According to ethology, a territory is best defined as:
Territoriality is occupation and exclusive defense of area against conspecifics to secure resources like food, mates or nesting sites, differing from home range which is undefended. Benefits include exclusive resource access, costs involve time and energy for patrolling and aggression. Optimal territory size maximizes net benefit. Defense via song, scent marking, visual displays and aggression maintains boundaries. This behavior illustrates resource defense theory central to behavioral ecology. Hence An area defended against conspecifics defines area defense strategy. This concept integrates g
Ref: Alcock, Animal Behavior, Inclusive Fitness and Haplodiploidy.