Final answer:
Male-male competition in polygynous mating systems is where males vie for access to females, often leading to various strategies such as defending territories with rich resources or forming lek systems for communal displays.
Step-by-step explanation:
Fighting against males for mating access to females is commonly known as male-male competition or intrasexual selection. This phenomenon often occurs in polygynous mating systems where one male mates with multiple females, leaving other males to compete for the limited opportunities to mate.
In such systems, the parental care for offspring is mostly left to the females, as the single male cannot provide care for many offspring. In resource-based polygyny, males compete for territories with abundant resources to attract females. For example, in the case of the yellow-ramped honeyguide, the males defend beehives and mate with the females attracted to the wax resources.
Another form of polygyny is harem mating, exemplified by elephant seals, where an alpha male control mating access within a territory. The lek system represents a communal courting area where males showcase elaborate displays for females who then select their mates from this group. Such behavior is demonstrated in bird species like the sage grouse and prairie chicken.