Question

What are the benefits of territorial behavior, and what are its cost? Under what circumstances is territorial behavior disadvantageous?

Answer 1

Benefits to territorial behaviour are improved access to resources ( food, habitat etc. ) , It allows Uninterrupted mating and less competition for food and safety for rearing young ones. Moreover, it also prevents overcrowding.

Costs to territorial behaviour may include the time used for defending the territory, the energy utilized and the risk of injury while an individual is fighting to defend its territory from enemies.

Disadvantages :

Fitness of quality habitat decreases with increasing population size. The organism may be excluded from the territory if the quality habitat have been fully occupied. In that case, the excluded organisms do not breed in unsuitable habitat and become floaters.