Chapter 5 Flashcards
Can plants be territorial? All the examples given involved animals? Also, would a single species owning a large territory actual mean its off spring are weaker in a sense because they are not mating with species outside their territory so they are only adapt to whats in their territory. Do species have the same territory their whole lives because in that case that can’t intermingle and then they produce weaker off spring. It seems a group of individuals of the same species can share a territory (protect the territory together) as explained by the example on page 155 of the textbook where pairs of haematopus ostralegus, a species of bird, defend both nesting territories on the salt marsh and feeding territories on the mudflat. Lets say there is a trait all species in a certain territory have . So if geographically this territory does not move but the population of the species defending it continues to grow then is that population not weaker then lets say a species that does not have a life long territory and is forced to constantly be moving and adapting to its new environment. So my question is, other than losing energy to defend a territory, would having the same territory for ones whole life not make an animal and its off spring weaker in terms of it being less adaptive because it has not been exposed to different environments?
Mhmm.
