Punishment and persistence pay: a new model of territory establishment andspace use

Existing game theory on aggressive interactions associated with territory e stablishment typically assumes that pairs of contestants engage in 'winner takes all' fights for indivisible space. New work by Stamps and Krishnan ex plores an alternative scenario where space use emerges from a series of agg ressive interactions where punishment and persistence, rather than winning per se, shape observed patterns. This new approach generates novel predicti ons for game theory, such as the possibility of gaining space not by winnin g, but by 'nagging'.