ArticleBMC ecology2020
Using long-term ranging patterns to assess within-group and between-group competition in wild mountain gorillas.
Article in BMC ecology, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 8 papers.
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Who cites it
8 citing papers in PubMed.
- Drivers of Variation in the Optimal Spatial Structure of Collective Information Gatherers.Bulletin of mathematical biology · 2026Article
- Environmental fluctuations alter the competitive trade-offs of group size in a social primate.Nature ecology & evolution · 2026Article
- Socioecological drivers of injuries and aggression in female and male rhesus macaques (Behavioral ecology and sociobiology · 2025Article
- The role of between-group signaling in the evolution of primate ornamentation.Evolution letters · 2024Article
- Path To Acceptance and Refined Practices for Habituating Western Lowland Gorillas.Primates; journal of primatology · 2024Article
- Group differences in feeding and diet composition of wild western gorillas.Scientific reports · 2022Article
- Population dynamics of western gorillas at Mbeli Bai.PloS one · 2022Article
- Chest beats as an honest signal of body size in male mountain gorillas (Gorilla beringei beringei).Scientific reports · 2021Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
2 authors.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundCompetition within and between social groups determines access to resources and can be inferred from space use parameters that reflect depletion of food resources and competitive abilities of groups. Using location data from 1998 to 2017, we investigated within- and between-group competition in 12 groups of wild mountain gorillas (Gorilla beringei beringei). As within-group feeding competition is expected to increase with group size, an increase in group size is predicted to lead to an increase in the size of annual home ranges and core areas, but to a decrease in fidelity (reuse of an area). Due to asymmetries in competitive abilities, larger groups are expected to have higher exclusivity (degree of non-shared space) of annual home ranges and core areas than smaller groups.
resultsWe found evidence of within-group feeding competition based on a positive relationship between group size and both annual home range and core area size as well as a negative relationship between group size and core area fidelity. Additionally, fidelity of core areas was lower than of home ranges. Between-group competition was inferred from a trend for groups with more members and more males to have more exclusive home ranges and core areas. Lastly, annual core areas were largely mutually exclusive.
conclusionsOur study suggests that non-territorial, group-living animals can have highly dynamic, long-term avoidance-based spacing patterns, both temporally and spatially, to maintain annual core area exclusivity among groups while concurrently shifting these areas annually within overlapping home ranges to avoid resource depletion. Despite ranging in larger home ranges and core areas, larger groups were able to maintain more exclusive ranges than smaller groups, suggesting a competitive advantage for larger groups in between-group competition in a non-territorial species. Together, these findings contribute to understanding how social animals make behavioral adjustments to mitigate the effects of intraspecific competition.
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