We determined how many males courted the female and how many male competition behaviours were observed.
The number of male competition behaviours observed was square root transformed to improve normality prior to modeling.
We observed 7.15 ± 0.60 competition behaviours (charges, bites, chases, mouth wrestles, and nest destruction) during focal follows (range 0 31).
The nature of the Search and Choose trials allowed us to observe the full complement of courtship and competition behaviours (Additional file 1).
Males initiated 2.55 ± 0.38 competition interactions at high male density and 2.47 ± 0.51 at low male density, and received 1.69 ± 0.33 competition behaviours at high density and 2.04 ± 0.42 at low density.
The common factor among these previous studies is that despite sperm from each tactic facing different sperm competition conditions arising from different male competition behaviours, courtship behaviours, mating order, mating duration and sperm expenditure [ 33], how and where released sperm meet with eggs (i.e. fertilization environments) are basically the same among competing males.
Dependent variables in the female experience REML mixed models were the sum number of courtship behaviours directed toward the focal female, the number of males courting the female, and the sum number of male-male competition behaviours observed by the focal female.
We then performed a 5-min focal follow on each male present in the pool in random order, recording the number and type of all male-male competition behaviours (Additional file 1) directed toward the focal male and performed by the focal male toward others in the pool.
Time of season did not influence the number of males courting females (F1, 19.46 = 0.14, p = 0.71), the sum number of courtship interactions with males (F1, 22.87 = 1.15, p = 0.29), or the number of competition behaviours observed by females during (F1, 12.26 = 0.34, p = 0.57).
In it he also alleges anti-competitive behaviour by Lloyds under European competition law.
