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High-ranking alleviates male local competition in lek mating systems
Fabio Giavazzi1, Nicola Saino2, Alberto Vailati3
1Dipartimento di Biotecnologie Mediche e Medicina Traslazionale, Università degli Studi di Milano, Milano, Italy.
Abstract:
Territoriality entails demanding social interactions with competing individuals, typically males. Variation in quality of males can be predicted to affect the spatial arrangement of territories. We present a model aimed at understanding the spatial properties of territories on leks, where the presence of a hierarchy in a population of males leads to the clustering of individuals around high-ranking 'hotshot' males. The hierarchy results in a decrease in the number of nearest neighbors interacting directly with high-ranking males, with potential socio-sexual benefits for such males.
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