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Leimar O, McNamara JM. Game theory in biology: 50 years and onwards. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2023; 378:20210509. [PMID: 36934762 PMCID: PMC10024991 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2021.0509] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/28/2022] [Accepted: 08/31/2022] [Indexed: 03/20/2023] Open
Abstract
Game theory in biology gained prominence 50 years ago, when Maynard Smith & Price formulated the concept of an evolutionarily stable strategy (ESS). Their aim was to explain why conflicts between animals of the same species usually are of a 'limited war' type, not causing serious injury. They emphasized that game theory is an alternative to previous ideas about group selection, which were used by ethologists to explain limited aggression. Subsequently, the ESS concept was applied to many phenomena with frequency dependence in the evolutionary success of strategies, including sex allocation, alternative mating types, contest behaviour and signalling, cooperation, and parental care. Both the analyses of signalling and cooperation were inspired by similar problems in economics and attracted much attention in biology. Here we give a perspective on which of the ambitions in the field have been achieved, with a focus on contest behaviour and cooperation. We evaluate whether the game-theoretical study of the evolution of cooperation has measured up to expectations in explaining the behaviour of non-human animals. We also point to potentially fruitful directions for the field, and emphasize the importance of incorporating realistic behavioural mechanisms into models. This article is part of the theme issue 'Half a century of evolutionary games: a synthesis of theory, application and future directions'.
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Affiliation(s)
- Olof Leimar
- Department of Zoology, Stockholm University, Stockholm 106 91, Sweden
| | - John M. McNamara
- School of Mathematics, University of Bristol, Bristol BS8 1UG, UK
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Potegal M, Nordman JC. Non-angry aggressive arousal and angriffsberietschaft: A narrative review of the phenomenology and physiology of proactive/offensive aggression motivation and escalation in people and other animals. Neurosci Biobehav Rev 2023; 147:105110. [PMID: 36822384 DOI: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2023.105110] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/21/2022] [Revised: 02/14/2023] [Accepted: 02/18/2023] [Indexed: 02/23/2023]
Abstract
Human aggression typologies largely correspond with those for other animals. While there may be no non-human equivalent of angry reactive aggression, we propose that human proactive aggression is similar to offense in other animals' dominance contests for territory or social status. Like predation/hunting, but unlike defense, offense and proactive aggression are positively reinforcing, involving dopamine release in accumbens. The drive these motivational states provide must suffice to overcome fear associated with initiating risky fights. We term the neural activity motivating proactive aggression "non-angry aggressive arousal", but use "angriffsberietschaft" for offense motivation in other animals to acknowledge possible differences. Temporal variation in angriffsberietschaft partitions fights into bouts; engendering reduced anti-predator vigilance, redirected aggression and motivational over-ride. Increased aggressive arousal drives threat-to-attack transitions, as in verbal-to-physical escalation and beyond that, into hyper-aggression. Proactive aggression and offense involve related neural activity states. Cingulate, insular and prefrontal cortices energize/modulate aggression through a subcortical core containing subnuclei for each aggression type. These proposals will deepen understanding of aggression across taxa, guiding prevention/intervention for human violence.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Jacob C Nordman
- Department of Physiology, Southern Illinois University School of Medicine, Carbondale, IL, USA.
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3
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Limited dispersal by large juvenile males leads to kin-structured neighborhoods in the black-crested titmouse (Baeolophus atricristatus). Behav Ecol Sociobiol 2020. [DOI: 10.1007/s00265-020-02844-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/24/2022]
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4
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Duistermars BJ, Pfeiffer BD, Hoopfer ED, Anderson DJ. A Brain Module for Scalable Control of Complex, Multi-motor Threat Displays. Neuron 2018; 100:1474-1490.e4. [PMID: 30415997 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuron.2018.10.027] [Citation(s) in RCA: 29] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/19/2018] [Revised: 09/11/2018] [Accepted: 10/16/2018] [Indexed: 11/27/2022]
Abstract
Threat displays are a universal feature of agonistic interactions. Whether threats are part of a continuum of aggressive behaviors or separately controlled remains unclear. We analyze threats in Drosophila and show they are triggered by male cues and visual motion, and comprised of multiple motor elements that can be flexibly combined. We isolate a cluster of ∼3 neurons whose activity is necessary for threat displays but not for other aggressive behaviors, and whose artificial activation suffices to evoke naturalistic threats in solitary flies, suggesting that the neural control of threats is modular with respect to other aggressive behaviors. Artificially evoked threats suffice to repel opponents from a resource in the absence of contact aggression. Depending on its level of artificial activation, this neural threat module can evoke different motor elements in a threshold-dependent manner. Such scalable modules may represent fundamental "building blocks" of neural circuits that mediate complex multi-motor behaviors.
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Affiliation(s)
- Brian J Duistermars
- Division of Biology and Biological Engineering 156-29, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125, USA
| | - Barret D Pfeiffer
- Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Pasadena, CA 91125, USA, Pasadena, CA 91125, USA
| | - Eric D Hoopfer
- Division of Biology and Biological Engineering 156-29, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125, USA
| | - David J Anderson
- Division of Biology and Biological Engineering 156-29, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125, USA; Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Pasadena, CA 91125, USA, Pasadena, CA 91125, USA; Tianqiao and Chrissy Chen Institute for Neuroscience, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125, USA.
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Bertin A, Beraud A, Lansade L, Blache MC, Diot A, Mulot B, Arnould C. Facial display and blushing: Means of visual communication in blue-and-yellow macaws (Ara Ararauna)? PLoS One 2018; 13:e0201762. [PMID: 30133471 PMCID: PMC6104955 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0201762] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/27/2018] [Accepted: 07/20/2018] [Indexed: 12/03/2022] Open
Abstract
Mainly recognized for their cognitive performance, the visual communication system and, particularly, the potential function of facial displays in parrots remain thus far unexplored. Here, we provide the first descriptive study of facial display use in captive blue-and-yellow macaws. We observed the feather position (sleeked or ruffled) on the crown, nape and cheek at the group level during the macaws' daily routine and individually while interacting with a familiar animal caretaker. In the latter context, blushing was also assessed on the bare skin of the cheek. Group level observations showed that crown, nape and cheek feathers ruffling was more frequent in activities requiring no locomotion than in activities requiring locomotion. With the animal caretaker, crown ruffling was significantly more frequent when the caretaker was actively engaging with the parrot than during a control phase with no mutual interaction. In addition, a significantly higher proportion of naïve observers judged blushing as being present on photographs taken during the mutual interaction phase than during the control phase. We thus showed significant variations in facial displays and bare skin colour based on the birds' social context and activity. Our results broaden the scope for further studies to determine whether parrots' faces provide visual social signals.
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Affiliation(s)
- Aline Bertin
- PRC, CNRS, IFCE, INRA, Université de Tours, Nouzilly, France
| | - Arielle Beraud
- PRC, CNRS, IFCE, INRA, Université de Tours, Nouzilly, France
- ZooParc de Beauval & Beauval Nature, Saint-Aignan, France
| | - Léa Lansade
- PRC, CNRS, IFCE, INRA, Université de Tours, Nouzilly, France
| | | | - Amandine Diot
- ZooParc de Beauval & Beauval Nature, Saint-Aignan, France
| | - Baptiste Mulot
- ZooParc de Beauval & Beauval Nature, Saint-Aignan, France
| | - Cécile Arnould
- PRC, CNRS, IFCE, INRA, Université de Tours, Nouzilly, France
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Zhu B, Wang J, Sun Z, Yang Y, Wang T, Brauth SE, Tang Y, Cui J. Competitive pressures affect sexual signal complexity in Kurixalus odontotarsus: insights into the evolution of compound calls. Biol Open 2017; 6:1913-1918. [PMID: 29175862 PMCID: PMC5769655 DOI: 10.1242/bio.028928] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/20/2022] Open
Abstract
Male-male vocal competition in anuran species is critical for mating success; however, it is also energetically demanding and highly time-consuming. Thus, we hypothesized that males may change signal elaboration in response to competition in real time. Male serrate-legged small treefrogs (Kurixalus odontotarsus) produce compound calls that contain two kinds of notes, harmonic sounds called ‘A notes’ and short broadband sounds called ‘B notes’. Using male evoked vocal response experiments, we found that competition influences the temporal structure and complexity of vocal signals produced by males. Males produce calls with a higher ratio of notes:call, and more compound calls including more A notes but fewer B notes with contest escalation. In doing so, males minimize the energy costs and maximize the benefits of competition when the level of competition is high. This means that the evolution of sexual signal complexity in frogs may be susceptible to selection for plasticity related to adjusting performance to the pressures of competition, and supports the idea that more complex social contexts can lead to greater vocal complexity. Summary: Competitive pressure influences the temporal structure and complexity of vocal signals. The evolution of sexual signal complexity may be susceptible to selection for plasticity related to adjusting performance to the level of competition.
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Affiliation(s)
- Bicheng Zhu
- Chengdu Institute of Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chengdu 610041, Sichuan, China.,University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China
| | - Jichao Wang
- Department of Biology, Hainan Normal University, Haikou 571158, Hainan, China
| | - Zhixin Sun
- Department of Biology, Hainan Normal University, Haikou 571158, Hainan, China
| | - Yue Yang
- Chengdu Institute of Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chengdu 610041, Sichuan, China.,University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China
| | - Tongliang Wang
- Department of Biology, Hainan Normal University, Haikou 571158, Hainan, China
| | - Steven E Brauth
- Department of Psychology, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742, USA
| | - Yezhong Tang
- Chengdu Institute of Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chengdu 610041, Sichuan, China
| | - Jianguo Cui
- Chengdu Institute of Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chengdu 610041, Sichuan, China
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Cuttlefish perform multiple agonistic displays to communicate a hierarchy of threats. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 2016. [DOI: 10.1007/s00265-016-2170-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/26/2022]
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Gray tree frogs, Hyla versicolor, give lower-frequency aggressive calls in more escalated contests. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 2013. [DOI: 10.1007/s00265-013-1503-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 25] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/27/2022]
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9
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How Do Little Blue Penguins “Validate” Information Contained in Their Agonistic Displays? ADVANCES IN THE STUDY OF BEHAVIOR 2006. [DOI: 10.1016/s0065-3454(06)36009-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register]
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10
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The effect of perceived intruder proximity and resident body size on the aggressive responses of male green frogs, Rana clamitans (Anura: Ranidae). Behav Ecol Sociobiol 2005. [DOI: 10.1007/s00265-005-0961-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/25/2022]
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Gamberale-Stille G, Guilford T. Automimicry destabilizes aposematism: predator sample-and-reject behaviour may provide a solution. Proc Biol Sci 2005; 271:2621-5. [PMID: 15615689 PMCID: PMC1691898 DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2004.2893] [Citation(s) in RCA: 57] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Aposematism, the use of conspicuous colours to advertise unpalatability to predators, is perhaps the most studied signalling system in nature. However, its evolutionary stability remains paradoxical. The paradox is illustrated by the problem of automimicry. Automimics are palatable individuals within a population of unpalatable aposematics. Automimics benefit from predators avoiding warning coloration without carrying the models' cost of unpalatability, and should increase in the population, destabilizing the signalling system, unless selected against in some way. Cautious sampling, instead of avoidance, by predators may offer a solution to this problem. Here, we investigate the effect of automimic frequency on predator sampling behaviour, and whether predator sampling behaviour may provide a selection pressure against mimics. Domestic chicks (Gallus gallus domesticus) were subjected to the task of discriminating between green (signalling) and untreated brown chick crumbs. Some of the green crumbs were quinine treated and thus unpalatable. The frequency of palatable signalling prey items varied in four treatments; all unpalatable, low automimic frequency, high automimic frequency and all palatable. The results show that predator sampling behaviour is sensitive to automimic frequency and that predators may discriminate between models and mimics through sampling, and thereby benefit unprofitable prey. The results suggest somewhat surprisingly that aposematic signalling is stable only because of the actions of those predators not actually deterred by warning signals.
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