RUI: Cost/Benefit Analysis of Territoriality

争斗行为包括攻击性行为和对攻击性的反应，是人类和所有其他动物的行为可以分为的四大类之一。争斗行为的普遍存在使得它不仅与基础科学有关，而且与从群体到个人层面的实际问题也广泛相关。地域性是一种特定地点的争斗行为，特别适合研究，因为它的空间定位允许在野外条件下衡量其成本和收益。然而，在一个与生存和生殖密切相关的共同单位中，往往很难同时评估成本和收益。埃瓦尔德博士将对少数几个可以轻易克服这些障碍的研究对象之一--保卫觅食区域的蜂鸟--进行实地实验。对于这个课题，成本和收益都可以用能量单位来量化，并可以通过实验进行操纵；此外，蜂鸟的领地对这些成本和收益的变化做出的快速反应使野外实验格外可行。埃瓦尔德博士将进行首批严格控制的测试，旨在解决关于激励性行为的三个基本问题，这些问题尚未得到解答。首先，他将通过比较对高精度但人工能源的地区反应和对较不可控的自然能源的反应来评估受控现场试验的效用。其次，他将测试与从领土获得的净利益有关的领土存在的预测。最后，他将确定领土的最佳替代方案的质量是否影响领土的存在和/或形式。在这一系统中，理论预测与实际属地之间的一致和分歧之处应说明对属地采用成本/收益办法的适用性。更广泛地说，通过帮助发展竞争行为的成本/收益理论，这种澄清最终应该提高我们对整个动物界，包括人类在内的整个动物界内部和环境影响对竞争行为的影响之间的相互作用的理解。

Agonistic behavior, which includes aggressive behavior and responses to aggression, is one of four general categories into which the behavior of humans and all other animals can be divided. The ubiquity of agonistic behavior makes it broadly relevant not only to basic science but also to practical problems from the population to the individual level. One kind of site-specific agonistic behavior, territoriality, is particularly amenable to study because its spatial localization allows measurement of its costs and benefits under field conditions. However, it is often difficult to evaluate both costs and benefits in a common unit that is strongly correlated with survival and reproduction. Dr. Ewald will carry out field experiments with one of the few study subjects for which these obstacles can be readily surmounted: hummingbirds defending feeding territories. For this subject, both costs and benefits can be quantified in units of energy and experimentally manipulated; moreover, the rapid responses of hummingbird territoriality to changes in these costs and benefits makes field experiments exceptionally feasible. Dr. Ewald will conduct the first rigorously controlled tests designed to resolve three fundamental, unanswered questions about agonistic behavior. First, he will assess the utility of controlled field experimentation by comparing the territorial responses to highly accurate but artificial energy sources with responses to the less-controllable natural energy sources. Second, he will test predictions about the existence of territoriality in relation to the net benefits obtained from the territory. Finally, he will determine whether or not the quality of the best alternative to territoriality influences the presence and/or form of territoriality. The areas of agreement and divergence between theoretical predictions and actual territoriality in this system should clarify the applicability of the cost/benefit approach to territoriality. More generally, by helping to develop the cost/benefit theory of agonistic behavior, this clarification should eventually improve our understanding of the interaction between internal and environmental influences on agonistic behavior across the entire animal kingdom, including humans.