Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-7cvxr Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-23T09:51:52.841Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Population demography and sex ratio in a Neotropical damselfly (Odonata: Coenagrionidae) in Costa Rica

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 July 2009

Linda D. Hamilton  and
Robert D. Montgomerie
Linda D. Hamilton
Affiliation:
Department of Biology, Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario, CanadaK7L 3N6,
Robert D. Montgomerie
Affiliation:
Department of Biology, Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario, CanadaK7L 3N6,
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Throughout the latter part of the dry season (January-April) of 1985 and 1986, we studied the demography of mature adults in a small population of Argia chelata along a stream at Monteverde, Costa Rica. Males defended sunlit spots along the stream between 1030 h and 1400 h central standard time each day and females visiting these sunlit spots were soon mated. By individually marking all mature adults in the population we found that there was no significant difference between the sexes in daily survival rates (0.85 for males and 0.86 for females). Lifetime mating success was positively correlated with longevitiy in both males and females but the ability of males to obtain a mate appeared to be independent of age.

Although the sex ratio at emergence was 1:1, that of mature adults at the stream was strongly male-biased (87% male), perhaps as a result of a longer or more risky prereproductive period in females related to the costs of egg formation. We argue that the strongly male-biased sex ratio has important effects on the mating system of this species in that the male contact-guards the female for the entire oviposition period each day. Although this limits each male to mating with one female per day, it probably ensures that the male will fertilize most of the eggs laid by the female that day.

Keywords

Costa Ricadamselflydemographymate guardingsex ratioterritoriality
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Tropical Ecology , Volume 5 , Issue 2 , May 1989 , pp. 159 - 171
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1989

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

LITERATURE CITED

Banks, M. J. & Thompson, D. J. 1985a. Emergence, longevity and breeding area fidelity in Coenagrion puella (L.) (Zygoptera: Coenagrionidae). Odonatologica 14:279–286.Google Scholar
Banks, M. J. & Thompson, D. J. 1985b. Lifetime mating success in the damselfly Coenagrion puella. Animal Behaviour 33:1175–1183.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Begon, M., Harper, J. L., Townsend, C. R. 1986. Ecology: individuals, populations, and communities. Sinauer Assoc. Inc., Sunderland, Mass. 876 pp.Google Scholar
Bick, G. H. & Bick, J. C. 1965. Demography and behaviour of the damselfly, Argia apicalis (Say), (Odonata: Coenagriidae). Ecology 46:461–472.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Breslow, N. 1970. A generalized Kruskal-Wallis test for comparing k samples subject to unequal patterns of censorship. Biometrika 57:579–594.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Campanella, P. J. & Wolf, L. L. 1974. Temporal leks as a mating system in a temperate zone dragon-fly (Odonata: Anisoptera). I. Plathemis lydia Drury. Behaviour 51:49–86.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Corbet, P. S. 1952. An adult population study of Pyrrhosoma nymphula (Sulzer) (Odonata: Coena-grionidae). Journal of Animal Ecology 21:206–222.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Corbet, P. S. 1980. Biology of Odonata Annual Review of Entomology 25:189–217.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Eberhard, W. G. 1986. Behavioural ecology of the tropical damselfly Hetaerina macropus Selys (Zygoptera: Calopterygidae). Odonatologica 15(1):51–60.Google Scholar
Essig, E. O. 1942. College entomology. Macmillan, New York. 900 pp.Google Scholar
Fincke, O. M. 1982. Lifetime mating success in a natural population of the damselfly Enallagma hageni (Walsh) (Odonata: Coenagrionidae). Behavioural Ecology and Sociobiology 10:293–302.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fincke, O. M. 1984. Sperm competition in the damselfly Enallagma hageni (Odonata: Coenagrionidae): benefits of multiple mating to males and females. Behavioural Ecology and Sociobiology 14:235–240.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fincke, O. M. 1986. Lifetime reproductive success and the opportunity for selection in a non-terri-torial damselfly (Odonata: Coenagrionidae). Evolution 40:791–803.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Forsyth, A. B. & Montgomerie, R. D. 1987. Alternative reproductive tactics in the territorial damselfly Calopteryx maculata: sneaking by older males. Behavioural Ecology and Sociobiology 21:73–81.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fried, C. S. & May, M. L. 1983. Energy expenditure and food intake of territorial male Pachydiplax longipennis (Odonata: Libellulidae). Ecological Entomologist 8:283–292.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hafernick, J. E. Jr & Garrison, R. W. 1986. Mating success and survival rate in a population of damselflies: results at variance with theory? American Naturalist 128:353–365.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hamilton, L. D. 1986. Lifetime mating success and the opportunity for sexual selection in a tropical damselfly. M.Sc. Thesis, Queen's University, Kingston, Canada.Google Scholar
Janzen, D. H. 1983. Costa Rican natural history. The University of Chicago Press, Chicago. 816 pp.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Koenig, W. D. & Albano, S. S. 1985. Patterns of territoriality and mating success in the white-tailed skimmer Plathemis lydia (Odonata: Anisoptera). American Midland Naturalist 114:1–12.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Koenig, W. D. & Albano, S. S. 1987. Lifetime reproductive success, selection and the opportunity for selection in the white-tailed skimmer Plathemis lydia (Odonata: Libellulidae). Evolution 41:22–36.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Miller, P. L. & Miller, A. K. 1985. Rates of oviposition and some other aspects of reproductive behaviour in Tholymis tillarga (Fabricius) in Kenya (Anisoptera: Libellulidae). Odonatologica 14: 287–299.Google Scholar
Pajunen, V. I. 1962. Studies on the population ecology of Leucorrhinia dubia v.d. Lind. Ann. zool Soc. zool.-bot. fenn. ‘Vanamo’ 24:1–79.Google Scholar
Schmidt, E. 1964. Biologisch-okologische Untersuchungen an Hochmoorlibellen. Zeitschrift für Wissenschaftliche Zoologie (A) 169:313–386.Google Scholar
Sokal, R. R. & Rohlf, F.J. 1981. Biometry (2nd edition). W. H. Freeman & Co., New York. 859 pp.Google Scholar
Tosi, J. A. Jr, 1969. Mapa ecologico, Republica de Costa Rica: Segun la clasificacion de zonas de vida delmundo de L. R. Holdridge. Centro Cientifico Tropical, San Jose.Google Scholar
Trivers, R. L. 1972. Parental investment and sexual selection. Pp. 136–179 in Campbell, B. C. (ed.). Sexual selection and the descent of man. Aldine Press, Chicago. 378 pp.Google Scholar
Tsubaki, Y. & Ono, T. 1986. Competition for territorial sites and alternative mating tactics in the dragonfly, Nannophy pygmaea Rambur (Odonata: Libellulidae). Behaviour 97:234–251.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ubukata, H. 1974. Relative abundance and phenology of adult dragonflies at a dystrophic pond in Usubetsu near Sapporo. Journal of the Faculty of Science Hokkaido University, (VI) 19:758–776.Google Scholar
Ueda, T. 1976. The breeding population of damselfly, Cercion calamorum Ris. 1. Daily movements and spatial structure. Physiology and Ecology Japan 17:303–312.Google Scholar
Waage, J. K. 1972. Longevity and mobility of the adult Calopteryx maculata (Beauvois, 1805) (Zygoptera: Calopterygidae). Odonatologica 1:155–162.Google Scholar
Waage, J. K. 1979. Dual function of the damselfly penis: sperm removal and transfer. Science 203: 916–918.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Waage, J. K. 1980. Adult sex ratios and female reproductive potential in Calopteryx (Zygoptera: Calopterygidae). Odonatologica 9:217–230.Google Scholar
Waage, J. K. 1986. Evidence for widespread sperm displacement ability among Zygoptera (Odonata) and the means for predicting its presence. Biological Journal of the Linnean Society 28:285–300.CrossRefGoogle Scholar