Social foraging and dominance relationships: the effects of socially mediated interference
Authored by Guy Cowlishaw, Sean A Rands, Richard A Pettifor, J Marcus Rowcliffe
Date Published: 2006
DOI: 10.1007/s00265-006-0202-4
Sponsors:
United Kingdom Natural Environment Research Council (NERC)
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Model Documentation:
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Mathematical description
Model Code URLs:
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Abstract
In socially foraging animals, it is widely acknowledged that the
position of an individual within the dominance hierarchy of the group
has a large effect upon its foraging behaviour and energetic intake, where the intake of subordinates can be reduced through socially
mediated interference. In this paper, we explore the effects of
interference upon group dynamics and individual behaviour, using a
spatially explicit individual-based model. Each individual follows a
simple behavioural rule based upon its energetic reserves and the
actions of its neighbours (where the rule is derived from game theory
models). We show that dominant individuals should have larger energetic
reserves than their subordinates, and the size of this difference
increases when either food is scarce, the intensity of interference
suffered by the subordinates increases, or the distance over which
dominant individuals affect subordinates increases. Unlike previous
models, the results presented in this paper about differences in
reserves are not based upon prior assumptions of the effects of social
hierarchy and energetic reserves upon predation risk, and emerge through
nothing more than a reduction in energetic intake by the subordinates
when dominants are present. Furthermore, we show that increasing
interference intensity, food availability or the distance over which
dominants have an effect also causes the difference in movement between
ranks to increase (where subordinates move more than dominants), and the
distance over which dominants have an effect changes the size of the
groups that the different ranks are found in. These results are
discussed in relation to previous studies of intra- and interspecific
dominance hierarchies.
Tags
Mytilus-edulis
Japanese macaques
Haematopus-ostralegus
Sexual segregation
Behavioral ecology
Deriving population parameters
Individual-differences
Macaques macaca-fuscata
Resting
metabolic-rate
Goose flocks