Sex Drives Intraspecific Scaling of Home Range Size in Mammals

Abstract

Understanding variation in home range size (HR) provides important insights into the underlying ecological processes driving space use. However, it remains unclear whether the interspecific allometric scaling of mammals' HR can also be consistently observed within species and for both sexes. To address this knowledge gap, we GPS-tracked 349 resident individuals across Brazil, encompassing 18 mammal species. We estimated individuals' HR and modelled intraspecific variation in HR against body mass (BM) and sex. While males showed a positive allometric scaling similar to interspecific findings reported in the literature (exponent = 1.23), females' BM had no statistically discernible relationship with HR. We suggest that males have greater energetic and evolutionary incentives to expand their HR with increasing BM, and more physical capacity to do so. Traditional studies on HR scaling that disregard individual sex may, in reality, reflect an average of two distinct patterns, while failing to accurately represent either one.