Mark Briffa is a Reader in Animal behaviour at Plymouth University, UK. His research focusses on agonistic signals and decision making during animal contests. If losers end the contest by making a decision, what information are they basing this decision on? And, aside from losing out on ownership of a resource unit, what are the other consequences of losing a fight? He uses a range of species including hermit crabs, sea anemones, crickets and ants to investigate behavioural and physiological correlates of this giving up decision. He is especially interested in determining what traits are associated with enhanced fighting ability or resource holding potential (RHP). This has been approached form the perspectives of investment in weapons, performance capacities and recently in terms of consistent between-individual differences in behaviour (animal personality) and correlated suites of behaviour (behavioural syndromes)