Journal:	Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology
Manuscript Number:	BEAS-S-21-00215
Article Type:	Research Article
Full Title:	Territoriality is just an option: allocation of a resource fundamental to the resource defense polygyny in the European wool carder bee, Anthidium manicatum (Hymenoptera: Megachilidae).
Authors:	Karsten Seidelmann
Affiliations:	Martin-Luther-University Halle-Wittenberg, Institute of Biology, Department Animal Physiology, Halle (Saale), Germany
E-mail: karsten.seidelmann@zoologie.uni-halle.de
Short Title:	Resource allocation and defense polygyny in a wool carder bee
Keywords:	Mating system, Truncated distribution mimicking an ideal free, Behavioral phenotype, Conditional strategy
Abstract:	The wool carder bee Anthidium manicatum is one textbook example of resource defense polygyny among solitary bees, known for intense male–male competition, forced copulations, and the extreme form of interspecific territoriality toward other flower visitors. This mating system depends on the spatial structure of the defended resource and requires several adaptations in males. The allocation of patches with host plants as well as male body size and phenology were analyzed over three years in the diverse habitat of a botanical garden. A. manicatum males searched in groups up to 12 individuals a wide diversity of patches with various food plants of foraging females. Territories were established in small high-quality patches only. Males abandoned aggressive and territorial behavior in large patches. Available patches were exploited matching the input in a truncated distribution that mimics an ideal free. Competitive weight differences of males due to patch size and structure were evidently balanced by an opposing correlation of patch profitability. Overall, a typical resource defense polygyny with distinct territoriality seems not to be the general expression of the mating system in A. manicatum. Males were found to be much more plastic in their behavior. Mate acquiring tactics, be they territory holder (bourgeois), sneaker, floater, or scrambler for mating can be considered to be different behavioral phenotypes within one environmentally sensitive conditional strategy.