Meeting Abstract
The role of chemical communication in animal behavior is a rising subject in sensory ecology; however, detailing the effect of chemical signals on the mechanics of agonistic behaviors has just begun. The purpose of this study is to correlate agonistic behavior with chemical release events in order to determine the mechanistic role that chemical communication plays in contest escalation, resolution, and possibly assessment. A fluorescent dye was used to visualize a chemical signal (urine) known to play an important role in crayfish contests. In order to observe this phenomenon, crayfish (Orconectes rusticus) were injected with the fluorescent dye and then paired randomly with a contestant of the same or opposite sex. We examined same sex as well as mixed sex interactions due to the limited knowledge on female and mixed sex contests. Contest videos were first analyzed to confirm urine release. Further analysis was used to determine if escalation, de-escalation, or no change in fighting occurred between contestants. We also examined how these urine release events played a role in fight outcome. It appears that chemical signals are critical in determining rates of escalation within fights and that different crayfish pairings had different chemical signal use.
