The Tradeoff Between Territorial Defense and Foraging in the Great Tit (Parus major) |
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Authors: | YDENBERG, RONALD C. KREBS, JOHN R. |
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Affiliation: | Department of Biological Sciences, Simon Fraser University Burnaby, B.C. V5A 1S6, Canada Edward Grey Institute of Field Ornithology South Parks Rd., Oxford OX1 3PS, England |
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Abstract: | We analyze territorial behavior in terms of decisions abouttime allocation.Such decisions must be made whenever time investedin territorial defense cannot be devoted to feeding, and viceversa. We describe the ecology and territorial behavior of thegreat tit (Parus major) to show that a tradeoff exists, andthen outline a series of laboratory and field experiments inwhich the value of feeding or defense was experimentally manipulated.Territorialmale great tits began to invest more heavily in territorialvigilance after encountering intruders, but the increase invigilance depended on the rate at which they could feed, aswell as their hunger level. We outline a dynamic analysis thattakes account of the fact that the optimal tradeoff will changeas hunger is reduced. The results of an experimental test ofthis dynamic model are also presented. We briefly review othertechniques whereby territorial tradeoffs have been investigated. |
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