IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/oup/beheco/v23y2012i4p889-897..html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The evolution of multimale groups in Verreaux's sifaka, or how to test an evolutionary demographic model

Author

Listed:
  • Markus Port
  • Rufus A. Johnstone
  • Peter M. Kappeler

Abstract

Theoretical advances in the study of social evolution have highlighted the importance of studying group formation in conjunction with population dynamics. To address this need, a number of demographically explicit models have been developed. We parameterize such a model to study the evolution of multimale associations in Verreaux's sifaka (Propithecus verreauxi), a diurnal lemur living in small multimale–multifemale groups. We use long-term demographic data from a population in western Madagascar to estimate the fitness prospects of different male behavioral strategies. Our results indicate that dispersing male sifaka, rather than searching for a breeding territory of their own (floating), do better joining an established group as a subordinate with limited reproductive opportunities, mainly because they may later ascend to the dominant position. By contrast, resident males should not accept potential immigrants because we could not find any measurable benefit of living in a multimale group for them. There is thus a conflict over group membership between resident and floater males, and we suggest that floaters at least occasionally win this conflict because they have more to gain from joining than residents stand to lose by sharing their territory.

Suggested Citation

  • Markus Port & Rufus A. Johnstone & Peter M. Kappeler, 2012. "The evolution of multimale groups in Verreaux's sifaka, or how to test an evolutionary demographic model," Behavioral Ecology, International Society for Behavioral Ecology, vol. 23(4), pages 889-897.
  • Handle: RePEc:oup:beheco:v:23:y:2012:i:4:p:889-897.
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1093/beheco/ars053
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Tim Clutton-Brock, 2009. "Cooperation between non-kin in animal societies," Nature, Nature, vol. 462(7269), pages 51-57, November.
    2. Michael A. Cant & Sinead English, 2006. "Stable group size in cooperative breeders: the role of inheritance and reproductive skew," Behavioral Ecology, International Society for Behavioral Ecology, vol. 17(4), pages 560-568, July.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Som B Ale & Joel S Brown & Amy T Sullivan, 2013. "Evolution of Cooperation: Combining Kin Selection and Reciprocal Altruism into Matrix Games with Social Dilemmas," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 8(5), pages 1-8, May.
    2. Schimit, P.H.T. & Santos, B.O. & Soares, C.A., 2015. "Evolution of cooperation in Axelrod tournament using cellular automata," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 437(C), pages 204-217.
    3. Gao, Lei & Li, Yaotang & Wang, Zhen & Wang, Rui-Wu, 2022. "Asymmetric strategy setup solve the Prisoner’s Dilemma of the evolution of mutualism," Applied Mathematics and Computation, Elsevier, vol. 412(C).
    4. Zhu, Jiabao & Liu, Xingwen, 2021. "The number of strategy changes can be used to promote cooperation in spatial snowdrift game," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 575(C).
    5. Hammerstein, Peter & Leimar, Olof, 2015. "Evolutionary Game Theory in Biology," Handbook of Game Theory with Economic Applications,, Elsevier.
    6. Dirk Helbing & Anders Johansson, 2010. "Cooperation, Norms, and Revolutions: A Unified Game-Theoretical Approach," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 5(10), pages 1-15, October.
    7. Mohammad Salahshour, 2021. "Freedom to choose between public resources promotes cooperation," PLOS Computational Biology, Public Library of Science, vol. 17(2), pages 1-15, February.
    8. Paganelli, Maria Pia, 2011. "The same face of the two Smiths: Adam Smith and Vernon Smith," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 78(3), pages 246-255, May.
    9. Hannes Rusch & Max Albert, 2013. "Indirect Reciprocity, Golden Opportunities for Defection, and Inclusive Reputation," MAGKS Papers on Economics 201329, Philipps-Universität Marburg, Faculty of Business Administration and Economics, Department of Economics (Volkswirtschaftliche Abteilung).
    10. Joseph Bozorgmehr, 2012. "Natural selection as a paradigm of opportunism in biology," Journal of Bioeconomics, Springer, vol. 14(1), pages 61-75, April.
    11. Benjamin M Zagorsky & Johannes G Reiter & Krishnendu Chatterjee & Martin A Nowak, 2013. "Forgiver Triumphs in Alternating Prisoner's Dilemma," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 8(12), pages 1-8, December.
    12. Kaare B Mikkelsen & Lars A Bach, 2016. "Threshold Games and Cooperation on Multiplayer Graphs," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 11(2), pages 1-17, February.
    13. Maxwell N Burton-Chellew & Stuart A West, 2012. "Correlates of Cooperation in a One-Shot High-Stakes Televised Prisoners' Dilemma," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 7(4), pages 1-10, April.
    14. Zhang, Jing & Li, Zhao & Zhang, Jiqiang & Ma, Lin & Zheng, Guozhong & Chen, Li, 2023. "Emergence of oscillatory cooperation in a population with incomplete information," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 617(C).
    15. Daniela Campobello & Maurizio Sarà & James F. Hare, 2012. "Under my wing: lesser kestrels and jackdaws derive reciprocal benefits in mixed-species colonies," Behavioral Ecology, International Society for Behavioral Ecology, vol. 23(2), pages 425-433.
    16. Sergio Beraldo, 2015. "On the economic relevance of the principle of gratuitousness," International Journal of Happiness and Development, Inderscience Enterprises Ltd, vol. 2(3), pages 204-215.
    17. Jonathan Henshaw & Michael Jennions & Hanna Kokko, 2014. "The Economics of Egg Trading: Mating Rate, Sperm Competition and Positive Frequency-Dependence," Dynamic Games and Applications, Springer, vol. 4(4), pages 379-390, December.
    18. Mia-Lana Lührs & Melanie Dammhahn & Peter Kappeler, 2013. "Editor's choice Strength in numbers: males in a carnivore grow bigger when they associate and hunt cooperatively," Behavioral Ecology, International Society for Behavioral Ecology, vol. 24(1), pages 21-28.
    19. Mesoudi, Alex & Jimenez, Angel V & Jensen, Keith & Chang, Lei, 2024. "From information free-riding to information sharing: how have humans solved the cooperative dilemma at the heart of cumulative cultural evolution?," SocArXiv a9zty, Center for Open Science.
    20. Lars Kulik & Doreen Langos & Anja Widdig, 2016. "Mothers Make a Difference: Mothers Develop Weaker Bonds with Immature Sons than Daughters," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 11(5), pages 1-14, May.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:oup:beheco:v:23:y:2012:i:4:p:889-897.. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Oxford University Press (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://academic.oup.com/beheco .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.