.identifier.spage459en_HK
dc.identifier.epage465en_HK
dc.identifier.isiWOS:000293884700005-
dc.publisher.placeUnited Kingdomen_HK
dc.identifier.scopusauthoridNg, TPT=41762200000en_HK
dc.identifier.scopusauthoridDavies, MS=35121268800en_HK
dc.identifier.scopusauthoridStafford, R=14007374300en_HK
dc.identifier.scopusauthoridWilliams, GA=7406082821en_HK
dc.identifier.citeulike9544143-
dc.identifier.issnl0003-3472-

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