Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in
Book cover

Encyclopedia of Animal Cognition and Behavior pp 1–9Cite as

Territoriality

  • Living reference work entry
  • First Online:

  • 59 Accesses

Synonyms

Resource defense; Territory

Definitions

Territoriality refers to maintenance of a territory and thus includes territorial behavior, at the individual level, and spatial patterns that result from those individual interactions, at the population level (Hinsch and Komdeur 2017). However, territory may be defined conceptually in many ways (Maher and Lott 1995). The most common conceptual definitions can be grouped into one of three categories, and they illustrate the difference in emphasis between ecological and behavioral aspects of territoriality: defended area, exclusive area, and site-specific dominance. The oldest definition, defense (Howard 1920), reflects a focus on interactions that produce the outcome, whereas use of an exclusive area (Pitelka 1959) highlights the outcome rather than the process. A researcher’s choice of definitions often reflects the taxonomic group and habits of species being studied (Maher and Lott 1995). Thus, scientists studying more easily observed...

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.

References

  • Alcock, J. (2013). Animal behavior: An evolutionary approach (10th ed.). Sunderland: Sinauer Associates.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brown, J. L. (1964). The evolution of diversity in avian territorial systems. Wilson Bulletin, 76, 160–169.

    Google Scholar 

  • Burnham, K. P., & Anderson, D. R. (2002). Model selection and multimodel inference: A practical information-theoretic approach (2nd ed.). New York: Springer.

    Google Scholar 

  • Carpenter, F. L., Paton, D. C., & Hixon, M. A. (1983). Weight gain and adjustment of territory size in migrant hummingbirds. Proceedings of the National Academies of Science, 80, 7259–7263.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Davies, N. B., & Houston, A. I. (1981). Owners and satellites: The economics of territory defence in the pied wagtail, Motacilla alba. Journal of Animal Ecology, 50, 157–180.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Davies, N. B., & Houston, A. I. (1984). Territory economics. In C. J. Krebs & N. B. Davies (Eds.), Behavioural ecology: An evolutionary approach (pp. 148–169). Sunderland: Sinauer Associates.

    Google Scholar 

  • Drury, J. P., Okamoto, K. W., Anderson, C. N., & Grether, G. F. (2015). Reproductive interference explains persistence of aggression between species. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London B: Biological Sciences, 282(1804), 20142256.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Eason, P. K., & Stamps, J. A. (1992). The effect of visibility on territory size and shape. Behavioral Ecology, 3, 166–172.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gill, F. B., & Wolf, L. L. (1975). Economics of feeding territoriality in the golden-winged sunbird. Ecology, 56, 333–345.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Heap, S., Byrne, P., & Stuart-Fox, D. (2012). The adoption of landmarks for territorial boundaries. Animal Behaviour, 83, 871–878.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hinsch, M., & Komdeur, J. (2017). What do territory owners defend against? Proceedings of the Royal Society B, 284, 20162356. https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2016.2356

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Howard, H. E. (1920). Territory in bird life. London: John Murray.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Huntingford, F. A., & Turner, A. K. (1987). Animal conflict. London: Chapman and Hall Ltd..

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Krebs, J. R. (1977). Song and territory in the great tit Parus major. In B. Stonehouse & C. Perrins (Eds.), Evolutionary ecology (pp. 47–62). London: Macmillan Education UK.

    Google Scholar 

  • Losin, N., Drury, J. P., Peiman, K. S., Storch, C., & Grether, G. F. (2016). The ecological and evolutionary stability of interspecific territoriality. Ecology Letters, 19(3), 260–267.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lott, D. F. (1991). Intraspecific variation in the social systems of wild vertebrates. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Maher, C. R., & Lott, D. F. (1995). Definitions of territoriality used in the study of variation in vertebrate spacing systems. Animal Behaviour, 49, 1581–1597.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Maher, C. R., & Lott, D. F. (2000). A review of ecological determinants of territoriality within vertebrate species. American Midland Naturalist, 143, 1–29.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Marler, C. A., Walsberg, G., White, M. L., & Moore, M. (1995). Increased energy expenditure due to increased territorial defense in male lizards after phenotypic manipulation. Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology, 37, 225–231.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Maynard Smith, J., & Parker, G. A. (1976). The logic of asymmetric contests. Animal Behaviour, 24(1), 159–175.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Moser-Purdy, C., MacDougall-Shackleton, S. A., Bonier, F., Graham, B. A., Boyer, A. C., & Mennill, D. J. (2017a). Male song sparrows have elevated testosterone in response to neighbors versus strangers. Hormones and Behavior, 93, 47–52.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Moser-Purdy, C., MacDougall-Shackleton, E. A., & Mennill, D. J. (2017b). Enemies are not always dear: Male song sparrows adjust dear enemy effect expression in response to female fertility. Animal Behaviour, 126, 17–22.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Müller, C. A., & Manser, M. B. (2007). ‘Nasty neighbours’ rather than ‘dear enemies’ in a social carnivore. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 274(1612), 959–965. https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2006.0222

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Newey, P. S., Robson, S. K. A., & Crozier, R. H. (2010). Weaver ants Oecophylla smaragdina encounter nasty neighbors rather than dear enemies. Ecology, 91, 2366–2372.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pitelka, F. A. (1959). Numbers, breeding schedule, and territoriality in pectoral sandpipers of northern Alaska. Condor, 61, 233–264.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Reed, J. M., Boulinier, T., Danchin, E., & Oring, L. W. (1999). Informed dispersal: Prospecting by birds for breeding sites. In V. Nolan Jr., E. D. Ketterson, & C. F. Thompson (Eds.), Current ornithology (Vol. 15, pp. 189–259). New York: Springer.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Shier, D. M., & Swaisgood, R. R. (2011). Fitness costs of neighborhood disruption in translocations of a solitary mammal. Conservation Biology, 26, 116–123.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sih, A., & Mateo, J. M. (2001). Punishment and persistence pay: A new model of territory establishment and space use. Trends in Ecology & Evolution, 16, 477–479.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Stamps, J. A. (1988). Conspecific attraction and aggregation in territorial species. American Naturalist, 131, 329–347.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Stamps, J. A., & Krishnan, V. V. (1999). A learning-based model of territory establishment. Quarterly Review of Biology, 74, 291–318.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Stamps, J. A., & Krishnan, V. V. (2001). How territorial animals compete for divisible space: A learning-based model with unequal competitors. American Naturalist, 157(2), 154–169.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Temeles, E. J. (1994). The role of neighbours in territorial systems: When are they “dear enemies”? Animal Behaviour, 47, 339–350.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wingfield, J. C., Lynn, S. E., & Soma, K. K. (2001). Avoiding the ‘costs’ of testosterone: Ecological bases of hormone-behavior interactions. Brain, Behavior and Evolution, 57(5), 239–251.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wolff, J. O., & Peterson, J. A. (1998). An offspring-defense hypothesis for territoriality in female mammals. Ethology Ecology and Evolution, 10, 227–239.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ydenberg, R. C., Giraldeau, L.-A., & Falls, J. B. (1988). Neighbours, strangers, and the asymmetric war of attrition. Animal Behaviour, 36(2), 343–347.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biological Sciences, University of Southern Maine, Portland, ME, USA

    Christine R. Maher

Authors
  1. Christine R. Maher
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Christine R. Maher .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Oakland University , Rochester, Michigan, USA

    Jennifer Vonk

  2. Department of Psychology, Oakland University Department of Psychology, Rochester, Michigan, USA

    Todd Shackelford

Section Editor information

  1. Federal Institute Farroupilha, Panambi, RS, Brasil

    Caroline Leuchtenberger

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2018 Springer International Publishing AG

About this entry

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this entry

Maher, C.R. (2018). Territoriality. In: Vonk, J., Shackelford, T. (eds) Encyclopedia of Animal Cognition and Behavior. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-47829-6_725-1

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-47829-6_725-1

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-47829-6

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-47829-6

  • eBook Packages: Springer Reference Behavioral Science and PsychologyReference Module Humanities and Social SciencesReference Module Business, Economics and Social Sciences

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation