How Much Is Enough? An Empirical Test of the Resource Dispersion Hypothesis.

ABSTRACT: Understanding how animals adjust their spatial and social organization to resource variability is central to ecological theory. We tested predictions of the Resource Dispersion Hypothesis (RDH) by examining how resource availability and distribution influence territory and group structure in a species highly adapted to the Anthropocene: the free-ranging dog (Canis lupus familiaris). Across rural and urban sites in India, we conducted census-based surveys and territory-based tracking over three reproductive seasons to assess spatial and social dynamics along resource gradients. Dog and resource densities were significantly higher in urban areas, but a generalized linear model revealed that resources predicted adult dog density only in rural sites, with this relationship disappearing

SUBMITTER: Biswas S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12711434 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature