Journal
BIOLOGY LETTERS
Volume 4, Issue 2, Pages 143-145Publisher
ROYAL SOC
DOI: 10.1098/rsbl.2007.0534
Keywords
fighting; ownership; territoriality
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In most taxa, owners win fights when defending a territory against intruders. We calculated effect sizes for four factors that potentially contribute to an 'owner advantage'. We studied male fiddler crabs Uca mjoebergi, where owners won 92% of natural fights. Owners were not more successful because they were inherently better fighters (r = 0.02). There was a small effect (r=0.18) of the owner's knowledge of territory quality (food availability) and a medium effect (r = 0.29) of his having established relations with neighbours (duration of active tenure), but neither was statistically significant. There was, however, a significant effect due to the mechanical advantage the owner gained through access to the burrow during fights (r=0.48, p < 0.005).
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