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.

Item Type:	Refereed Article
Keywords:	Animal behaviour; Fiddler crab; Owner advantage; Territoriality; Fighting
Research Division:	Biological Sciences
Research Group:	Ecology
Research Field:	Behavioural ecology
Objective Division:	Environmental Management
Objective Group:	Other environmental management
Objective Field:	Other environmental management not elsewhere classified
UTAS Author:	Fayed, SA (Ms Sarah Fayed)
ID Code:	56952
Year Published:	2008
Web of Science® Times Cited:	49
Deposited By:	Geography and Environmental Studies
Deposited On:	2009-06-10
Last Modified:	2009-06-17
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