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Science 8 October 2004:
Vol. 306. no. 5694, pp. 266 - 268
DOI: 10.1126/science.1102138
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Reports

The Scaling of Animal Space Use

Walter Jetz,1,2*{dagger} Chris Carbone,3 Jenny Fulford,3 James H. Brown2

Space used by animals increases with increasing body size. Energy requirements alone can explain how population density decreases, but not the steep rate at which home range area increases. We present a general mechanistic model that predicts the frequency of interaction, spatial overlap, and loss of resources to neighbors. Extensive empirical evidence supports the model, demonstrating that spatial constraints on defense cause exclusivity of home range use to decrease with increasing body size. In large mammals, over 90% of available resources may be lost to neighbors. Our model offers a general framework to understand animal space use and sociality.

1 Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08544–1003, USA.
2 Department of Biology, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM 87131, USA.
3 Institute of Zoology, Zoological Society of London, Regent's Park, London, NW1 4RY, UK.



{dagger} Address as of December 2004: Division of Biological Sciences, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093, USA.

* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: wjetz{at}princeton.edu.

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