scholarly journals Competitive environments sustain costly altruism with negligible assortment of interactions

2013 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
C. Patrick Doncaster ◽  
Adam Jackson ◽  
Richard A. Watson
Keyword(s):  
Kin Selection ◽  
Population Regulation ◽  
Density Regulation ◽  
Generic Models ◽  
Competitive Environments ◽  
Kin Structure ◽  
Strong Competition

Abstract Competition hinders the evolution of altruism amongst kin when beneficiaries gain at the expense of competing relatives. Altruism is consequently deemed to require stronger kin selection, or trait-selected synergies, or elastic population regulation, to counter this effect. Here we contest the view that competition puts any such demands on altruism. In ecologically realistic scenarios, competition influences both altruism and defection. We show how environments that pit defectors against each other allow strong altruism to evolve even in populations with negligible kin structure and no synergies. Competition amongst defectors presents relative advantages to altruism in the simplest games between altruists and defectors and the most generic models of altruistic phenotypes or genotypes invading non-altruistic populations under inelastic density regulation. Given the widespread inevitability of competition, selection will often favour altruism because its alternatives provide lower fitness. Strong competition amongst defectors nevertheless undermines altruism, by facilitating invasion of unrelated beneficiaries as parasites.

scholarly journals Kinship and the evolution of social behaviours in the sea

2013 ◽  
Vol 9 (6) ◽  
pp. 20130454 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephanie J. Kamel ◽  
Richard K. Grosberg
Keyword(s):  
Social Interactions ◽  
Kin Selection ◽  
Life Histories ◽  
Social Evolution ◽  
Family Members ◽  
Marine Organisms ◽  
Limited Dispersal ◽  
Kin Structure ◽  
Social Behaviours

Until recently, little attention has been paid to the existence of kin structure in the sea, despite the fact that many marine organisms are sessile or sedentary. This lack of attention to kin structure, and its impacts on social evolution, historically stems from the pervasive assumption that the dispersal of gametes and larvae is almost always sufficient to prevent any persistent associations of closely related offspring or adults. However, growing evidence, both theoretical and empirical, casts doubt on the generality of this assumption, not only in species with limited dispersal, but also in species with long dispersive phases. Moreover, many marine organisms either internally brood their progeny or package them in nurseries, both of which provide ample opportunities for kinship to influence the nature and outcomes of social interactions among family members. As the evidence for kin structure within marine populations mounts, it follows that kin selection may play a far greater role in the evolution of both behaviours and life histories of marine organisms than is presently appreciated.

Spacing Strategies, kin Selection, and Population Regulation in Altricial Vertebrates

Oikos ◽  
1984 ◽  
Vol 42 (1) ◽  
pp. 48 ◽  
Author(s):  
Torbjörn von Schantz ◽  
Torbjorn von Schantz
Keyword(s):  
Kin Selection ◽  
Population Regulation

scholarly journals Family feuds: social competition and sexual conflict in complex societies

2012 ◽  
Vol 367 (1600) ◽  
pp. 2304-2313 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dustin R. Rubenstein
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Conflict ◽  
Kin Selection ◽  
Social Groups ◽  
Sexual Partners ◽  
Complex Societies ◽  
Social Competition ◽  
Reproductive Conflict ◽  
Sexual Competition ◽  
Kin Structure ◽  
Animal Societies

Darwin was initially puzzled by the processes that led to ornamentation in males—what he termed sexual selection—and those that led to extreme cooperation and altruism in complex animal societies—what was later termed kin selection. Here, I explore the relationships between sexual and kin selection theory by examining how social competition for reproductive opportunities—particularly in females—and sexual conflict over mating partners are inherent and critical parts of complex altruistic societies. I argue that (i) patterns of reproductive sharing within complex societies can drive levels of social competition and reproductive conflict not only in males but also in females living in social groups, and ultimately the evolution of female traits such as ornaments and armaments; (ii) mating conflict over female choice of sexual partners can influence kin structure within groups and drive the evolution of complex societies; and (iii) patterns of reproductive sharing and conflict among females may also drive the evolution of complex societies by influencing kin structure within groups. Ultimately, complex societies exhibiting altruistic behaviour appear to have only arisen in taxa where social competition over reproductive opportunities and sexual conflict over mating partners were low. Once such societies evolved, there were important selective feedbacks on traits used to regulate and mediate intra-sexual competition over reproductive opportunities, particularly in females.

scholarly journals Sex-biased demography modulates male harm across the genome

2021 ◽  
Vol 288 (1965) ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas J. Hitchcock ◽  
Andy Gardner
Keyword(s):  
Sex Chromosomes ◽  
Sexual Conflict ◽  
Kin Selection ◽  
Overlapping Generations ◽  
Population Regulation ◽  
Reproductive Skew ◽  
Reproductive Value ◽  
Demographic Parameters ◽  
Local Competition ◽  
Sex Biases

Recent years have seen an explosion of theoretical and empirical interest in the role that kin selection plays in shaping patterns of sexual conflict, with a particular focus on male harming traits. However, this work has focused solely on autosomal genes, and as such it remains unclear how demography modulates the evolution of male harm loci occurring in other portions of the genome, such as sex chromosomes and cytoplasmic elements. To investigate this, we extend existing models of sexual conflict for application to these different modes of inheritance. We first analyse the general case, revealing how sex-specific relatedness, reproductive value and the intensity of local competition combine to determine the potential for male harm. We then analyse a series of demographically explicit models, to assess how dispersal, overlapping generations, reproductive skew and the mechanism of population regulation affect sexual conflict across the genome, and drive conflict between nuclear and cytoplasmic genes. We then explore the effects of sex biases in these demographic parameters, showing how they may drive further conflicts between autosomes and sex chromosomes. Finally, we outline how different crossing schemes may be used to identify signatures of these intragenomic conflicts.

scholarly journals Specific adaptation to strong competitors can offset the negative effects of population size reductions

2018 ◽  
Vol 285 (1875) ◽  
pp. 20180007 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xin-Feng Zhao ◽  
Angus Buckling ◽  
Quan-Guo Zhang ◽  
Elze Hesse
Keyword(s):  
Population Size ◽  
Competitive Ability ◽  
Negative Effects ◽  
Specific Adaptation ◽  
Competitive Environments ◽  
Strong Competition ◽  
The One ◽  
Opposing Effects ◽  
Evolutionary Consequences ◽  
Strength Of Competition

Competition plays a crucial role in determining adaptation of species, yet we know little as to how adaptation is affected by the strength of competition. On the one hand, strong competition typically results in population size reductions, which can hamper adaptation owing to a shortage of beneficial mutations; on the other hand, specificity of adaptation to competitors may offset the negative evolutionary consequences of such population size effects. Here, we investigate how competition strength affects population fitness in the bacterium Pseudomonas fluorescens . Our results demonstrate that strong competition constrains adaptation of focal populations, which can be partially explained by population size reductions. However, fitness assays also reveal specific adaptation of focal populations to particular competitors varying in competitive ability. Additionally, this specific adaptation can offset the negative effects of competitor-mediated population size reductions under strong competition. Our study, therefore, highlights the importance of opposing effects of strong competition on species adaptation, which may lead to different outcomes of colonization under intense and relaxed competitive environments in the context of population dispersal.

scholarly journals A STUDY OF THE VALUE OF ICT IN IMPROVING CORPORATE PERFORMANCE: A CORPORATE COMPETITIVENESS VIEW

2018 ◽  
Vol 24 (4) ◽  
pp. 1388-1407 ◽  
Author(s):  
Virginia Barba-Sánchez ◽  
María José Calderón-Milán ◽  
Carlos Atienza-Sahuquillo
Keyword(s):  
Positive Relationship ◽  
Principal Axis ◽  
Corporate Performance ◽  
Information And Communications Technologies ◽  
Competitive Environments ◽  
Ordered Logistic Regression ◽  
Communications Technologies ◽  
Principal Axis Factoring ◽  
Strong Competition ◽  
The Impact

In a context of economic crisis and strong competition between companies, managing information and knowledge seem to be key to the new productive model. The aim of this paper is to analyse the impact that the intensity of a firm’s adoption of information and communications technologies (ICT) and industry attractiveness has on corporate performance. A sample of 871 SMEs took part in the study and data were analysed using ordered logistic regression and principal axis factoring analysis. The results emphasise the existence of a significant positive relationship between ICT intensity of use and corporate performance and highlight the importance of ICT in very competitive environments. Our survey suggests that full integration of ICTs in the company is advisable. The drawback, however, is that the rapidly changing nature of ICTs makes the adoption of emerging ICTs difficult.

scholarly journals The kin structure of sexual interactions

2009 ◽  
Vol 5 (5) ◽  
pp. 689-692 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. F. G. Bourke
Keyword(s):  
Sex Ratio ◽  
Sexual Reproduction ◽  
Sexual Conflict ◽  
Kin Selection ◽  
Sex Allocation ◽  
Social Groups ◽  
Social Processes ◽  
Sexual Partners ◽  
Diploid Genome ◽  
Kin Structure

The origin of sexual reproduction involved the evolution of zygotes from separate genomes and, like other social processes, should therefore be amenable to analysis using kin selection theory. I consider how kin structure affects sexual interactions in three contexts—the evolution of sexual reproduction, sex allocation and sexual conflict. Kin structure helps explain the even-handed replication of paternal and maternal genes under outbreeding. Under inbreeding, it predicts altruistic failure to replicate by one half of the diploid genome. Kin structure predicts optimal sex ratios and potential conflicts over sex ratio within social groups and individuals. Sexual conflict predictably occurs as a function of (i) the probability that current sexual partners will reproduce together in future and (ii) between-partner relatedness. I conclude that systematically analysing the kin structure of sexual interactions helps illuminate their evolution.

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