Boundary disputes in the territorial ant Azteca trigona: effects of asymmetries in colony size

Adams, Eldridge S.

doi:10.1016/s0003-3472(05)80877-2

Cited by 124 publications

(99 citation statements)

References 21 publications

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“…[41], are more efficient for foraging [42] or win more territorial fights [43,44]), then there will be selection pressure to pay these costs. But the significant finding is that these costs are considerable and, when optimal group size is small, make the costs prohibitive.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Processing power limits social group size: computational evidence for the cognitive costs of sociality

Dávid-Barrett

Dunbar

2013

Proc. R. Soc. B.

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ResearchCite this article: Dávid-Barrett T, Dunbar RIM. Sociality is primarily a coordination problem. However, the social (or communication) complexity hypothesis suggests that the kinds of information that can be acquired and processed may limit the size and/or complexity of social groups that a species can maintain. We use an agent-based model to test the hypothesis that the complexity of information processed influences the computational demands involved. We show that successive increases in the kinds of information processed allow organisms to break through the glass ceilings that otherwise limit the size of social groups: larger groups can only be achieved at the cost of more sophisticated kinds of information processing that are disadvantageous when optimal group size is small. These results simultaneously support both the social brain and the social complexity hypotheses.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Processing power limits social group size: computational evidence for the cognitive costs of sociality

Dávid-Barrett

Dunbar

2013

Proc. R. Soc. B.

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“…In disputes with neighbours over foraging area, smaller, younger colonies are more persistent and combative than older, larger ones (Gordon, 1991(Gordon, , 1992. Territorial behaviour involves some assessment of the relative sizes of the colonies involved (Holldobler, 1981;Adams, 1990).…”

Section: -7653mentioning

confidence: 99%

Effects of social group size on information transfer and task allocation

1996

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SummarySocial animals exchange information during social interaction. The rate of interaction and, hence, the rate of information exchange, typically changes with density and density may be affected by the size of the social group. We investigate models in which each individual may be engaged in one of several tasks. For example, the different tasks could represent alternative foraging locations exploited by an ant colony. An individual's decision about which task to pursue depends both on environmental stimuli and on interactions among individuals. We examine how group size affects the allocation of individuals among the various tasks. Analysis of the models shows the following. (1) Simple interactions among individuals with limited ability to process information can lead to group behaviour that closely approximates the predictions of evolutionary optimality models, (2) Because per capita rates of social interaction may increase with group size, larger groups may be more efficient than smaller ones at tracking a changing environment, (3) Group behaviour is determined both by each individual's interaction with environmental stimuli and by social exchange of information. To keep these processes in balance across a range of group sizes, organisms are predicted to regulate per capita rates of social interaction and (4) Stochastic models show, at least in some cases, that the results described here occur even in small groups of approximately ten individuals.

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“…In that sense, our present model provides only a approximation of the process of warfare between groups. This process deserve a better formalization, since warfare is not uncommon among social insects or mammals, including chimpanzees and humans (e.g., Mabelis 1979;Adams 1990;Wrangham 1999;Wilson et al 2002). …”

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Population Demography and the Evolution of Helping Behaviors

Lehmann

Perrin

Rousset

2006

Evol

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Abstract. Limited dispersal may favor the evolution of helping behaviors between relatives as it increases their relatedness, and it may inhibit such evolution as it increases local competition between these relatives. Here, we explore one way out of this dilemma: if the helping behavior allows groups to expand in size, then the kin-competition pressure opposing its evolution can be greatly reduced. We explore the effects of two kinds of stochasticity allowing for such deme expansion. First, we study the evolution of helping under environmental stochasticity that may induce complete patch extinction. Helping evolves if it results in a decrease in the probability of extinction or if it enhances the rate of patch recolonization through propagules formed by fission of nonextinct groups. This mode of dispersal is indeed commonly found in social species. Second, we consider the evolution of helping in the presence of demographic stochasticity. When fecundity is below its value maximizing deme size (undersaturation), helping evolves, but under stringent conditions unless positive density dependence (Allee effect) interferes with demographic stochasticity. When fecundity is above its value maximizing deme size (oversaturation), helping may also evolve, but only if it reduces negative density-dependent competition.Key words. Allee effect, altruism, demographic stochasticity, environmental stochasticity, kin selection, recolonization. Behaviors by which an individual sacrifices a fraction of its resources or itself to the benefit of another individual are of central importance to the evolution of sociality. Evaluating the conditions under which such behaviors are selected for requires a careful account of how the behavioral effects translate into fitness costs and benefits. A considerable amount of theoretical work has been devoted to this issue, usually under the heading of ''evolution of altruism.'' Inclusive fitness theory (Hamilton 1964) emphasizes that altruism may evolve if recipient individuals tend to bear the genes underlying the behavior. Thus, genetic relatedness between actor and recipients matters for the evolution of such behaviors. However, it has been more recently emphasized that genetically related neighbors are also more strongly competing for the same local resources, which could at least partially offset the fecundity benefits to neighbors. Indeed, in a simple model where relatedness between group members is induced by population structure, the direction of selection on helping is determined solely by direct fecundity benefits, the behavior being selected for only if the actor's fecundity, that is, the number of juveniles counted before any competition stage, is increased (Taylor 1992a). This result takes the form B/N Ϫ C Ͼ 0, where N is the group size, C is the fecundity cost of the act, and B is the total fecundity benefit to the group, including the actor, so that a benefit B/N is received by the actor.Taylor's model assumes a fixed number of adults. With this assumption, the behavior may affect t...

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Boundary disputes in the territorial ant Azteca trigona: effects of asymmetries in colony size

Cited by 124 publications

References 21 publications

Processing power limits social group size: computational evidence for the cognitive costs of sociality

Processing power limits social group size: computational evidence for the cognitive costs of sociality

Effects of social group size on information transfer and task allocation

Population Demography and the Evolution of Helping Behaviors

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