Ascertaining the risks and benefits of different behaviors is a central goal of research on territoriality. Although most territorial behavior is ritualized, with concomitant reduced risks for both residents and intruders, this ritualization is generally found to be underpinned by rare, highly consequential, interactions. The agonistic behavior of the intertidal owl limpet, Lottia gigantea, involves defense of a feeding territory, and includes a relatively explosive thrusting response by territory holders against intruding conspecifics. We here ask whether this thrusting behavior is capable of entirely dislodging intruders from their rocky wave-swept substratum, thereby ridding the resident of future challenges by that intruder. Our field measurements of the strength of territorial thrusts, as well as thrust resistance, indicate that territorial limpets are strong enough to overcome the resistance of small to medium sized (<40 mm) conspecifics encountered on their territories. Interestingly, at least 44% of the limpets dislodged from the rock substratum during a retreat or territorial response survived in a new location. Growth of these survivors was at least as rapid as that of undisturbed limpets in the old location. We conclude that shell thrusting during the territorial response of Lottia gigantea can reduce the cost of territorial defense by dislodging smaller conspecifics, thereby eliminating them from all future interactions. Conversely, the risk incurred by these smaller conspecifics while intruding onto territories of larger individuals is likely mitigated by the surprisingly high survival rate, and subsequent normal growth, of dislodged limpets.

中文翻译：

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迁移在猫头鹰帽贝 Lottia gigantea 领土生态中的作用

确定不同行为的风险和收益是领土研究的核心目标。尽管大多数领土行为都是仪式化的，同时降低了居民和入侵者的风险，但通常发现这种仪式化是由罕见的、后果严重的互动支撑的。潮间带猫头鹰帽贝 Lottia gigantea 的争斗行为涉及保卫觅食领地，并包括领地持有者对入侵的同种动物的相对爆炸性的猛烈反应。我们在此询问这种推进行为是否能够将入侵者完全从岩石波浪扫过的地层中驱逐出去，从而使居民免受入侵者未来的挑战。我们对领土推力强度以及推力阻力的实地测量，表明领土帽贝足够强大，可以克服在其领土上遇到的中小型（<40 毫米）同种动物的抵抗力。有趣的是，在撤退或领土反应期间，至少有 44% 的帽贝从岩石基质中脱落，在新的位置幸存下来。这些幸存者的成长速度至少与旧地点未受干扰的帽贝的成长速度一样快。我们得出的结论是，在 Lottia gigantea 的领土反应期间，炮弹可以通过驱逐较小的同种物种来降低领土防御的成本，从而将它们从所有未来的相互作用中消除。相反，这些较小的同种动物在侵入较大个体的领地时所产生的风险可能会被脱落的帽贝惊人的高存活率和随后的正常生长所减轻。