Summary
-
1.
Male bluegill sunfish (Lepomis macrochirus) construct nests in densely packed colonies characterized by high breeding synchrony. Females deposit eggs in the nests and males alone provide parental care for eggs and larvae. During the 7-day care period, males do not leave the nests to forage nor do they nourish the young. Parental males do actively defend their broods against predators.
-
2.
This study investigated the effects of coloniality on predation. Bluegill brood are attacked by predators moving along the lake substrate and from the water column. Substrate-level predators include a major predator in the system, the snail Viviparous georgianus, and also bullhead, Ictalurus spp. Predation from the water column is primarily by conspecifics (94%) but also by Lepomis gibbosus and the hybrid, L. macrochirus x L. gibbosus. There is little or no predation on parental males.
-
3.
Significant differences in brood predation are found among nests in central, peripheral colony and solitary sites. Brood loss at peripheral nests is at least three times that at central nests, and solitary nests experience greater predation than colony nests. These differences are due to effects of nest dispersion rather than to habitat characteristics.
-
4.
Bluegill brood predation is reduced through colonial nesting as (1) peripheral nests screen central broods from snails and bullhead, (2) predators can be swamped by the high nesting density, and (3) overlapping defended zones provide cumulative defense against water-column predators and bullhead. Synchrony in breeding augments these anti-predation attributes of colonial nesting, and can also reduce conspecific predation and result in a ‘head-start’ against predators.
-
5.
Certain costs to brood survivorship arise from colonial nesting: predation by neighboring males and ripe females, concentration of odor cues which may influence bullhead predation, and possibly fungal transmission between nests.
-
6.
Pumpkinseed sunfish (L. gibbosus), which breed concurrently with bluegill, are relatively unsocial nesters. Pumpkinseed do not suffer the same predation pressures. As a result of morphological and behavioral adaptations for feeding, pumpkinseed are able to remove snails from their nests and probably repel bullhead attacks. As snails contribute over 50% of the estimated predation on bluegill, this difference between species is significant.
-
7.
Brood predation is proposed as an important selective force for the evolution of colonial nesting in sunfishes. Selection should be mediated through female choice of a nest dispersion which maximizes brood survivorship. Morphological and behavioral preadaptations probably determine the type and degree of brood predation experienced by a species, and hence species-specific selection for patterns of nest dispersion.
Article PDF
Similar content being viewed by others
Avoid common mistakes on your manuscript.
References
Alexander RD (1974) The evolution of social behavior. Annu Rev Ecol Syst 4:325–383
Avila VL (1973) A review and field study of nesting behavior of male bluegill sunfish (Lepomis macrochirus Rafinesque). Ph D thesis, University of Colorado, Colorado
Barlow GW (1974) Hexagonal territories. Anim Behav 22:876–878
Breder CM, Jr, Rosen DA (1966) Modes of reproduction in fishes. Natural History Press, New York
Carlander KD (1977) Handbook of freshwater fishery biology. In: Life history data on centrarchid fishes of the United States and Canada, vol 2. Iowa State Univ Press, Iowa
Clarke RW, Keenleyside, MHA (1967) Reproductive isolation between the sunfish Lepomis gibbosus and L. macrochirus. J Fish Res Board Can 24:495–514
Clench W (1962) A catalogue of the Viviparidae of North America with notes on the distribution of Viviparous georgianus. Har Univ Mus Comp Zool Occas Papers on Mollusks 2:261–288
Colgan PW, Nowell WA, Gross MR, Grant JWA (1979) Aggressive habituation and rim circling in the social organization of bluegill sunfish (Lepomis macrochirus). Environ Biol Fishes 4:29–36
Crook JH (1966) The adaptive significance of avian social organization. Symp Zool Soc (Lond) 14:181–218
Darling FF (1938) Bird flocks and the breeding cycle: A contribution to the study of avian sociality. Cambridge Univ Press, Cambridge, MA
Eckblad JW, Shealy MH, Jr (1972) Predation of largemouth bass embryos by the pond snail Viviparous georgianus. Trans Am Fish Soc 4:734–738
Emlen ST, Demong NJ (1975) Adaptive significance of synchronized breeding in a colonial bird: A new hypothesis. Science 188:1029–1031
Gerald JW (1970) Species isolating mechanisms in the genus Lepomis. Ph D thesis University of Texas at Austin, Texas
Gross MR (1979) Cuckoldry in sunfishes (Lepomis: Centrarchidae). Can J Zool 57:1507–1509
Gross MR (1980) Sexual selection and the evolution of reproductive strategies in sunfishes (Lepomis: Centrarchidae). Ph D thesis, University of Utah, Utah
Gross MR, Charnov EL (1980) Alternative male life histories in bluegill sunfish. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 77:6937–6940
Gross MR, Nowell WA (1980) The reproductive biology of rock bass, Ambloplites rupestris (Centrarchidae), in Lake Opinicon, Ontario. Copeia 1980:482–494
Hamilton WD (1971) Geometry of the selfish herd. J Theor Biol 31:295–311
Hoffman GL (1967) Parasites of North American freshwater fishes. University of California Press, Berkeley, CA
Holling CS (1959) The components of predation as revealed by a study of small mammal predation of the European pine sawfly. Can Entomol 91:293–332
Hoogland JL (1979) Aggression, ectoparasitism, and other possible costs of prairie dog (Sciuridae, Cynomys spp.) coloniality. Behavior 69:1–35
Hoogland JL, Sherman PW (1976) Advantages and disadvantages of bank swallow (Riparia riparia) coloniality. Ecol Monogr 46:33–58
Horn HS (1968) The adaptive significance of colonial nesting in the brewer's blackbird (Euphagus cyanocephalus) Ecology 49:682–694
Keast A (1970) Food specializations and bioenergetic interrelations in the fish fauna of some small Ontario waterways. In: Steele JH (ed) Marine food chains. Oliver and Boyd, Edinburgh, pp 377–411
Keast A (1977) Mechanisms expanding niche width and minimizing intraspecific competition in two centrarchid fishes. Evol Biol 10:333–395
Keast A (1978a) Feeding interrelations between age-groups of pumpkinseed (Lepomis gibbosus) and comparisons with bluegill (L. macrochirus). J Fish Res Board Can 35:12–27
Keast A (1978b) Trophic and spatial interrelationships in the fish species of an Ontario temperate lake. Environ Biol Fishes 3:7–31
Keast A, Harker J (1977) Strip counts as a means of determining population numbers and habitat utilization patterns in fish. Environ Biol Fishes 1:181–188
Keast A, Webb D (1966) Mouth and body form relative to feeding ecology in the fish fauna of a small lake, Lake Opinicon, Ontario. J Fish Res Board Can 23:1847–1874
Keenleyside MHA (1978a) Parental care behavior in fishes and birds. In Reese ES, Lighter FJ (eds) Contrasts in behavior. Wiley, New York, pp 3–29
Keenleyside MHA (1978b) Intraspecific intrusions into nests of spawning longear sunfish (Pisces: Centrarchidae). Copeia 1972:272–278
Krebs JR (1974) Colonial nesting and social feeding as strategies for exploiting food resources in the great blue heron (Ardea herodias). Behavior 51:99–134
Kruuk H (1964) Predators and anti-predation behavior of the black-headed gull (Larus ridibundus L.). Behav Suppl 11:1–129
Lack D (1968) Ecological adaptations for breeding in birds. Chapman and Hall, London
Lauder GV, Jr, Lanyon LE (1980) Functional anatomy of feeding in the bluegill sunfish, Lepomis macrochirus: in vivo measurements of bone strain. J Exp Biol 84:33–55
Lee DS, Gilbert CR, Hocutt CH, Jenkins RE, McAllister DE, Staufter JR, Jr (1980) Atlas of North American freshwater fishes, Publ No 1980-12. North Carolina Biological Survey, NC State Museum
Loiselle PV (1977) Colonial breeding by an African substratum-spawningcichlidfish, Tilapiazillii (Gervais). Biol Behav 2:129–142
Maynard Smith J (1976) Group selection. Q Rev Biol 51:277–283
McDonald S (1969) The biology of Lymnaea stagnalis (Gastropoda). Sterkiana 36:1–17
McKaye KR, Barlow GW (1976) Competition between color morphs of the Midas cichlid, Cichlasoma citrinellum, in Lake Jiloa, Nicaragua. In: Thoson TB (ed) Investigations of the ichthyofauna of Nicaraguan lakes. School of Life Sciences, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, pp 465–475
Miller HC (1963) The behavior of the pumpkinseed sunfish, Lepomis gibbosus (Linnaeus), with notes on the behavior of other species of Lepomis and the pigmy sunfish, Elassoma evergladei. Behavior 22:88–151
Orians GH (1961) The ecology of blackbird (Agelaius) social systems. Ecol Monogr 31:285–312
Perrone M (1978) The economy of brood defense by parental cichlid fishes, Cichlasoma maculicauda. Oikos 31:137–141
Robertson RJ (1973) Optimal niche space of the redwinged blackbird: Spatial and temporal patterns of nesting activity and success. Ecology 54:1085–1093
Scott WB, Crossman EJ (1973) Freshwater fishes of Canada. Fish Res Board Can Bull 184:1–966
Siegel S (1956) Nonparametric statistics. McGraw-Hill, New York
Sokal RR, Rohlf FJ (1969) Biometry. Freeman, San Francisco, CA
Treisman M (1975) Predation and the evolution of gregariousness. 1. Models for concealment and evasion. Anim Behav 23:779–800
Turnbull DA (1975) The molluscan fauna of Lake Opinicon. B Sc thesis, Queen's University of Kingston, Ontario
Webster DA (1954) Smallmouth bass, Micropterus dolomieui, in Cayuga Lake. Part 1. Life history and environment. NY Agric Exp Stn Ithaca Mem 327:1–39
Wiley RH, Wiley MS (1980) Spacing and timing in the nesting ecology of a tropical blackbird: comparison of populations in different environments. Ecol Monogr 50:153–178
Wilson DS (1980) The natural selection of populations and communities. Benjamin/Cummings, Menlo Park, CA
Wilson EO (1975) Sociobiology: the new synthesis. Belknap Press, Cambridge, MA
Wynne-Edwards VC (1962) Animal dispersion in relation to social behaviour. Oliver and Boyd, Edinburgh
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Gross, M.R., MacMillan, A.M. Predation and the evolution of colonial nesting in bluegill sunfish (Lepomis macrochirus). Behav Ecol Sociobiol 8, 163–174 (1981). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00299826
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00299826