如何整合不同打鬥能力相關資訊：以紅樹林魚（Kryptolebias marmoratus）為例

Animals could obtain information about their own or their opponents’ fighting ability from various sources (e.g., the outcome of past fights, the identity of their opponents and social eavesdropping). This research project investigated how animals in contests integrate cost-related information from these sources, using a mangrove killifish, Kryptolebias marmoratus. The project investigated (1) how the outcomes of previous contests influence the fish’s assessment of its fighting ability relative to that of its opponent, (2) whether the importance of winning/losing experience to contest decisions is dependent of the familiarity of the opponent, and (3) whether the fish can evaluate its opponent’s fighting ability by observing the opponent’s contest interactions with a 3rd party and how recent previous contest experience may influence the fish’s interaction with the opponents that they have observed previously. Study 1 showed that size difference and contest experience jointly influenced individuals’ contest decisions, a size advantage 2-3mm compensated for the disadvantage caused by losing experience in winning probability. Study 2 indicated that (1) subordinates’ contest decisions were influenced by both their contest experience and the familiarity of their opponents, but the importance of contest experience did not depend on familiarity and (2) the influence of a losing experience on dominants’ contest decisions, however, did depend on their subordinate opponents’ familiarity. Study 3 showed that whether or not an individual had observed its opponent’s contest performance previously did not affect its contest decisions against the opponent. Overall, the fish’s contest decisions are jointly influenced by its previous contest experience, its body size relative to that of its opponent and the familiarity of the opponent. But the fish did not appear to learn about its opponent’s fighting ability by observing its performance in a contest with a third party.