Positive Feedback between Behavioral and Hormonal Dynamics Leads to Differentiation of Life-History Tactics

Abstract

Competitive interaction among individuals of a single population may result in the differentiation to two or more distinct life history tactics. For example, although they exhibit unimodal size distribution, male juveniles of salmonids differentiate into those going down to the ocean for growth and returning after several years to the natal stream for reproduction (migratory tactic) and those staying in the stream and reproducing for multiple years (resident tactic). In this study, we developed a simple mathematical model for the positive feedback between hormonal and behavioral dynamics, with the expectation of establishing multiple discrete clusters of hormone levels leading to differentiation of life-history tactics. The assumptions were that probability of winning in fighting depends both on the body size and hormone level of the two contestants. An individual with a higher hormone level would be more likely to win the competition, which further enhanced hormone production, forming a positive feedback loop between hormone level and fighting ability. If the positive feedback was strong but not excessive, discrete clusters of hormone level emerged from a continuous distribution. In contrast, no clear clustering structure appeared in the distribution of hormone levels if the winning probability in fighting was controlled by the body size.