Data from: A disparity between locomotor economy and territory holding ability in male house mice

Both economical locomotion and physical fighting are important performance
traits to many species because of their direct influence on components of
Darwinian fitness. Locomotion represents a substantial portion of the
total daily energy budget of many animals. Fighting performance often
determines individual reproductive fitness through the means of resource
control, social dominance, and access to mates. However, phenotypic traits
that improve either locomotor economy or fighting ability may diminish
performance in the other. Here we test for a predicted disparity between
locomotor economy and competitive ability in wild-derived house mice (Mus
musculus). We used 8-week social competition trials in semi-natural
enclosures to directly measure male competitive ability through
territorial control and female occupancy within territories. We also
measured oxygen consumption during locomotion for each mouse using running
trials in an enclosed treadmill and open-flow respirometry. Our results
show that territory-holding males have higher absolute and mass-specific
oxygen consumption when running (i.e., reduced locomotor economy) as
compared to males that do not control territories. This relationship was
present both before and after 8-week competition trials in semi-natural
enclosures. This disparity between physical competitive ability and
economical locomotion may impose viability costs on males in species for
which competition over mates is common and may constrain the evolution of
behavioral and phenotypic diversity, particularly in natural settings with
environmental and resource variability.