FUNCTIONS OF FIGHTS IN TERRITORY ESTABLISHMENT

Fights are often observed when prospective territory owners settle in patches of vacant habitat, but the function of these fights in space a cquisition is obscure. This study tests two hypotheses about the effec t of fights on subsequent space use patterns: first, that settlers win space by winning fights and, second, that fights encourage the establ ishment of mutually exclusive home ranges between opponents (i.e., ''f ights make neighbors''). The behavior of juvenile Anolis aeneus lizard s was recorded as they established territories in patches of habitat i n the field. In support of the fights-make-neighbors hypothesis, oppon ents whose last aggressive interaction was a fight were six times more likely to have mutually exclusive home ranges at the end of the settl ement period than were otherwise equivalent dyads whose last encounter was a chase. Contra the hypothesis that settlers win space by winning fights, most last fights ended in a draw, and there was no discernabl e relationship between the outcome of last fights and the subsequent s pace use of the contestants. These and previous analyses of settlement behavior in this species suggest that fights during the settlement pe riod encourage the formation of symmetrical social and spatial relatio nships between neighboring settlers.