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JPR Advance Access published online on December 4, 2006
Journal of Plankton Research, doi:10.1093/plankt/fbl062
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© The Author 2006. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org

research-article

Pre-copulatory swimming behaviour of Leptodiaptomus ashlandi (Copepoda: Calanoida): a fractal approach

Marco Uttieri1,*,#, Ai Nihongi2, Maria Grazia Mazzocchi1, J. Rudi Strickler2 and Enrico Zambianchi3

1 Laboratory of Biological Oceanography, Stazione Zoologica "A. Dohrn", Villa Comunale 1, 80121 Napoli, Italy 2 The Great Lakes WATER Institute, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, 600E Greenfield Ave., Milwaukee, WI 53204, USA 3 Department of Environmental Sciences, Università degli Studi di Napoli "Parthenope", Via De Gasperi 5, 80133 Napoli, Italy

* Corresponding Author: Marco Uttieri (marco.uttieri{at}uniparthenope.it)

Received on November 5, 2006; revised on August 14, 2006; accepted on October 24, 2006


  Abstract

Mating behaviour is an emerging topic in the study of copepod ecology, having important consequences at both individual and population levels. Mate-finding has been shown to depend upon the perception of cues released by the conspecific, as well as on the swimming behaviour of both the male and the female.

In order to understand the differences in the strategies adopted in the pre-copulatory phase by males and females, we analysed the swimming tracks of the freshwater calanoid Leptodiaptomus ashlandi. The three-dimensional trajectories described by males and females have been analysed in terms of their three-dimensional fractal dimension D3D, a parameter which can synthetically but appropriately characterise the degree of contortion of a three-dimensional path.

D3D values for L. ashlandi males during the pre-detection phase are higher than the corresponding ones for females, indicating that the male explores more extended volumes of fluid thus increasing the probability of encountering a female.

Key Words: Leptodiaptomus ashlandi • mating • swimming behaviour • fractals

# Present Address: Department of Environmental Sciences, Università degli Studi di Napoli "Parthenope", Via De Gasperi 5, 80133 Napoli, Italy


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