Clumped sparse resources make territorial fighting pay off reproductively

Evidence

If, instead, those same food resources were sparse, and especially if they were clumped into rare but concentrated patches, then the male would face a very different set of payoffs for guarding a territory. He would still pay a price for producing the weapon, and for expending time and energy fighting to keep rival males out of his territory. But now these territories would matter, and the benefits he could glean from guarding them might be significant. Females would be much more likely to visit him, since the resources they needed were few and far between, and one of the only places where they could access them was inside his territory. Indeed, lots of females might visit his territory and, if the resources were localized enough to be readily defended from rival males, he might be able to mate with a disproportionate number of these females—more females than other males who were not able to guard a territory, and possibly even more than males who were guarding a territory, if his territory were bigger or better than theirs or contained more of the limiting resources. — Emlen, Douglas J, Animal Weapons_ The Evolution of Battle, 202 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

Harlequin beetles and pseudoscorpions each have something of critical importance to females that is rare and localized, and therefore economically defensible, though the specific resource in each case is different. Males of both species who are successful at guarding the resource are able to mate with many different females. That is, they translate their success in fighting into success in reproduction. And, in both cases, this blend of ecological circumstances has led to a history of strong sexual selection for large male weapons. — Emlen, Douglas J, Animal Weapons_ The Evolution of Battle, 217 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Arms races inevitably stall as weapon costs neutralize reproductive benefits — Emlen, Douglas J, Animal Weapons_ The Evolution of Battle, 432; Weapons disappear when fights stop being duels over defensible resources; Evenly distributed food resources make territorial fighting economically wasteful (+14 more)

Related

• Rare localized resources translate fighting success into reproductive success (similarity 0.93)
• Clumped scarce resources make guarding territories economically worthwhile (similarity 0.90)
• Uniformly distributed resources make territorial weapons uneconomical (similarity 0.86)
• Evenly distributed food resources make territorial fighting economically wasteful (similarity 0.86)
• Weapons disappear when fights stop being duels over defensible resources (similarity 0.85)
• Scarcity of egg-laying sites made big beetle weapons enormously beneficial (similarity 0.84)
• Rare and defensible sap flows make male beetle territories worth fighting for (similarity 0.84)
• Competition for reproduction drives evolution of nature’s biggest weapons (similarity 0.84)
• Weapon evolution needs both competition and economically defensible resources (similarity 0.84)
• Reproductive success, not survival, drives the largest animal weapons (similarity 0.83)
• Arms races inevitably stall as weapon costs neutralize reproductive benefits (similarity 0.83)
• Weapons evolve only when reproductive benefits exceed costs (similarity 0.82)
• Extreme skew in mating success drives arms-race escalation in weaponry (similarity 0.82)
• Male combat for mating access frequently causes serious wounds and sometimes death (similarity 0.82)
• Sexual selection drives weapons to extremes because payoffs for winners are enormous. (similarity 0.82)

Broader Connections

• Clumped scarce resources make guarding territories economically worthwhile #corroborates (0.95) — Emlen, Douglas J, Animal Weapons_ The Evolution of Battle, 202
• Rare localized resources translate fighting success into reproductive success #corroborates (0.90) — Emlen, Douglas J, Animal Weapons_ The Evolution of Battle, 217
• Males evolve big weapons to defend resources that females visit #expands (0.85)
• Weapon size is favored when males defend resources females need #expands (0.85) — Emlen, Douglas J, Animal Weapons_ The Evolution of Battle, 960
• Competition for reproduction drives evolution of nature’s biggest weapons #expands (0.75) — Emlen, Douglas J, Animal Weapons_ The Evolution of Battle, 136
• Uniformly distributed resources make territorial weapons uneconomical #corroborates (0.70) — Emlen, Douglas J, Animal Weapons_ The Evolution of Battle, 201
• Weapons evolve only when reproductive benefits exceed costs #qualifies (0.60) — Emlen, Douglas J, Animal Weapons_ The Evolution of Battle, 199
• Extreme skew in mating success drives arms-race escalation in weaponry #expands (0.60)
• Excess rival males over scarce fertile females drove knightly combat in medieval Europe #exemplifies (0.55) — Emlen, Douglas J, Animal Weapons_ The Evolution of Battle, 169