Department of Biology, University of California, Riverside, CA 92521, USA.
Proc Biol Sci. 2010 Nov 22;277(1699):3477-82. doi: 10.1098/rspb.2010.0819. Epub 2010 Jun 9.
Individual preferences for good habitat are often thought to have a beneficial stabilizing effect for populations. However, if individuals preferentially compete for better-quality territories, these may become hotspots of conflict. We show that, in an endangered species, this process decreases the productivity of favoured territories to the extent that differences in productivity between territories disappear. Unlike predictions from current demographic theory on site-dependent population regulation (ideal despotic distribution), we show that population productivity is reduced if resources are distributed unevenly in space. Competition for high-quality habitat can thus have detrimental consequences for populations even though it benefits individuals. Manipulating conflict (e.g. by reducing variation in habitat quality) can therefore prove an effective conservation measure in species with strong social or territorial conflict.
个体对良好栖息地的偏好通常被认为对种群具有有益的稳定作用。然而，如果个体优先竞争更好质量的领地，这些领地可能成为冲突的热点。我们表明，在一个濒危物种中，这个过程会降低受青睐领地的生产力，以至于领地之间的生产力差异消失。与当前基于地点的种群调节的人口理论（理想的专制分配）的预测不同，我们表明，如果资源在空间中不均匀分布，种群的生产力就会降低。因此，即使对个体有利，对高质量栖息地的竞争也会对种群产生不利影响。因此，在具有强烈社会或领地冲突的物种中，通过操纵冲突（例如减少栖息地质量的变化）可以证明是一种有效的保护措施。
