Prior residence effect determines success of male–male territorial competition in a color polymorphic poison frog

Abstract Male–male competition shapes resource distributions and reproductive success among individuals, and can drive trait evolution when phenotypes differ in competitive abilities and/or strategies. Divergence of populations, regardless of the cause, is often accompanied by divergence in male competitive ability, and such asymmetries can play an important role in mediating the interactions and evolutionary trajectory of the nascent lineages. Here, we designed a field experiment to examine the importance of color, a divergent trait, in determining territorial contest outcomes in the poison frog Oophaga pumilio . Males of different O. pumilio color morphs differ in aggression level, suggesting a potential dominance hierarchy between these divergent phenotypes. In a contact zone between red and blue‐color morphs, we first removed territorial males from their calling sites, and examined whether certain color morph(s) were better at establishing in these now‐vacant territories. We then staged a territorial contest by simultaneously releasing the original and the new occupant to their point of capture. Surprisingly, we found no significant effect of color on acquiring territories or winning staged contests. However, the original occupants won against the new occupant in 84% of the staged contests, revealing a strong prior residence effect. This suggests that asymmetries that stem from prior residency override coloration in predicting contest outcomes of male–male territorial contests in wild O. pumilio . Thus, contradicting our hypothesis, male–male territorial competition alone seems unlikely to exert selection on coloration in this contact zone.