The optimization theory assumes that males of insects with separate adult generations should preferentially invest into the mating if there are the most fresh females; in other times they should save energy and focus on maintenance activities. Based on this assumption, butterfly behaviour should change with season, population density (mainly the sex ratio) and day time. To explore these assumptions, we used mark recapture data obtained from several mark-recapture studies, which contained records of behaviour of each handled individual. In total, we analysed data on 14 species, 24 ``butterfly-seasons{\crqq}, 21 737 individuals (14 228 males, 7 509 females). We subjected the behavioural data to ordination analyses controlled for weather effects. For daily patterns, morning and afternoon activities comprise mainly of maintenance activities, while mating seems to occur in middays. Regarding seasonal patterns, males of most of the species switched from mating behaviour to maintenance behaviour. No prevailing trend applied to females, in which we found both transitions from mating behaviour to maintenance activities and opposite patterns. Density predictors (sex ration, daily population size) revealed changes in mating behaviour of one sex with changing the abundance of the other sex. In conclusion, exploring mark-recapture data for behavioural patterns proved to be fruitful, but cannot fully replace studying behaviour via more traditional ethological methods.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:nusl.cz/oai:invenio.nusl.cz:49268 |
| Date | January 2008 |
| Creators | VLAŠÁNEK, Petr |
| Source Sets | Czech ETDs |
| Language | Czech |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | info:eu-repo/semantics/masterThesis |
| Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/restrictedAccess |
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