The Process of Territorial Settlement: Field Experiments and Theoretical Models

最近的研究表明，动物领地的特征对个体领地所有者的生存和繁殖成功以及整个物种的种群生态都有重要影响。对于具有季节性领地的物种，如候鸟，领地获取和定居初期的事件可能对领地大小、相邻领地之间的接触程度和栖息地内领地个体的密度等特征产生强烈影响。例如，在定居期间同时争夺领土的动物数量可能会影响领土的大小，导致在许多个体争夺空间的年份比领土竞争者较少的年份领土更小。同样，当所有定居者同时到达(同时定居)时，领土可能比定居者分散在几天或几周内到达(连续定居)时更小，分布更密集。尽管地域性动物的定居行为具有潜在的重要性，但对这些现象的实证或理论研究很少。斯坦普斯博士将使用三种不同的、互补的研究方法来研究定居者获取领土的过程：实地实验、理论建模和对有关定居的文献进行回顾。利用幼年蜥蜴进行的野外实验将对假设为领土物种的两个过程进行受控的经验测试：(1)竞争者数量与领土大小之间的关系，以及(2)定居的时间模式(顺序与同时)与领土大小之间的关系。这些实地研究的结果，结合对零散的关于定居点的文献的回顾，将被用来开发一套关于定居点的通用计算机模型。反过来，这些模型的结果将为现场实验提供进一步的方向。这些关于领土定居的详细研究对许多从事季节性领土物种研究的生态学家和行为生物学家来说应该是有用的。此外，这项工作与养护和保护濒危物种的问题直接相关，其中许多物种在季节性的基础上保卫领土。

Recent research has established that the characteristics of animal territories can have important implications both for the survival and breeding success of individual territory-owners and for the population ecology of the entire species. For species with seasonal territories, such as migratory birds, events during the initial period of territory- acquisition and settlement may have a strong impact on such characteristics as territory size, the extent of contact between adjacent territories, and the density of territorial individuals within the habitat. For example, the number of animals simultaneously competing for territories during the settlement period may affect territory sizes, leading to smaller territories in years when many individuals are competing for space than in years with fewer territorial contenders. Similarly, when all of the settlers arrive at one time (simultaneous settlement), territories may be smaller and more densely distributed than when the arrival of settlers is spread out over many days or weeks (sequential settlement). Despite the potential importance of settlement behaviors of territorial animals, there are very few empirical or theoretical studies of these phenomena. Dr. Stamps will investigate the process by which settlers acquire territories using three different, complementary research techniques: field experiments, theoretical modeling, and a review of the literature on settlement. Field experiments using juvenile lizards will provide controlled, empirical tests of two processes that have been hypothesized for territorial species: (1) a relationship between number of contenders and territory size, and (2) a relationship between temporal pattern of settlement (sequential versus simultaneous) and territory size. The results of these field studies, in combination with a review of the scattered literature on settlement, will be used to develop a set of general computer models of settlement. In turn, the results of these models will suggest further directions for field experimentation. These detailed studies on territorial settlement should be useful to the many ecologists amd behavioral biologists working with seasonally territorial species. In addition, this work is directly relevant to problems in conservation and the protection of endangered species, many of which defend territories on a seasonal basis.