Variations of space use in males of the banded demoiselle (Calopteryx splendens, Zygoptera, Odonata): Alternative tactics or an age-dependent trend?

Two spatial tactics are usually distinguished in males of Calopteryx damselflies: territorial and nonterritorial. These tactics are believed to underlie two alternative condition-dependent reproductive tactics in these insects, and territorial males are believed to copulate more often. With age, males become weaker, turn nonterritorial, and only occasionally manage to copulate. However, the details of space use by damselflies are poorly known, which hinders the interpretation of the existing empirical data. We describe the space use by individually marked males of the banded demoiselle C. splendens studied during three field seasons in Vladimir Province, Russia. Each male on each day of observations was characterized as either territorial or non-territorial, and the sites of encounter were mapped. The probability of being territorial declined with the male’s age. The spatial tactics (territorial vs. non-territorial) on a given day strongly influenced the tactics used on the following day. We identified the territorial and non-territorial phases in the life of a male damselfly, which occurred consecutively and had a roughly similar duration. During the territorial phase, the male occupied a certain territory and tried to hold it as long as possible. The male abandoned its territory in two cases: (1) when it was driven onto a different territory as the result of competition with other males, or (2) when it was exhausted and became non-territorial. Thus, the space use by the male changed predictably during its life. Therefore, direct comparison of morphological or other characteristics in territorial vs. non-territorial males, frequently made in the literature, makes little sense. Further progress in studying the so-called “alternative reproductive tactics” in damselflies may be more successfully achieved by comparing individual life trajectories of different males (e.g. duration of territorial and non-territorial periods, the number of consecutively occupied territories, etc.). We performed correlation analysis and found that the above parameters did not depend on the wing and abdomen length of the males.