Patterns of information flow in the hermit crab Calcinus tibicen

Abstract The rate of information transfer, as estimated by changes in the probabilities of execution of visual displays during agonistic interactions, was measured for individual hermit crabs. Using aggregate data it was demonstrated that winners gained more information from losers than losers from winners. Examination of the won and lost fights of individual crabs failed to show any consistent differences in the rate of information transfer. However, crabs that had higher rates of transfer (both in their won and lost fights) won significantly more interactions. Based upon the information transfer values observed, a mixed-strategy model of communication is outlined.

[1]  W M Schleidt,et al.  Tonic communication: continual effects of discrete signs in animal communication systems. , 1973, Journal of theoretical biology.

[2]  Marc Bekoff,et al.  QUANTITATIVE STUDIES OF THREE AREAS OF CLASSICAL ETHOLOGY: SOCIAL DOMINANCE, BEHAVIORAL TAXONOMY, AND BEHAVIORAL VARIABILITY , 1977 .

[3]  B. Hazlett.  Stimulus characteristics of an agonistic display of the hermit crab (Calcinus tibicen) , 1972 .

[4]  G. Parker,et al.  Assessment strategy and the evolution of fighting behaviour. , 1974, Journal of theoretical biology.

[5]  D. Rubenstein,et al.  Examination of the Agonistic Behaviour of the Crayfish Orconectes Virilis By Character Analysis , 1974 .

[6]  John Maynard Smith,et al.  The logic of asymmetric contests , 1976, Animal Behaviour.

[7]  B. Hazlett.  Individual Distance in the Hermit Crabs Clibanarius Tricolor and Clibanarius Antillensis , 1975 .

[8]  G. Estabrook,et al.  Examination of Agonistic Behavior By Character Analysis I. the Spider Crab Microphrys Bicornutus , 1974 .

[9]  A. Ewing,et al.  Studies on the behaviour of cyprinodont fish. III. The temporal patterning of aggression in Aphyosemion striatum (Boulenger). , 1976, Behaviour.

[10]  R. Caldwell,et al.  VARIATION IN AGONISTIC BEHAVIOR BETWEEN POPULATIONS OF THE STOMATOPOD, HAPTOSQUILLA GLYPTOCERCUS , 1977, Evolution; international journal of organic evolution.

[11]  W. Bossert,et al.  A statistical analysis of the aggressive communications systems of some hermit crabs. , 1965, Animal behaviour.

[12]  B. Hazlett.  Social behavior of the Paguridae and Diogenidae of Curaçao , 1966 .

[13]  H. Dingle,et al.  A statistical and information analysis of aggressive communication in the mantis shrimp Gonodactylus bredini Manning , 1969 .

[14]  PARTITIONING DEPENDENCE IN NONSTATIONARY BEHAVIORAL SEQUENCES , 1977 .

[15]  M. Sinclair.  Agonistic behaviour of the stone crab, Menippe mercenaria (Say) , 1977, Animal Behaviour.

[16]  B. Hazlett.  Factors affecting the aggressive behavior of the hermit crab Calcinus tibicen. , 2010, Zeitschrift fur Tierpsychologie.

[17]  G. Estabrook,et al.  Examination of Agonistic Behavior By Character Analysis Ii. Hermit Crabs , 1974 .

[18]  H. Dingle,et al.  Aggressive Behavior in Stomatopods and the use of Information theory in the Analysis of Animal Communication , 1972 .