@article{272dfdbe36b9493baa66978b2578ddd1,
title = "The effect of aggressiveness on the population dynamics of a territorial bird",
abstract = "A central issue in ecology lies in identifying the importance of resources, natural enemies and behaviour in the regulation of animal populations. Much of the debate on this subject has focused on animals that show cyclic fluctuations in abundance. However, there is still disagreement about the role of extrinsic (food, parasites or predators) and intrinsic (behaviour) factors in causing cycles. Recent studies have examined the impact of natural enemies, although spatial patterns resulting from restricted dispersal or recruitment are increasingly recognized as having the potential to influence unstable population dynamics. We tested the hypothesis that population cycles in a territorial bird, red grouse Lagopus lagopus scoticus, are caused by delayed density-dependent changes in the aggressiveness and spacing behaviour of males. Here we show that increasing aggressiveness experimentally for a short period in autumn reduced recruitment and subsequent breeding density by 50%, and changed population trajectories from increasing to declining. Intrinsic processes can therefore have fundamental effects on population dynamics.",
author = "F. Mougeot and Redpath, {S. M.} and F. Leckie and Hudson, {P. J.}",
note = "Funding Information: Acknowledgements We thank the authorities in Madagascar and the WWF for support of fieldwork, and L. Razafimanantsoa for access to tissues. We thank Z. Yang and M. Springer for discussion of methods, D. Krause for comments, and J. Thorne for guidance with his programs. This work was supported by the National Science Foundation, Washington, and the Field Museum{\textquoteright}s Pritzker Laboratory for Molecular Systematics. This is a Duke University Primate Center publication. Funding Information: Acknowledgements We thank the British army, English Nature, and the Dalhousie and Dunecht estates for allowing us access to their moors. We particularly thank T. P. J. Helps, C. McCarthy, J. Adamson, D. Calder and A. Dykes for their help in organizing the fieldwork. We also thank R. Cox, N. Green, D. Luccini and J. Irvine for their help with the fieldwork. D. Elston helped with the statistical analyses. S. Albon, M. Harris, X. Lambin, M. Marquiss, R. Moss and R. Van Der Wal made helpful comments on previous drafts of the manuscript. This work was funded by the Natural Environment Research Council.",
year = "2003",
month = feb,
day = "13",
doi = "10.1038/nature01395",
language = "English (US)",
volume = "421",
pages = "737--739",
journal = "Nature",
issn = "0028-0836",
publisher = "Nature Publishing Group",
number = "6924",
}