If, instead, those same food resources were sparse, and especially if they were clumped into rare but concentrated patches, then the male would face a very different set of payoffs for guarding a territory. He would still pay a price for producing the weapon, and for expending time and energy fighting to keep rival males out of his territory. But now these territories would matter, and the benefits he could glean from guarding them might be significant. Females would be much more likely to visit him, since the resources they needed were few and far between, and one of the only places where they could access them was inside his territory.

Emlen, Douglas J, Animal Weapons_ The Evoluti…, loc. 202