Home field advantage in rock bass, Ambloplites rupestris, and what doesn't cause it.

Abstract

Home field advantage is an evolutionarily stable strategy in which the convention of “resident will attack and intruder will flee,” is upheld in a population. The Rock Bass, Ambloplites rupestris is a territorial member of the centrarchid family. When intruders are introduced into the territory of a resident bass, the resident bass will show agonistic behaviors towards the intruder, and the intruder will flee. This paper focuses on determining whether there is a pheromone or chemical released into the water by a resident bass to label itself as the ‘owner’ of a territory. Our experiment found no indication of such a hormone which indicates that the home field advantage convention followed by the rock bass is established by environmental cues other than pheromones released into the water.