From Australian Oceans Data Network

Owner Advantage in the fiddler crab, Uca mjoebergi. Are owners more motivated than floaters in response to high quality territories?

Created 12/03/2025

Updated 12/03/2025

Resource owners generally win contests against intruders, a phenomenon referred to as the 'Owner Advantage' (OA). Uca mjoebergi is a typical fiddler crab that is highly sociable, territorial and lives in mixed sex colonies on intertidal mudflats. Burrows are used in territory defence, for mating, and as refuge from predators and environmental stresses. Fights are common between owners and floating males who battle for ownership of the territory and burrow. Experiments were conducted from 28th Sept - 30 Dec 2006 at the lower reaches of Ludmilla Creek within East Point Reserve, 5km North of Darwin, NT. Previous experiments have revealed that owners win more contests than floaters because they are more motivated. This experiment was designed to test if owners are more motivated than floaters in response to high quality territories. The results revealed that owners won more contests in 'high quality' territories than in 'natural' territories but this difference was not significant. Although owners win more contests in 'High quality' territories, the lack of significance may indicate only a small asymmetry between owners and floaters. It is possible that owners and floaters have similar abilities to perceive the food availability and be similar in motivational level.

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Field Value
Title Owner Advantage in the fiddler crab, Uca mjoebergi. Are owners more motivated than floaters in response to high quality territories?
Language eng
Licence notspecified
Landing Page https://devweb.dga.links.com.au/data/dataset/294b23e9-6873-477a-9076-db246fa3cb2e
Contact Point
CSIRO Oceans & Atmosphere
sfayed@utas.edu.au
Reference Period 28/09/2006 - 30/12/2006
Geospatial Coverage {"type": "Polygon", "coordinates": [[[130.5, -13.0], [131.0, -13.0], [131.0, -12.0], [130.5, -12.0], [130.5, -13.0]]]}
Data Portal data.gov.au

Data Source

This dataset was originally found on data.gov.au "Owner Advantage in the fiddler crab, Uca mjoebergi. Are owners more motivated than floaters in response to high quality territories?". Please visit the source to access the original metadata of the dataset:
https://devweb.dga.links.com.au/data/dataset/owner-advantage-in-the-fiddler-crab-uca-mjoebergi-are-owners-more-motivated-than-floaters-in-re1

No duplicate datasets found.