Despotic aggression in pre-moulting painted buntings.

ABSTRACT: Aggression in territorial social systems is easy to interpret because the benefits of territorial defence mostly accrue to the territorial holder. However, in non-territorial systems, high aggression seems puzzling and raises intriguing evolutionary questions. We describe extreme rates of despotism between age classes in a passerine bird, the painted bunting (Passerina ciris), during the pre-moulting period. Aggressive encounters were not associated with aggressors gaining immediate access to resources. Instead, conspecifics, and even other species, were pursued as though being harassed; this aggression generated an ideal despotic habitat distribution such that densities of adult males were higher in high-quality sites. Aggression was not a by-product of elevated testosterone carried over

SUBMITTER: Rohwer VG 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7062092 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature