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Kozielska M, Weissing FJ. A neural network model for the evolution of learning in changing environments. PLoS Comput Biol 2024; 20:e1011840. [PMID: 38289971 PMCID: PMC10857588 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pcbi.1011840] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/24/2023] [Revised: 02/09/2024] [Accepted: 01/18/2024] [Indexed: 02/01/2024] Open
Abstract
Learning from past experience is an important adaptation and theoretical models may help to understand its evolution. Many of the existing models study simple phenotypes and do not consider the mechanisms underlying learning while the more complex neural network models often make biologically unrealistic assumptions and rarely consider evolutionary questions. Here, we present a novel way of modelling learning using small neural networks and a simple, biology-inspired learning algorithm. Learning affects only part of the network, and it is governed by the difference between expectations and reality. We use this model to study the evolution of learning under various environmental conditions and different scenarios for the trade-off between exploration (learning) and exploitation (foraging). Efficient learning readily evolves in our individual-based simulations. However, in line with previous studies, the evolution of learning is less likely in relatively constant environments, where genetic adaptation alone can lead to efficient foraging, or in short-lived organisms that cannot afford to spend much of their lifetime on exploration. Once learning does evolve, the characteristics of the learning strategy (i.e. the duration of the learning period and the learning rate) and the average performance after learning are surprisingly little affected by the frequency and/or magnitude of environmental change. In contrast, an organism's lifespan and the distribution of resources in the environment have a clear effect on the evolved learning strategy: a shorter lifespan or a broader resource distribution lead to fewer learning episodes and larger learning rates. Interestingly, a longer learning period does not always lead to better performance, indicating that the evolved neural networks differ in the effectiveness of learning. Overall, however, we show that a biologically inspired, yet relatively simple, learning mechanism can evolve to lead to an efficient adaptation in a changing environment.
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Affiliation(s)
- Magdalena Kozielska
- Groningen Institute for Evolutionary Life Sciences, University of Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands
| | - Franz J. Weissing
- Groningen Institute for Evolutionary Life Sciences, University of Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands
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2
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Rostovtseva VV, Puurtinen M, Méndez Salinas E, Cox RFA, Groothuis AGG, Butovskaya ML, Weissing FJ. Unravelling the many facets of human cooperation in an experimental study. Sci Rep 2023; 13:19573. [PMID: 37949973 PMCID: PMC10638426 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-023-46944-w] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/30/2023] [Accepted: 11/07/2023] [Indexed: 11/12/2023] Open
Abstract
Humans readily cooperate, even with strangers and without prospects of reciprocation. Despite thousands of studies, this finding is not well understood. Most studies focussed on a single aspect of cooperation and were conducted under anonymous conditions. However, cooperation is a multi-faceted phenomenon, involving generosity, readiness to share, fairness, trust, trustworthiness, and willingness to take cooperative risks. Here, we report findings of an experiment where subjects had to make decisions in ten situations representing different aspects of cooperation, both under anonymous and 'personalised' conditions. In an anonymous setting, we found considerable individual variation in each decision situation, while individuals were consistent both within and across situations. Prosocial tendencies such as generosity, trust, and trustworthiness were positively correlated, constituting a 'cooperativeness syndrome', but the tendency to punish non-cooperative individuals is not part of this syndrome. In a personalised setting, information on the appearance of the interaction partner systematically affected cooperation-related behaviour. Subjects were more cooperative toward interaction partners whose facial photographs were judged 'generous', 'trustworthy', 'not greedy', 'happy', 'attractive', and 'not angry' by a separate panel. However, individuals eliciting more cooperation were not more cooperative themselves in our experiment. Our study shows that a multi-faceted approach can reveal general behavioural tendencies underlying cooperation, but it also uncovers new puzzling features of human cooperation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Victoria V Rostovtseva
- Groningen Institute for Evolutionary Life Sciences, University of Groningen, Nijenborgh 7, 9747 AG, Groningen, The Netherlands.
- Institute of Ethnology and Anthropology, Russian Academy of Sciences, Leninsky Prospect 32a, Moscow, Russia, 119334.
| | - Mikael Puurtinen
- Groningen Institute for Evolutionary Life Sciences, University of Groningen, Nijenborgh 7, 9747 AG, Groningen, The Netherlands
- Department of Biological and Environmental Science, University of Jyväskylä, Survontie 9 C, 40014, Jyväskylä, Finland
| | - Emiliano Méndez Salinas
- Groningen Institute for Evolutionary Life Sciences, University of Groningen, Nijenborgh 7, 9747 AG, Groningen, The Netherlands
| | - Ralf F A Cox
- Faculty of Behavioural and Social Sciences, Developmental Psychology, University of Groningen, Grote Kruisstraat 2/1, 9712 TS, Groningen, The Netherlands
| | - Antonius G G Groothuis
- Groningen Institute for Evolutionary Life Sciences, University of Groningen, Nijenborgh 7, 9747 AG, Groningen, The Netherlands
| | - Marina L Butovskaya
- Institute of Ethnology and Anthropology, Russian Academy of Sciences, Leninsky Prospect 32a, Moscow, Russia, 119334
| | - Franz J Weissing
- Groningen Institute for Evolutionary Life Sciences, University of Groningen, Nijenborgh 7, 9747 AG, Groningen, The Netherlands
- Netherlands Institute for Advanced Study in the Humanities and Social Sciences, Korte Spinhuissteeg 3, 1012 CG, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
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Kalita AI, Marois E, Kozielska M, Weissing FJ, Jaouen E, Möckel MM, Rühle F, Butter F, Basilicata MF, Keller Valsecchi CI. The sex-specific factor SOA controls dosage compensation in Anopheles mosquitoes. Nature 2023; 623:175-182. [PMID: 37769784 PMCID: PMC10620080 DOI: 10.1038/s41586-023-06641-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/16/2022] [Accepted: 09/13/2023] [Indexed: 10/03/2023]
Abstract
The Anopheles mosquito is one of thousands of species in which sex differences play a central part in their biology, as only females need a blood meal to produce eggs. Sex differentiation is regulated by sex chromosomes, but their presence creates a dosage imbalance between males (XY) and females (XX). Dosage compensation (DC) can re-equilibrate the expression of sex chromosomal genes. However, because DC mechanisms have only been fully characterized in a few model organisms, key questions about its evolutionary diversity and functional necessity remain unresolved1. Here we report the discovery of a previously uncharacterized gene (sex chromosome activation (SOA)) as a master regulator of DC in the malaria mosquito Anopheles gambiae. Sex-specific alternative splicing prevents functional SOA protein expression in females. The male isoform encodes a DNA-binding protein that binds the promoters of active X chromosomal genes. Expressing male SOA is sufficient to induce DC in female cells. Male mosquitoes lacking SOA or female mosquitoes ectopically expressing the male isoform exhibit X chromosome misregulation, which is compatible with viability but causes developmental delay. Thus, our molecular analyses of a DC master regulator in a non-model organism elucidates the evolutionary steps that lead to the establishment of a chromosome-specific fine-tuning mechanism.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Eric Marois
- INSERM U1257, CNRS UPR9022, Université de Strasbourg, Strasbourg, France
| | - Magdalena Kozielska
- Groningen Institute for Evolutionary Life Sciences, University of Groningen, Groningen, Netherlands
| | - Franz J Weissing
- Groningen Institute for Evolutionary Life Sciences, University of Groningen, Groningen, Netherlands
| | - Etienne Jaouen
- INSERM U1257, CNRS UPR9022, Université de Strasbourg, Strasbourg, France
| | | | - Frank Rühle
- Institute of Molecular Biology (IMB), Mainz, Germany
| | - Falk Butter
- Institute of Molecular Biology (IMB), Mainz, Germany
- Institute of Molecular Virology and Cell Biology, Friedrich Loeffler Institute, Greifswald, Germany
| | - M Felicia Basilicata
- Institute of Molecular Biology (IMB), Mainz, Germany
- Institute of Human Genetics, University Medical Center of the Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, Mainz, Germany
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Long X, Weissing FJ. Transient polymorphisms in parental care strategies drive divergence of sex roles. Nat Commun 2023; 14:6805. [PMID: 37884497 PMCID: PMC10603145 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-023-42607-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/08/2023] [Accepted: 10/16/2023] [Indexed: 10/28/2023] Open
Abstract
The parental roles of males and females differ considerably between and within species. By means of individual-based evolutionary simulations, we strive to explain this diversity. We show that the conflict between the sexes creates a sex bias (towards maternal or paternal care), even if the two sexes are initially identical. When including sexual selection, there are two outcomes: either female mate choice and maternal care or no mate choice and paternal care. Interestingly, the care pattern drives sexual selection and not vice versa. Longer-term simulations exhibit rapid switches between alternative parental care patterns, even in constant environments. Hence, the evolutionary lability of sex roles observed in phylogenetic studies is not necessarily caused by external changes. Overall, our findings are in striking contrast to the predictions of mathematical models. We show that the discrepancies are caused by transient within-sex polymorphisms in parental strategies, a factor largely neglected in current sex-role theory.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xiaoyan Long
- Groningen Institute for Evolutionary Life Sciences, University of Groningen, Groningen, 9747AG, The Netherlands
- Institute of Biology I, University of Freiburg, Freiburg im Breisgau, 79104, Germany
| | - Franz J Weissing
- Groningen Institute for Evolutionary Life Sciences, University of Groningen, Groningen, 9747AG, The Netherlands.
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Borger MJ, Weissing FJ, Boon E. Human genomic data have different statistical properties than the data of randomised controlled trials. Behav Brain Sci 2023; 46:e184. [PMID: 37694897 DOI: 10.1017/s0140525x22002229] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 09/12/2023]
Abstract
Madole & Harden argue that the Mendelian reshuffling of genes and genomes is analogous to randomised controlled trials. We are not convinced by their arguments. First, their recipe for meeting the demands on randomised experiments is inherently inconsistent. Second, disequilibrium across chromosomes conflicts with their assumption of statistical independence. Third, the genome-wide association study (GWAS) method has many pitfalls, including low repeatability.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mirjam J Borger
- Groningen Institute for Evolutionary Life Sciences, University of Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands ; ; https://www.marmgroup.eu/
| | - Franz J Weissing
- Groningen Institute for Evolutionary Life Sciences, University of Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands ; ; https://www.marmgroup.eu/
| | - Eva Boon
- Groningen Institute for Evolutionary Life Sciences, University of Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands ; ; https://www.marmgroup.eu/
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Abstract
AbstractCompetition typically takes place in a spatial context, but eco-evolutionary models rarely address the joint evolution of movement and competition strategies. Here we investigate a spatially explicit forager-kleptoparasite model where consumers can either forage on a heterogeneous resource landscape or steal resource items from conspecifics (kleptoparasitism). We consider three scenarios: (1) foragers without kleptoparasites, (2) consumers specializing as foragers or as kleptoparasites, and (3) consumers that can switch between foraging and kleptoparasitism depending on local conditions. We model movement strategies as individual-specific combinations of preferences for environmental cues, similar to step-selection coefficients. Using mechanistic, individual-based simulations, we study the joint evolution of movement and competition strategies, and we investigate the implications for the distribution of consumers over this landscape. Movement and competition strategies evolve rapidly and consistently across scenarios, with marked differences among scenarios, leading to differences in resource exploitation patterns. In scenario 1, foragers evolve considerable individual variation in movement strategies, while in scenario 2, movement strategies show a swift divergence between foragers and kleptoparasites. In scenario 3, where individuals' competition strategies are conditional on local cues, movement strategies facilitate kleptoparasitism, and individual consistency in competition strategy also emerges. Even in the absence of kleptoparasitism (scenario 1), the distribution of consumers deviates considerably from predictions of ideal free distribution models because of the intrinsic difficulty of moving effectively on a depleted resource landscape with few reliable cues. Our study emphasizes the advantages of a mechanistic approach when studying competition in a spatial context and suggests how evolutionary modeling can be integrated with current work in animal movement ecology.
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Zheng J, Komdeur J, Weissing FJ. Effects of season length and uniparental care efficacy on the evolution of parental care. J Anim Ecol 2023; 92:1719-1729. [PMID: 37335054 DOI: 10.1111/1365-2656.13967] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/07/2022] [Accepted: 04/26/2023] [Indexed: 06/21/2023]
Abstract
Parental care patterns differ enormously among and even within species. This is exemplified by Chinese penduline tits Remiz consobrinus, where biparental care, female-only care, male-only care and biparental desertion all occur in the same population; moreover, the distribution of these care patterns differs systematically between populations. The eco-evolutionary determinants of this diversity are largely unknown. We developed an individual-based model that allows us to investigate the effects of season length and offspring needs (expressed by the efficacy with which a clutch can be raised by a single parent) on the evolution of parental care patterns. The model is largely conceptual, aiming at general conclusions. However, to keep the model realistic, its set-up and the choice of parameters are motivated by field studies on Chinese penduline tits. Exploring a wide range of parameters, we investigate how parental care patterns are affected by season length and offspring needs and whether and under what conditions diverse parental care patterns can stably coexist. We report five main findings. First, under a broad range of conditions, different care patterns (e.g. male care and biparental care) coexist at equilibrium. Second, for the same parameters, alternative evolutionary equilibria are possible; this can explain differences in care patterns across populations. Third, rapid evolutionary transitions can occur between alternative equilibria; this can explain the often-reported evolutionary lability of parental care patterns. Fourth, season length has a strong but nonmonotonic effect on the evolved care patterns. Fifth, when uniparental care efficacy is low, biparental care tends to evolve; however, in many scenarios uniparental care is still common at equilibrium. In addition, our study sheds new light on Trivers' hypothesis that the sex with the highest prezygotic investment is predestined to invest more postzygotically as well. Our study highlights that diversity in parental care can readily evolve and it shows that even in the absence of environmental change parental care patterns can be evolutionary labile. In the presence of directional environmental change, systematic shifts in care patterns are to be expected.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jia Zheng
- Ministry of Education Key Laboratory for Biodiversity Sciences and Ecological Engineering, College of Life Sciences, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China
- Groningen Institute for Evolutionary Life Sciences, University of Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands
| | - Jan Komdeur
- Ministry of Education Key Laboratory for Biodiversity Sciences and Ecological Engineering, College of Life Sciences, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China
- Groningen Institute for Evolutionary Life Sciences, University of Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands
| | - Franz J Weissing
- Ministry of Education Key Laboratory for Biodiversity Sciences and Ecological Engineering, College of Life Sciences, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China
- Groningen Institute for Evolutionary Life Sciences, University of Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands
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8
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Borger MJ, Komdeur J, Richardson DS, Weissing FJ. The estimation of reproductive values from pedigrees. Behav Ecol 2023; 34:850-861. [PMID: 37744170 PMCID: PMC10516676 DOI: 10.1093/beheco/arad049] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/03/2022] [Revised: 05/15/2023] [Accepted: 05/25/2023] [Indexed: 09/26/2023] Open
Abstract
Quantifying fitness is important to understand adaptive evolution. Reproductive values are useful for making fitness comparisons involving different categories of individuals, like males and females. By definition, the reproductive value of a category is the expected per capita contribution of the members of that category to the gene pool of future generations. Life history theory reveals how reproductive values can be determined via the estimation of life-history parameters, but this requires an adequate life-history model and intricate algebraic calculations. Recently, an alternative pedigree-based method has become popular, which estimates the expected genetic contribution of individuals to future generations by tracking their descendants down the pedigree. This method is versatile and intuitively appealing, but it is unknown if the method produces estimates of reproductive values that are accurate and precise. To investigate this, we implement various life-history scenarios (for which the "true" reproductive values can be calculated) in individual-based simulations, use the simulation data to estimate reproductive values with the pedigree method, and compare the results with the true target values. We show that the pedigree-based estimation of reproductive values is either biased (in the short term) or imprecise (in the long term). This holds even for simple life histories and under idealized conditions. We conclude that the pedigree method is not a good substitute for the traditional method to quantify reproductive values.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mirjam J Borger
- Groningen Institute for Evolutionary Life Sciences, University of Groningen, P.O. Box 11103, 9700 CC, Groningen, The Netherlands
| | - Jan Komdeur
- Groningen Institute for Evolutionary Life Sciences, University of Groningen, P.O. Box 11103, 9700 CC, Groningen, The Netherlands
| | - David S Richardson
- Centre for Ecology, Evolution and Conservation, School of Biological Sciences, University of East Anglia, Norwich Research Park, NR4 7TJ Norwich, UK
| | - Franz J Weissing
- Groningen Institute for Evolutionary Life Sciences, University of Groningen, P.O. Box 11103, 9700 CC, Groningen, The Netherlands
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Gupte PR, Albery GF, Gismann J, Sweeny A, Weissing FJ. Novel pathogen introduction triggers rapid evolution in animal social movement strategies. eLife 2023; 12:e81805. [PMID: 37548365 PMCID: PMC10449382 DOI: 10.7554/elife.81805] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/12/2022] [Accepted: 08/04/2023] [Indexed: 08/08/2023] Open
Abstract
Animal sociality emerges from individual decisions on how to balance the costs and benefits of being sociable. Novel pathogens introduced into wildlife populations should increase the costs of sociality, selecting against gregariousness. Using an individual-based model that captures essential features of pathogen transmission among social hosts, we show how novel pathogen introduction provokes the rapid evolutionary emergence and coexistence of distinct social movement strategies. These strategies differ in how they trade the benefits of social information against the risk of infection. Overall, pathogen-risk-adapted populations move more and have fewer associations with other individuals than their pathogen-risk-naive ancestors, reducing disease spread. Host evolution to be less social can be sufficient to cause a pathogen to be eliminated from a population, which is followed by a rapid recovery in social tendency. Our conceptual model is broadly applicable to a wide range of potential host-pathogen introductions and offers initial predictions for the eco-evolutionary consequences of wildlife pathogen spillover scenarios and a template for the development of theory in the ecology and evolution of animals' movement decisions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Pratik Rajan Gupte
- Groningen Institute for Evolutionary Life Sciences, University of GroningenGroningenNetherlands
| | - Gregory F Albery
- Georgetown UniversityWashingtonUnited States
- Wissenschaftskolleg zu BerlinBerlinGermany
| | - Jakob Gismann
- Groningen Institute for Evolutionary Life Sciences, University of GroningenGroningenNetherlands
| | - Amy Sweeny
- Institute of Evolutionary Biology, University of EdinburghEdinburghUnited Kingdom
| | - Franz J Weissing
- Groningen Institute for Evolutionary Life Sciences, University of GroningenGroningenNetherlands
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10
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Ramesh A, Gismann J, Groothuis TGG, Weissing FJ, Nicolaus M. Mesocosm experiment reveals scale dependence of movement tendencies in sticklebacks. Biol Lett 2023; 19:20220602. [PMID: 37016813 PMCID: PMC10073904 DOI: 10.1098/rsbl.2022.0602] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 04/06/2023] Open
Abstract
Habitat fragmentation can have negative impacts on migratory organisms that rely on the functional connectivity between growing and breeding grounds. Quantifying the population-level phenotypic consequences of such fragmentation requires fine-scaled tracking of individual behaviour and movements across relevant scales. Here we make use of a natural experiment where some populations of 'migrant' three-spined sticklebacks (Gasterosteus aculeatus) became 'residents', following habitat fragmentation five decades ago. To test whether residents have a lower movement tendency than migrants, we developed a novel experimental platform that allows the automated tracking of individual movements via RFID technology in a semi-natural mesocosm where spatio-temporal scales and environmental conditions can be manipulated. We found that residents moved significantly less than migrants at large but not at small spatial scale. This pattern was consistent across time and contexts (water flow and group size). Our study substantiates prior literature on rapid phenotypic divergence in sticklebacks in response to human-induced isolation and highlights the importance of observing behaviour in ecologically relevant set-ups that bridge the gap between laboratory and field studies.
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Affiliation(s)
- A Ramesh
- Groningen Institute for Evolutionary Life Sciences, University of Groningen, Nijenborgh 7, 9747 AG Groningen, The Netherlands
| | - J Gismann
- Groningen Institute for Evolutionary Life Sciences, University of Groningen, Nijenborgh 7, 9747 AG Groningen, The Netherlands
| | - T G G Groothuis
- Groningen Institute for Evolutionary Life Sciences, University of Groningen, Nijenborgh 7, 9747 AG Groningen, The Netherlands
| | - F J Weissing
- Groningen Institute for Evolutionary Life Sciences, University of Groningen, Nijenborgh 7, 9747 AG Groningen, The Netherlands
| | - M Nicolaus
- Groningen Institute for Evolutionary Life Sciences, University of Groningen, Nijenborgh 7, 9747 AG Groningen, The Netherlands
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Rostovtseva VV, Butovskaya ML, Mezentseva AA, Weissing FJ. Effects of sex and sex-related facial traits on trust and trustworthiness: An experimental study. Front Psychol 2023; 13:925601. [PMID: 36687832 PMCID: PMC9849902 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.925601] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/21/2022] [Accepted: 12/08/2022] [Indexed: 01/07/2023] Open
Abstract
The ability to trust others, including strangers, is a prerequisite for human cooperation. Economically it is not rational to trust strangers, as trust can be easily exploited. Still, generally, the level of trust toward strangers is relatively high. Trust is closely related to trustworthiness: when trusting others, one expects them to reciprocate. Some individuals elicit more trust than others. Apparently, humans use subtle cues for judging the trustworthiness of their interaction partners. Here, we report on an experiment that investigates trust and trustworthiness in a population of 176 mainly Dutch students. The aims of our study were: (1) to investigate how the sex of interaction partners and their facial appearance (femininity/masculinity) affect the degree of trust and trustworthiness, compared to fully anonymous conditions; (2) to test whether individuals who elicit trust in their interaction partners are trustworthy themselves. Each subject of our experiment played five one-shot Trust Games: one with an anonymous interaction partner, and four "personalized" games after seeing a 20 s silent video of their interaction partner (twice same-sex, and twice opposite-sex). The degree of facial sexual dimorphism was investigated with geometric morphometrics based on full-face photographs. Our results revealed that, despite the already high level of trust in the anonymous setting, the personalization of interactions had a clear effect on behavior. Females elicited more trust in partners of both sexes. Interestingly, females with more feminine faces elicited less trust in both male and female partners, while males with more masculine facial shape were more trusted by females, but less trusted by males. Neither sex nor facial femininity/masculinity predicted trustworthiness. Our results demonstrate that (1) sex and sex-related facial traits of interaction partners have a clear effect on eliciting trust in strangers. However, (2) these cues are not reliable predictors of actual trustworthiness.
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Affiliation(s)
- Victoria V. Rostovtseva
- Groningen Institute for Evolutionary Life Sciences, University of Groningen, Groningen, Netherlands,Institute of Ethnology and Anthropology, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia,*Correspondence: Victoria V. Rostovtseva,
| | - Marina L. Butovskaya
- Institute of Ethnology and Anthropology, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia
| | - Anna A. Mezentseva
- Institute of Ethnology and Anthropology, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia
| | - Franz J. Weissing
- Groningen Institute for Evolutionary Life Sciences, University of Groningen, Groningen, Netherlands
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12
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Qvarnström A, Veen T, Husby A, Ålund M, Weissing FJ. Assortative Mating in an Ecological Context: Effects of Mate Choice Errors and Relative Species Abundance on the Frequency and Asymmetry of Hybridization. Am Nat 2023; 201:125-137. [PMID: 36524936 DOI: 10.1086/722156] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/03/2022]
Abstract
AbstractThe frequency and asymmetry of mixed-species mating set the initial stage for the ecological and evolutionary implications of hybridization. How such patterns of mixed-species mating, in turn, are influenced by the combination of mate choice errors and relative species abundance remains largely unknown. We develop a mathematical model that generates predictions for how relative species abundances and mate choice errors affect hybridization patterns. When mate choice errors are small (<5%), the highest frequency of hybridization occurs when one of the hybridizing species is at low abundance, but when mate choice errors are high (>5%), the highest hybridization frequency occurs when species occur in equal proportions. Furthermore, females of the less abundant species are overrepresented in mixed-species matings. We compare our theoretical predictions with empirical data on naturally hybridizing Ficedula flycatchers and find that hybridization is highest when the two species occur in equal abundance, implying rather high mate choice errors. We discuss ecological and evolutionary implications of our findings and encourage future work on hybrid zone dynamics that take demographic aspects, such as relative species abundance, into account.
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Schacht R, Beissinger SR, Wedekind C, Jennions MD, Geffroy B, Liker A, Kappeler PM, Weissing FJ, Kramer KL, Hesketh T, Boissier J, Uggla C, Hollingshaus M, Székely T. Author Correction: Adult sex ratios: causes of variation and implications for animal and human societies. Commun Biol 2022; 5:1341. [PMID: 36477424 PMCID: PMC9729188 DOI: 10.1038/s42003-022-04296-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/13/2022] Open
Affiliation(s)
- Ryan Schacht
- grid.255364.30000 0001 2191 0423Department of Anthropology, East Carolina University, Greenville, NC USA
| | - Steven R. Beissinger
- grid.47840.3f0000 0001 2181 7878Department of Environmental Science, Policy and Management and Museum of Vertebrate Zoology, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720 USA
| | - Claus Wedekind
- grid.9851.50000 0001 2165 4204Department of Ecology and Evolution, University of Lausanne, 1015 Lausanne, Switzerland
| | - Michael D. Jennions
- grid.1001.00000 0001 2180 7477Ecology & Evolution, Research School of Biology, The Australian National University, Acton, Canberra 2601 Australia
| | - Benjamin Geffroy
- MARBEC Univ Montpellier, CNRS, Ifremer, IRD, Montpellier, France
| | - András Liker
- grid.7336.10000 0001 0203 5854ELKH-PE Evolutionary Ecology Research Group, University of Pannonia, 8210 Veszprém, Hungary ,grid.7336.10000 0001 0203 5854Behavioural Ecology Research Group, Center for Natural Sciences, University of Pannonia, 8210 Veszprém, Hungary
| | - Peter M. Kappeler
- grid.418215.b0000 0000 8502 7018Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology Unit, German Primate Center, Leibniz Institute of Primate Biology, 37077 Göttingen, Germany ,grid.7450.60000 0001 2364 4210Department of Sociobiology/Anthropology, University of Göttingen, 37077 Göttingen, Germany
| | - Franz J. Weissing
- grid.4830.f0000 0004 0407 1981Groningen Institute for Evolutionary Life Sciences, University of Groningen, 9747 AG Groningen, The Netherlands
| | - Karen L. Kramer
- grid.223827.e0000 0001 2193 0096Department of Anthropology, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT USA
| | - Therese Hesketh
- grid.83440.3b0000000121901201Institute of Global Health, University College London, London, UK ,grid.13402.340000 0004 1759 700XCentre for Global Health, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou, P.R. China
| | - Jérôme Boissier
- grid.4444.00000 0001 2112 9282IHPE Univ Perpignan Via Domitia, CNRS, Ifremer, Univ Montpellier, Perpignan, France
| | - Caroline Uggla
- grid.10548.380000 0004 1936 9377Stockholm University Demography Unit, Sociology Department, Stockholm University, 106 91 Stockholm, Sweden
| | - Mike Hollingshaus
- grid.223827.e0000 0001 2193 0096Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute, David Eccles School of Business, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT USA
| | - Tamás Székely
- grid.7340.00000 0001 2162 1699Milner Centre for Evolution, University of Bath, Bath, BA2 7AY UK ,grid.7122.60000 0001 1088 8582ELKH-DE Reproductive Strategies Research Group, Department of Zoology and Human Biology, University of Debrecen, H-4032 Debrecen, Hungary
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14
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Schacht R, Beissinger SR, Wedekind C, Jennions MD, Geffroy B, Liker A, Kappeler PM, Weissing FJ, Kramer KL, Hesketh T, Boissier J, Uggla C, Hollingshaus M, Székely T. Adult sex ratios: causes of variation and implications for animal and human societies. Commun Biol 2022; 5:1273. [PMID: 36402823 PMCID: PMC9675760 DOI: 10.1038/s42003-022-04223-w] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/13/2022] [Accepted: 11/03/2022] [Indexed: 11/21/2022] Open
Abstract
Converging lines of inquiry from across the social and biological sciences target the adult sex ratio (ASR; the proportion of males in the adult population) as a fundamental population-level determinant of behavior. The ASR, which indicates the relative number of potential mates to competitors in a population, frames the selective arena for competition, mate choice, and social interactions. Here we review a growing literature, focusing on methodological developments that sharpen knowledge of the demographic variables underlying ASR variation, experiments that enhance understanding of the consequences of ASR imbalance across societies, and phylogenetic analyses that provide novel insights into social evolution. We additionally highlight areas where research advances are expected to make accelerating contributions across the social sciences, evolutionary biology, and biodiversity conservation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ryan Schacht
- grid.255364.30000 0001 2191 0423Department of Anthropology, East Carolina University, Greenville, NC USA
| | - Steven R. Beissinger
- grid.47840.3f0000 0001 2181 7878Department of Environmental Science, Policy and Management and Museum of Vertebrate Zoology, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720 USA
| | - Claus Wedekind
- grid.9851.50000 0001 2165 4204Department of Ecology and Evolution, University of Lausanne, 1015 Lausanne, Switzerland
| | - Michael D. Jennions
- grid.1001.00000 0001 2180 7477Ecology & Evolution, Research School of Biology, The Australian National University, Acton, Canberra 2601 Australia
| | - Benjamin Geffroy
- MARBEC Univ Montpellier, CNRS, Ifremer, IRD, Montpellier, France
| | - András Liker
- grid.7336.10000 0001 0203 5854ELKH-PE Evolutionary Ecology Research Group, University of Pannonia, 8210 Veszprém, Hungary ,grid.7336.10000 0001 0203 5854Behavioural Ecology Research Group, Center for Natural Sciences, University of Pannonia, 8210 Veszprém, Hungary
| | - Peter M. Kappeler
- grid.418215.b0000 0000 8502 7018Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology Unit, German Primate Center, Leibniz Institute of Primate Biology, 37077 Göttingen, Germany ,grid.7450.60000 0001 2364 4210Department of Sociobiology/Anthropology, University of Göttingen, 37077 Göttingen, Germany
| | - Franz J. Weissing
- grid.4830.f0000 0004 0407 1981Groningen Institute for Evolutionary Life Sciences, University of Groningen, 9747 AG Groningen, The Netherlands
| | - Karen L. Kramer
- grid.223827.e0000 0001 2193 0096Department of Anthropology, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT USA
| | - Therese Hesketh
- grid.83440.3b0000000121901201Institute of Global Health, University College London, London, UK ,grid.13402.340000 0004 1759 700XCentre for Global Health, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou, P.R. China
| | - Jérôme Boissier
- grid.4444.00000 0001 2112 9282IHPE Univ Perpignan Via Domitia, CNRS, Ifremer, Univ Montpellier, Perpignan, France
| | - Caroline Uggla
- grid.10548.380000 0004 1936 9377Stockholm University Demography Unit, Sociology Department, Stockholm University, 106 91 Stockholm, Sweden
| | - Mike Hollingshaus
- grid.223827.e0000 0001 2193 0096Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute, David Eccles School of Business, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT USA
| | - Tamás Székely
- grid.7340.00000 0001 2162 1699Milner Centre for Evolution, University of Bath, Bath, BA2 7AY UK ,grid.7122.60000 0001 1088 8582ELKH-DE Reproductive Strategies Research Group, Department of Zoology and Human Biology, University of Debrecen, H-4032 Debrecen, Hungary
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15
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Netz C, Ramesh A, Gismann J, Gupte PR, Weissing FJ. Details matter when modelling the effects of animal personality on the spatial distribution of foragers. Proc Biol Sci 2022; 289:20210903. [PMID: 35232236 PMCID: PMC8889198 DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2021.0903] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Affiliation(s)
- Christoph Netz
- Groningen Institute for Evolutionary Life Sciences, University of Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands
| | - Aparajitha Ramesh
- Groningen Institute for Evolutionary Life Sciences, University of Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands
| | - Jakob Gismann
- Groningen Institute for Evolutionary Life Sciences, University of Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands
| | - Pratik R Gupte
- Groningen Institute for Evolutionary Life Sciences, University of Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands
| | - Franz J Weissing
- Groningen Institute for Evolutionary Life Sciences, University of Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands
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16
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Zhang C, Liu S, Wang Z, Weissing FJ, Zhang J. The “self-bad, partner-worse” strategy inhibits cooperation in networked populations. Inf Sci (N Y) 2022. [DOI: 10.1016/j.ins.2021.11.041] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
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17
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Riederer JM, Tiso S, van Eldijk TJ, Weissing FJ. Capturing the facets of evolvability in a mechanistic framework. Trends Ecol Evol 2022; 37:430-439. [DOI: 10.1016/j.tree.2022.01.004] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/01/2021] [Revised: 01/13/2022] [Accepted: 01/18/2022] [Indexed: 10/19/2022]
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18
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Busana M, Weissing FJ, Hammers M, Bakker J, Dugdale HL, Raj Pant S, Richardson DS, Burke TA, Komdeur J. Structural equation modeling reveals determinants of fitness in a cooperatively breeding bird. Behav Ecol 2021; 33:352-363. [PMID: 35444495 PMCID: PMC9015215 DOI: 10.1093/beheco/arab135] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/08/2021] [Revised: 09/22/2021] [Accepted: 11/01/2021] [Indexed: 01/29/2023] Open
Abstract
Abstract
Even in well-studied organisms, it is often challenging to uncover the social and environmental determinants of fitness. Typically, fitness is determined by a variety of factors that act in concert, thus forming complex networks of causal relationships. Moreover, even strong correlations between social and environmental conditions and fitness components may not be indicative of direct causal links, as the measured variables may be driven by unmeasured (or unmeasurable) causal factors. Standard statistical approaches, like multiple regression analyses, are not suited for disentangling such complex causal relationships. Here, we apply structural equation modeling (SEM), a technique that is specifically designed to reveal causal relationships between variables, and which also allows to include hypothetical causal factors. Therefore, SEM seems ideally suited for comparing alternative hypotheses on how fitness differences arise from differences in social and environmental factors. We apply SEM to a rich data set collected in a long-term study on the Seychelles warbler (Acrocephalus sechellensis), a bird species with facultatively cooperative breeding and a high rate of extra-group paternity. Our analysis reveals that the presence of helpers has a positive effect on the reproductive output of both female and male breeders. In contrast, per capita food availability does not affect reproductive output. Our analysis does not confirm earlier suggestions on other species that the presence of helpers has a negative effect on the reproductive output of male breeders. As such, both female and male breeders should tolerate helpers in their territories, irrespective of food availability.
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Affiliation(s)
- Michela Busana
- Groningen Institute for Evolutionary Life Sciences, University of Groningen, 9700 CC Groningen, The Netherlands
| | - Franz J Weissing
- Groningen Institute for Evolutionary Life Sciences, University of Groningen, 9700 CC Groningen, The Netherlands
- Netherlands Institute for Advanced Study, 1012 CG Amsterdam, The Netherlands
| | - Martijn Hammers
- Groningen Institute for Evolutionary Life Sciences, University of Groningen, 9700 CC Groningen, The Netherlands
- Aeres University of Applied Sciences, 1325 WB Almere, The Netherlands
| | - Joke Bakker
- Groningen Institute for Evolutionary Life Sciences, University of Groningen, 9700 CC Groningen, The Netherlands
| | - Hannah L Dugdale
- Groningen Institute for Evolutionary Life Sciences, University of Groningen, 9700 CC Groningen, The Netherlands
- School of Biology, The Faculty of Biological Sciences, University of Leeds, Leeds LS2 9JT, UK
| | - Sara Raj Pant
- Groningen Institute for Evolutionary Life Sciences, University of Groningen, 9700 CC Groningen, The Netherlands
- School of Biological Sciences, University of East-Anglia, Norwich NR4 7TJ, UK
| | - David S Richardson
- School of Biological Sciences, University of East-Anglia, Norwich NR4 7TJ, UK
- Nature Seychelles, PO Box 1310, Roche Caiman, Mahé, Republic of Seychelles
| | - Terrence A Burke
- Department of Animal and Plant Sciences, University of Sheffield S10 2TN, Sheffield, UK
| | - Jan Komdeur
- Groningen Institute for Evolutionary Life Sciences, University of Groningen, 9700 CC Groningen, The Netherlands
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19
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Abstract
Abstract
The adaptive capacity of many organisms is seriously challenged by human-imposed environmental change, which currently happens at unprecedented rates and magnitudes. For migratory fish, habitat fragmentation is a major challenge that can compromise their survival and reproduction. Therefore, it is important to study if fish populations can adapt to such modifications of their habitat. Here, we study whether originally anadromous three-spined stickleback populations (Gasterosteus aculeatus; “migrants”) changed in behavior and morphology in response to human-induced isolation. We made use of a natural field-experiment, where the construction of pumping stations and sluices in the 1970s unintendedly created replicates of land-locked stickleback populations (“resident”) in the Netherlands. For two years, we systematically tested populations of residents and migrants for differences in morphology and behavioral traits (activity, aggressiveness, exploration, boldness, and shoaling) in lab-based assays. We detected differences between migrant and resident populations in virtually all phenotypic traits studied: compared with the ancestral migrants, residents were smaller in size, had fewer and smaller plates and were significantly more active, aggressive, exploratory and bolder, and shoaled less. Despite large ecological differences between 2018 and 2019, results were largely consistent across the two years. Our study shows that human-induced environmental change has led to the rapid and consistent morphological and behavioral divergence of stickleback populations in about 50 generations. Such changes may be adaptive but this remains to be tested.
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Affiliation(s)
- Aparajitha Ramesh
- Theoretical Research in Evolutionary Life Sciences group, Groningen Institute for Evolutionary Life Sciences, University of Groningen, Nijenborgh, AG Groningen, The Netherlands
- Evolutionary Genetics, Development & Behaviour group, Groningen Institute for Evolutionary Life Sciences, University of Groningen, Nijenborgh, AG Groningen, The Netherlands
- Conservation Ecology group, Groningen Institute for Evolutionary Life Sciences, University of Groningen, Nijenborgh, AG Groningen, The Netherlands
| | - Ton G G Groothuis
- Evolutionary Genetics, Development & Behaviour group, Groningen Institute for Evolutionary Life Sciences, University of Groningen, Nijenborgh, AG Groningen, The Netherlands
- Theoretical Research in Evolutionary Life Sciences group, Groningen Institute for Evolutionary Life Sciences, University of Groningen, Nijenborgh, AG Groningen, The Netherlands
| | - Franz J Weissing
- Theoretical Research in Evolutionary Life Sciences group, Groningen Institute for Evolutionary Life Sciences, University of Groningen, Nijenborgh, AG Groningen, The Netherlands
- Theoretical Research in Evolutionary Life Sciences group, Groningen Institute for Evolutionary Life Sciences, University of Groningen, Nijenborgh, AG Groningen, The Netherlands
| | - Marion Nicolaus
- Conservation Ecology group, Groningen Institute for Evolutionary Life Sciences, University of Groningen, Nijenborgh, AG Groningen, The Netherlands
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20
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Abstract
AbstractThe coevolution of predators and prey has been the subject of much empirical and theoretical research that produced intriguing insights into the interplay of ecology and evolution. To allow for mathematical analysis, models of predator–prey coevolution are often coarse-grained, focussing on population-level processes and largely neglecting individual-level behaviour. As selection is acting on individual-level properties, we here present a more mechanistic approach: an individual-based simulation model for the coevolution of predators and prey on a fine-grained resource landscape, where features relevant for ecology (like changes in local densities) and evolution (like differences in survival and reproduction) emerge naturally from interactions between individuals. Our focus is on predator–prey movement behaviour, and we present a new method for implementing evolving movement strategies in an efficient and intuitively appealing manner. Throughout their lifetime, predators and prey make repeated movement decisions on the basis of their movement strategies. Over the generations, the movement strategies evolve, as individuals that successfully survive and reproduce leave their strategy to more descendants. We show that the movement strategies in our model evolve rapidly, thereby inducing characteristic spatial patterns like spiral waves and static spots. Transitions between these patterns occur frequently, induced by antagonistic coevolution rather than by external events. Regularly, evolution leads to the emergence and stable coexistence of qualitatively different movement strategies within the same population. Although the strategy space of our model is continuous, we often observe the evolution of discrete movement types. We argue that rapid evolution, coexistent movement types, and phase shifts between different ecological regimes are not a peculiarity of our model but a result of more realistic assumptions on eco-evolutionary feedbacks and the number of evolutionary degrees of freedom.
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21
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Boon E, van den Berg P, Molleman L, Weissing FJ. Foundations of cultural evolution. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2021; 376:20200041. [PMID: 33993761 PMCID: PMC8126454 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2020.0041] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 04/07/2021] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Affiliation(s)
- Eva Boon
- Groningen Institute for Evolutionary Life Sciences, University of Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands
| | | | - Lucas Molleman
- Amsterdam Brain and Cognition, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
| | - Franz J. Weissing
- Groningen Institute for Evolutionary Life Sciences, University of Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands
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22
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Smolla M, Jansson F, Lehmann L, Houkes W, Weissing FJ, Hammerstein P, Dall SRX, Kuijper B, Enquist M. Underappreciated features of cultural evolution. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2021; 376:20200259. [PMID: 33993758 PMCID: PMC8126466 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2020.0259] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 10/23/2020] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Cultural evolution theory has long been inspired by evolutionary biology. Conceptual analogies between biological and cultural evolution have led to the adoption of a range of formal theoretical approaches from population dynamics and genetics. However, this has resulted in a research programme with a strong focus on cultural transmission. Here, we contrast biological with cultural evolution, and highlight aspects of cultural evolution that have not received sufficient attention previously. We outline possible implications for evolutionary dynamics and argue that not taking them into account will limit our understanding of cultural systems. We propose 12 key questions for future research, among which are calls to improve our understanding of the combinatorial properties of cultural innovation, and the role of development and life history in cultural dynamics. Finally, we discuss how this vibrant research field can make progress by embracing its multidisciplinary nature. This article is part of the theme issue 'Foundations of cultural evolution'.
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Affiliation(s)
- Marco Smolla
- Department of Biology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA
| | - Fredrik Jansson
- Centre for Cultural Evolution, Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden
- Division of Applied Mathematics, Mälardalen University, Västerås, Sweden
| | - Laurent Lehmann
- Department of Ecology and Evolution, University of Lausanne, Biophore, Lausanne, Switzerland
| | - Wybo Houkes
- Philosophy and Ethics, Eindhoven University of Technology, Eindhoven, The Netherlands
| | - Franz J. Weissing
- Groningen Institute for Evolutionary Life Sciences, University of Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands
- Netherlands Institute for Advanced Study, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
| | - Peter Hammerstein
- Institute for Theoretical Biology, Humboldt University, Berlin, Germany
| | - Sasha R. X. Dall
- Centre for Ecology and Conservation, University of Exeter, Penryn, UK
| | - Bram Kuijper
- Centre for Ecology and Conservation, University of Exeter, Penryn, UK
| | - Magnus Enquist
- Centre for Cultural Evolution, Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden
- Department of Zoology, Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden
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23
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Visser B, Alborn HT, Rondeaux S, Haillot M, Hance T, Rebar D, Riederer JM, Tiso S, van Eldijk TJB, Weissing FJ, Nieberding CM. Phenotypic plasticity explains apparent reverse evolution of fat synthesis in parasitic wasps. Sci Rep 2021; 11:7751. [PMID: 33833245 PMCID: PMC8032832 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-021-86736-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/27/2021] [Accepted: 03/19/2021] [Indexed: 02/01/2023] Open
Abstract
Numerous cases of evolutionary trait loss and regain have been reported over the years. Here, we argue that such reverse evolution can also become apparent when trait expression is plastic in response to the environment. We tested this idea for the loss and regain of fat synthesis in parasitic wasps. We first show experimentally that the wasp Leptopilina heterotoma switches lipogenesis on in a fat-poor environment, and completely off in a fat-rich environment. Plasticity suggests that this species did not regain fat synthesis, but that it can be switched off in some environmental settings. We then compared DNA sequence variation and protein domains of several more distantly related parasitoid species thought to have lost lipogenesis, and found no evidence for non-functionality of key lipogenesis genes. This suggests that other parasitoids may also show plasticity of fat synthesis. Last, we used individual-based simulations to show that a switch for plastic expression can remain functional in the genome for thousands of generations, even if it is only used sporadically. The evolution of plasticity could thus also explain other examples of apparent reverse evolution.
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Affiliation(s)
- Bertanne Visser
- grid.7942.80000 0001 2294 713XEvolution and Ecophysiology Group, Biodiversity Research Centre, Earth and Life Institute, UCLouvain, Croix du Sud 4-5, 1348 Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium
| | - Hans T. Alborn
- grid.417548.b0000 0004 0478 6311Chemistry Research Unit, Center of Medical, Agricultural, and Veterinary Entomology, Agricultural Research Service, United States Department of Agriculture, 1600 SW 23rd Drive, Gainesville, FL 32608 USA
| | - Suzon Rondeaux
- grid.7942.80000 0001 2294 713XEvolution and Ecophysiology Group, Biodiversity Research Centre, Earth and Life Institute, UCLouvain, Croix du Sud 4-5, 1348 Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium
| | - Manon Haillot
- grid.7942.80000 0001 2294 713XEvolution and Ecophysiology Group, Biodiversity Research Centre, Earth and Life Institute, UCLouvain, Croix du Sud 4-5, 1348 Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium
| | - Thierry Hance
- grid.7942.80000 0001 2294 713XEcology of Interactions and Biological Control Group, Biodiversity Research Centre, Earth and Life Institute, UCLouvain, Croix du Sud 4-5, 1348 Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium
| | - Darren Rebar
- grid.255525.00000 0001 0722 577XDepartment of Biological Sciences, Emporia State University, 1 Kellogg Circle, Campus Box 4050, Emporia, KS 66801 USA
| | - Jana M. Riederer
- grid.4830.f0000 0004 0407 1981Groningen Institute of Evolutionary Life Sciences, University of Groningen, Nijenborgh 7, 9747 AG Groningen, The Netherlands
| | - Stefano Tiso
- grid.4830.f0000 0004 0407 1981Groningen Institute of Evolutionary Life Sciences, University of Groningen, Nijenborgh 7, 9747 AG Groningen, The Netherlands
| | - Timo J. B. van Eldijk
- grid.4830.f0000 0004 0407 1981Groningen Institute of Evolutionary Life Sciences, University of Groningen, Nijenborgh 7, 9747 AG Groningen, The Netherlands
| | - Franz J. Weissing
- grid.4830.f0000 0004 0407 1981Groningen Institute of Evolutionary Life Sciences, University of Groningen, Nijenborgh 7, 9747 AG Groningen, The Netherlands
| | - Caroline M. Nieberding
- grid.7942.80000 0001 2294 713XEvolutionary Ecology and Genetics Group, Biodiversity Research Centre, Earth and Life Institute, UCLouvain, Croix du Sud 4-5, 1348 Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium
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24
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Adrian-Kalchhauser I, Sultan SE, Shama LNS, Spence-Jones H, Tiso S, Keller Valsecchi CI, Weissing FJ. Understanding 'Non-genetic' Inheritance: Insights from Molecular-Evolutionary Crosstalk. Trends Ecol Evol 2020; 35:1078-1089. [PMID: 33036806 DOI: 10.1016/j.tree.2020.08.011] [Citation(s) in RCA: 52] [Impact Index Per Article: 13.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/06/2020] [Revised: 08/17/2020] [Accepted: 08/20/2020] [Indexed: 12/23/2022]
Abstract
Understanding the evolutionary and ecological roles of 'non-genetic' inheritance (NGI) is daunting due to the complexity and diversity of epigenetic mechanisms. We draw on insights from molecular and evolutionary biology perspectives to identify three general features of 'non-genetic' inheritance systems: (i) they are functionally interdependent with, rather than separate from, DNA sequence; (ii) precise mechanisms vary phylogenetically and operationally; and (iii) epigenetic elements are probabilistic, interactive regulatory factors and not deterministic 'epialleles' with defined genomic locations and effects. We discuss each of these features and offer recommendations for future empirical and theoretical research that implements a unifying inherited gene regulation (IGR) approach to studies of 'non-genetic' inheritance.
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Affiliation(s)
- Irene Adrian-Kalchhauser
- Centre for Fish and Wildlife Health, Department for Infectious Diseases and Pathobiology, Vetsuisse Faculty, University of Bern, Länggassstrasse 122, 3012 Bern, Switzerland.
| | - Sonia E Sultan
- Biology Department, Wesleyan University, Middletown, CT 06459, USA
| | - Lisa N S Shama
- Coastal Ecology Section, Alfred Wegener Institute Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research, Wadden Sea Station Sylt, Hafenstrasse 43, 25992 List, Germany
| | - Helen Spence-Jones
- Centre for Biological Diversity, School of Biology, University of St Andrews, St. Andrews, UK
| | - Stefano Tiso
- Institute of Molecular Biology (IMB), Ackermannweg 4, 55128 Mainz, Germany
| | | | - Franz J Weissing
- Groningen Institute for Evolutionary Life Sciences, University of Groningen, Nijenborgh 7, 9747, AG, Groningen, The Netherlands
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25
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Rostovtseva VV, Weissing FJ, Mezentseva AA, Butovskaya ML. Sex differences in cooperativeness-An experiment with Buryats in Southern Siberia. PLoS One 2020; 15:e0239129. [PMID: 32915920 PMCID: PMC7486078 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0239129] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/31/2020] [Accepted: 08/31/2020] [Indexed: 12/03/2022] Open
Abstract
We report on an experimental study that was set up to reveal differences in the tendencies of men and women to cooperate in same-sex interactions. Former studies on this subject were mostly conducted in industrialized modern societies. In contrast, we tested the cooperation tendency among Buryats, a people from Southern Siberia of Mongolian origin. All subjects participated in (1) one iterated Public Goods Game in a group of four individuals of the same sex and (2) four one-shot Prisoner’s Dilemma games with different partners of the same sex. The interactions were in a face-to-face setting, but any intentional communication during the experiments was prohibited. We found that Buryat men were more cooperative than Buryat women in both types of same-sex interactions. In particular, the fraction of men employing a strategy of unconditional cooperation in the iterated Public Goods Game was much higher (36%) than the fraction of unconditional cooperators among women (21%). In general, the behavior of men was less context dependent than the behavior of women. In both sexes, individuals who were more cooperative in one type of game tended to be more cooperative in the other type of game. Although direct communication was prohibited, the interaction partners in the Prisoner’s Dilemma games employed the same strategy much more frequently than expected by chance. We conclude that, even among strangers, the exchange of subtle signals is sufficient to coordinate strategic decisions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Victoria V. Rostovtseva
- Department of Cross-Cultural Psychology and Human Ethology, Institute of Ethnology and Anthropology, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia
- * E-mail:
| | - Franz J. Weissing
- Groningen Institute for Evolutionary Life Sciences, University of Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands
- Netherlands Institute for Advanced Study in the Humanities and Social Sciences, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
| | - Anna A. Mezentseva
- Department of Cross-Cultural Psychology and Human Ethology, Institute of Ethnology and Anthropology, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia
| | - Marina L. Butovskaya
- Department of Cross-Cultural Psychology and Human Ethology, Institute of Ethnology and Anthropology, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia
- International Centre of Anthropology, National Research University Higher School of Economics, Moscow, Russia
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26
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Port M, Hildenbrandt H, Pen I, Schülke O, Ostner J, Weissing FJ. The evolution of social philopatry in female primates. Am J Phys Anthropol 2020; 173:397-410. [PMID: 32779763 DOI: 10.1002/ajpa.24123] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/18/2019] [Revised: 06/16/2020] [Accepted: 06/30/2020] [Indexed: 01/24/2023]
Abstract
The transition from solitary life to sociality is considered one of the major transitions in evolution. In primates, this transition is currently not well understood. Traditional verbal models appear insufficient to unravel the complex interplay of environmental and demographic factors involved in the evolution of primate sociality, and recent phylogenetic reconstructions have produced conflicting results. We therefore analyze a theoretical model for the evolution of female social philopatry that sheds new light on the question why most primates live in groups. In individual-based simulations, we study the evolution of dispersal strategies of both resident females and their offspring. The model reveals that social philopatry can evolve through kin selection, even if retention of offspring is costly in terms of within-group resource competition and provides no direct benefits. Our model supports the role of predator avoidance as a selective pressure for group-living in primates, but it also suggests that a second benefit of group-living, communal resource defense, might be required to trigger the evolution of sizable groups. Lastly, our model reveals that seemingly small differences in demographic parameters can have profound effects on primate social evolution.
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Affiliation(s)
- Markus Port
- Department of Behavioral Ecology, Georg-August-Universität Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany
| | - Hanno Hildenbrandt
- Groningen Institute for Evolutionary Life Sciences, University of Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands
| | - Ido Pen
- Groningen Institute for Evolutionary Life Sciences, University of Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands
| | - Oliver Schülke
- Department of Behavioral Ecology, Georg-August-Universität Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany.,Research Group Primate Social Evolution, German Primate Center, Leibniz Institute for Primate Research, Göttingen, Germany
| | - Julia Ostner
- Department of Behavioral Ecology, Georg-August-Universität Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany.,Research Group Primate Social Evolution, German Primate Center, Leibniz Institute for Primate Research, Göttingen, Germany
| | - Franz J Weissing
- Groningen Institute for Evolutionary Life Sciences, University of Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands.,Netherlands Institute for Advanced Study (NIAS), Amsterdam, The Netherlands
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27
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de Jager M, van de Koppel J, Weerman EJ, Weissing FJ. Patterning in Mussel Beds Explained by the Interplay of Multi-Level Selection and Spatial Self-Organization. Front Ecol Evol 2020. [DOI: 10.3389/fevo.2020.00007] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
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28
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Daras IM, Weissing FJ. Replication and individual-level emergence are not sufficient for understanding cultural transmission and the evolution of human culture: Comment on "Replication and emergence in cultural transmission" by Monica Tamariz. Phys Life Rev 2019; 30:74-76. [PMID: 31471261 DOI: 10.1016/j.plrev.2019.08.015] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/15/2019] [Accepted: 08/19/2019] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Inès M Daras
- Groningen Institute for Evolutionary Life Sciences, University of Groningen, The Netherlands
| | - Franz J Weissing
- Groningen Institute for Evolutionary Life Sciences, University of Groningen, The Netherlands.
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29
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Abstract
The migration of people between different cultures has affected cultural change throughout history. To understand this process, cross-cultural psychologists have used the 'acculturation' framework, classifying 'acculturation orientations' along two dimensions: the willingness to interact with culturally different individuals, and the inclination to retain the own cultural identity ('cultural conservatism'). Here, using a cultural evolution approach, we construct a dynamically explicit model of acculturation. We show that the evolution of a multicultural society, where immigrant and resident culture stably coexist, is more likely if individuals readily engage in cross-cultural interactions, and if resident individuals are more culturally conservative than immigrants. This result holds if some cultural traits pay off better than others, and individuals use social learning to adopt more advantageous cultural traits. Our study demonstrates that formal dynamic models can help us understand how individual orientations towards immigration eventually determine the population-level distribution of cultural traits.
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Affiliation(s)
- E Yagmur Erten
- Theoretical Research in Evolutionary Life Sciences, Groningen Institute for Evolutionary Life Sciences, University of Groningen, PO Box 11103, 9700 CC, Groningen, The Netherlands
- Department of Evolutionary Biology and Environmental Studies, University of Zurich, Winterthurerstrasse 190, 8057, Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Pieter van den Berg
- Theoretical Research in Evolutionary Life Sciences, Groningen Institute for Evolutionary Life Sciences, University of Groningen, PO Box 11103, 9700 CC, Groningen, The Netherlands
- Laboratory of Socioecology and Social Evolution, Department of Biology, KU Leuven, Naamsestraat 59-bus 2466, 3000, Leuven, Belgium
| | - Franz J Weissing
- Theoretical Research in Evolutionary Life Sciences, Groningen Institute for Evolutionary Life Sciences, University of Groningen, PO Box 11103, 9700 CC, Groningen, The Netherlands.
- Netherlands Institute for Advanced Study in the Humanities and Social Science (NIAS-KNAW), PO Box 10855, 1001 EW, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
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30
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Manser A, Lindholm AK, Weissing FJ. The evolution of costly mate choice against segregation distorters. Evolution 2017; 71:2817-2828. [PMID: 29071709 DOI: 10.1111/evo.13376] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/07/2015] [Accepted: 09/29/2017] [Indexed: 10/18/2022]
Abstract
The evolution of female preference for male genetic quality remains a controversial topic in sexual selection research. One well-known problem, known as the lek paradox, lies in understanding how variation in genetic quality is maintained in spite of natural selection and sexual selection against low-quality alleles. Here, we theoretically investigate a scenario where females pay a direct fitness cost to avoid males carrying an autosomal segregation distorter. We show that preference evolution is greatly facilitated under such circumstances. Because the distorter is transmitted in a non-Mendelian fashion, it can be maintained in the population despite directional sexual selection. The preference helps females avoid fitness costs associated with the distorter. Interestingly, we find that preference evolution is limited if the choice allele induces a very strong preference or if distortion is very strong. Moreover, the preference can only persist in the presence of a signal that reliably indicates a male's distorter genotype. Hence, even in a system where the lek paradox does not play a major role, costly preferences can only spread under specific circumstances. We discuss the importance of distorter systems for the evolution of costly female choice and potential implications for the use of artificial distorters in pest control.
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Affiliation(s)
- Andri Manser
- Theoretical Research in Evolutionary Life Sciences, Groningen Institute for Evolutionary Life Sciences, University of Groningen, Nijenborgh 7, 9747 AG, Groningen, The Netherlands.,Institute of Integrative Biology, University of Liverpool, Biosciences Building, Crown Street, Liverpool, United Kingdom.,Institute for Evolutionary Biology and Environmental Studies, University of Zurich, Winterthurerstrasse 190, Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Anna K Lindholm
- Institute for Evolutionary Biology and Environmental Studies, University of Zurich, Winterthurerstrasse 190, Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Franz J Weissing
- Theoretical Research in Evolutionary Life Sciences, Groningen Institute for Evolutionary Life Sciences, University of Groningen, Nijenborgh 7, 9747 AG, Groningen, The Netherlands
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31
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Junikka J, Molleman L, van den Berg P, Weissing FJ, Puurtinen M. Assortment, but not knowledge of assortment, affects cooperation and individual success in human groups. PLoS One 2017; 12:e0185859. [PMID: 28968451 PMCID: PMC5624630 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0185859] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/03/2017] [Accepted: 09/20/2017] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
The success or failure of human collective action often depends on the cooperation tendencies of individuals in groups, and on the information that individuals have about each other's cooperativeness. However, it is unclear whether these two factors have an interactive effect on cooperation dynamics. Using a decision-making experiment, we confirm that groups comprising individuals with higher cooperation tendencies cooperate at a higher level than groups comprising individuals with low cooperation tendencies. Moreover, assorting individuals with similar cooperation tendency together affected behaviour so that the most cooperative individuals tended to cooperate more and the least cooperative individuals cooperated less, compared to their behaviour in randomly formed groups. In line with predictions of evolutionary models of cooperation, there was a strong positive association between individuals' cooperation tendency and success when groups were formed assortatively, whereas such association did not exist when groups were formed randomly. Surprisingly, information about group members' cooperativeness in assorted groups had no effect on cooperation levels. We discuss potential explanations for why information about cooperativeness of others may be disregarded in certain circumstances.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jaakko Junikka
- Department of Biological and Environmental Science, University of Jyväskylä, Jyväskylä, Finland
- Centre of Excellence in Biological Interactions, University of Jyväskylä, Jyväskylä, Finland
- * E-mail:
| | - Lucas Molleman
- Centre for Decision Research and Experimental Economics, School of Economics, University of Nottingham, University Park, Nottingham, United Kingdom
- Center for Adaptive Rationality, Max Planck Institute for Human Development, Berlin, Germany
- Groningen Institute for Evolutionary Life Sciences, University of Groningen, Groningen, Netherlands
| | - Pieter van den Berg
- Groningen Institute for Evolutionary Life Sciences, University of Groningen, Groningen, Netherlands
- Lab of Socioecology and Social Evolution, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium
| | - Franz J. Weissing
- Groningen Institute for Evolutionary Life Sciences, University of Groningen, Groningen, Netherlands
- Netherlands Institute for Advanced Study in the Humanities and Social Science (NIAS-KNAW), Amsterdam, Netherlands
| | - Mikael Puurtinen
- Department of Biological and Environmental Science, University of Jyväskylä, Jyväskylä, Finland
- Centre of Excellence in Biological Interactions, University of Jyväskylä, Jyväskylä, Finland
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32
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Zhang J, Weissing FJ, Cao M. Fixation of competing strategies when interacting agents differ in the time scale of strategy updating. Phys Rev E 2016; 94:032407. [PMID: 27739806 DOI: 10.1103/physreve.94.032407] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/10/2016] [Indexed: 11/07/2022]
Abstract
A commonly used assumption in evolutionary game theory is that natural selection acts on individuals in the same time scale; e.g., players use the same frequency to update their strategies. Variation in learning rates within populations suggests that evolutionary game theory may not necessarily be restricted to uniform time scales associated with the game interaction and strategy adaption evolution. In this study, we remove this restricting assumption by dividing the population into fast and slow groups according to the players' strategy updating frequencies and investigate how different strategy compositions of one group influence the evolutionary outcome of the other's fixation probabilities of strategies within its own group. Analytical analysis and numerical calculations are performed to study the evolutionary dynamics of strategies in typical classes of two-player games (prisoner's dilemma game, snowdrift game, and stag-hunt game). The introduction of the heterogeneity in strategy-update time scales leads to substantial changes in the evolution dynamics of strategies. We provide an approximation formula for the fixation probability of mutant types in finite populations and study the outcome of strategy evolution under the weak selection. We find that although heterogeneity in time scales makes the collective evolutionary dynamics more complicated, the possible long-run evolutionary outcome can be effectively predicted under technical assumptions when knowing the population composition and payoff parameters.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jianlei Zhang
- Department of Automation, College of Computer and Control Engineering, Nankai University, People's Republic of China.,Theoretical Biology Group, Centre for Ecological and Evolutionary Studies, University of Groningen, The Netherlands.,Network Analysis and Control Group, Institute for Industrial Engineering, University of Groningen, The Netherlands
| | - Franz J Weissing
- Theoretical Biology Group, Centre for Ecological and Evolutionary Studies, University of Groningen, The Netherlands
| | - Ming Cao
- Network Analysis and Control Group, Institute for Industrial Engineering, University of Groningen, The Netherlands
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33
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Kramer BH, van Doorn GS, Weissing FJ, Pen I. Lifespan divergence between social insect castes: challenges and opportunities for evolutionary theories of aging. Curr Opin Insect Sci 2016; 16:76-80. [PMID: 27720054 DOI: 10.1016/j.cois.2016.05.012] [Citation(s) in RCA: 20] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/04/2016] [Revised: 05/09/2016] [Accepted: 05/11/2016] [Indexed: 06/06/2023]
Abstract
The extraordinarily long lifespans of queens (and kings) in eusocial insects and the strikingly large differences in life expectancy between workers and queens challenge our understanding of the evolution of aging and provide unique opportunities for studying the causes underlying adaptive variation in lifespan within species. Here we review the major evolutionary theories of aging, focusing on their scope and limitations when applied to social insects. We show that reproductive division of labor, interactions between kin, caste-specific gene regulation networks, and the integration of colony-level trade-offs with individual-level trade-offs provide challenges to the classical theories We briefly indicate how these challenges could be met in future models of adaptive phenotypic plasticity in lifespan between and within different castes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Boris H Kramer
- Theoretical Research in Evolutionary Life Sciences, Groningen Institute for Evolutionary Life Sciences, University of Groningen, Nijenborgh 7, 9747 AG Groningen, The Netherlands.
| | - G Sander van Doorn
- Theoretical Research in Evolutionary Life Sciences, Groningen Institute for Evolutionary Life Sciences, University of Groningen, Nijenborgh 7, 9747 AG Groningen, The Netherlands
| | - Franz J Weissing
- Theoretical Research in Evolutionary Life Sciences, Groningen Institute for Evolutionary Life Sciences, University of Groningen, Nijenborgh 7, 9747 AG Groningen, The Netherlands
| | - Ido Pen
- Theoretical Research in Evolutionary Life Sciences, Groningen Institute for Evolutionary Life Sciences, University of Groningen, Nijenborgh 7, 9747 AG Groningen, The Netherlands
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34
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Ivanov O, van der Schaft A, Weissing FJ. Steady states and stability in metabolic networks without regulation. J Theor Biol 2016; 401:78-93. [PMID: 26992576 DOI: 10.1016/j.jtbi.2016.02.031] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/19/2015] [Revised: 01/02/2016] [Accepted: 02/22/2016] [Indexed: 10/22/2022]
Abstract
Metabolic networks are often extremely complex. Despite intensive efforts many details of these networks, e.g., exact kinetic rates and parameters of metabolic reactions, are not known, making it difficult to derive their properties. Considerable effort has been made to develop theory about properties of steady states in metabolic networks that are valid for any values of parameters. General results on uniqueness of steady states and their stability have been derived with specific assumptions on reaction kinetics, stoichiometry and network topology. For example, deep results have been obtained under the assumptions of mass-action reaction kinetics, continuous flow stirred tank reactors (CFSTR), concordant reaction networks and others. Nevertheless, a general theory about properties of steady states in metabolic networks is still missing. Here we make a step further in the quest for such a theory. Specifically, we study properties of steady states in metabolic networks with monotonic kinetics in relation to their stoichiometry (simple and general) and the number of metabolites participating in every reaction (single or many). Our approach is based on the investigation of properties of the Jacobian matrix. We show that stoichiometry, network topology, and the number of metabolites that participate in every reaction have a large influence on the number of steady states and their stability in metabolic networks. Specifically, metabolic networks with single-substrate-single-product reactions have disconnected steady states, whereas in metabolic networks with multiple-substrates-multiple-product reactions manifolds of steady states arise. Metabolic networks with simple stoichiometry have either a unique globally asymptotically stable steady state or asymptotically stable manifolds of steady states. In metabolic networks with general stoichiometry the steady states are not always stable and we provide conditions for their stability. In order to demonstrate the biological relevance we illustrate the results on the examples of the TCA cycle, the mevalonate pathway and the Calvin cycle.
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Affiliation(s)
- Oleksandr Ivanov
- Theoretical Research in Evolutionary Life Sciences, Groningen Institute for Evolutionary Life Sciences, University of Groningen, Nijenborgh 7, 9747AG Groningen, The Netherlands; Systems, Control and Applied Analysis Group, Johan Bernoulli Institute for Mathematics and Computer Science, University of Groningen, Nijenborgh 9, 9747AG Groningen, The Netherlands.
| | - Arjan van der Schaft
- Systems, Control and Applied Analysis Group, Johan Bernoulli Institute for Mathematics and Computer Science, University of Groningen, Nijenborgh 9, 9747AG Groningen, The Netherlands
| | - Franz J Weissing
- Theoretical Research in Evolutionary Life Sciences, Groningen Institute for Evolutionary Life Sciences, University of Groningen, Nijenborgh 7, 9747AG Groningen, The Netherlands
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35
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Abstract
Studies aimed at explaining the evolution of phenotypic traits have often solely focused on fitness considerations, ignoring underlying mechanisms. In recent years, there has been an increasing call for integrating mechanistic perspectives in evolutionary considerations, but it is not clear whether and how mechanisms affect the course and outcome of evolution. To study this, we compare four mechanistic implementations of two well-studied models for the evolution of cooperation, the Iterated Prisoner's Dilemma (IPD) game and the Iterated Snowdrift (ISD) game. Behavioural strategies are either implemented by a 1 : 1 genotype-phenotype mapping or by a simple neural network. Moreover, we consider two different scenarios for the effect of mutations. The same set of strategies is feasible in all four implementations, but the probability that a given strategy arises owing to mutation is largely dependent on the behavioural and genetic architecture. Our individual-based simulations show that this has major implications for the evolutionary outcome. In the ISD, different evolutionarily stable strategies are predominant in the four implementations, while in the IPD each implementation creates a characteristic dynamical pattern. As a consequence, the evolved average level of cooperation is also strongly dependent on the underlying mechanism. We argue that our findings are of general relevance for the evolution of social behaviour, pleading for the integration of a mechanistic perspective in models of social evolution.
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Affiliation(s)
- Pieter van den Berg
- Groningen Institute for Evolutionary Life Sciences, University of Groningen, Groningen 9747 AG, The Netherlands
| | - Franz J Weissing
- Groningen Institute for Evolutionary Life Sciences, University of Groningen, Groningen 9747 AG, The Netherlands
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36
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Abstract
Organisms have a remarkable capacity to respond to environmental change. They can either respond directly, by means of phenotypic plasticity, or they can slowly adapt through evolution. Yet, how phenotypic plasticity links to evolutionary adaptability is largely unknown. Current studies of plasticity tend to adopt a phenomenological reaction norm (RN) approach, which neglects the mechanisms underlying plasticity. Focusing on a concrete question - the optimal timing of bacterial sporulation - we here also consider a mechanistic approach, the evolution of a gene regulatory network (GRN) underlying plasticity. Using individual-based simulations, we compare the RN and GRN approach and find a number of striking differences. Most importantly, the GRN model results in a much higher diversity of responsive strategies than the RN model. We show that each of the evolved strategies is pre-adapted to a unique set of unseen environmental conditions. The regulatory mechanisms that control plasticity therefore critically link phenotypic plasticity to the adaptive potential of biological populations.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jordi van Gestel
- Groningen Institute for Evolutionary Life Sciences, University of Groningen, P.O. Box 11103, Groningen 9700 CC, The Netherlands
| | - Franz J. Weissing
- Groningen Institute for Evolutionary Life Sciences, University of Groningen, P.O. Box 11103, Groningen 9700 CC, The Netherlands
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37
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Abstract
Most social interactions do not take place at random. In many situations, individuals choose their interaction partners on the basis of phenotypic cues. When this happens, individuals are often homophilic, that is, they tend to interact with individuals that are similar to them. Here we investigate the joint evolution of phenotypic cues and cue-dependent interaction strategies. By a combination of individual-based simulations and analytical arguments, we show that homophily evolves less easily than earlier studies suggest. The evolutionary interplay of cues and cue-based behaviour is intricate and has many interesting facets. For example, an interaction strategy like heterophily may stably persist in the population even if it is selected against in association with any particular cue. Homophily persisted for extensive periods of time just in those simulations where homophilic interactions provide a lower (rather than a higher) payoff than heterophilic interactions. Our results indicate that even the simplest cue-based social interactions can have rich dynamics and a surprising diversity of evolutionary outcomes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Pouria Ramazi
- Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, ENTEG, University of Groningen, Nijenborgh 4, 9747 AG Groningen, The Netherlands
| | - Ming Cao
- Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, ENTEG, University of Groningen, Nijenborgh 4, 9747 AG Groningen, The Netherlands
| | - Franz J Weissing
- Groningen Institute for Evolutionary Life Sciences, University of Groningen, Nijenborgh 7, 9747 AG Groningen, The Netherlands
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38
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Quiñones AE, van Doorn GS, Pen I, Weissing FJ, Taborsky M. Negotiation and appeasement can be more effective drivers of sociality than kin selection. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2016; 371:20150089. [PMID: 26729929 PMCID: PMC4760191 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2015.0089] [Citation(s) in RCA: 38] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 11/18/2015] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Two alternative frameworks explain the evolution of cooperation in the face of conflicting interests. Conflicts can be alleviated by kinship, the alignment of interests by virtue of shared genes, or by negotiation strategies, allowing mutually beneficial trading of services or commodities. Although negotiation often occurs in kin-structured populations, the interplay of kin- and negotiation-based mechanisms in the evolution of cooperation remains an unresolved issue. Inspired by the biology of a cooperatively breeding fish, we developed an individual-based simulation model to study the evolution of negotiation-based cooperation in relation to different levels of genetic relatedness. We show that the evolution of negotiation strategies leads to an equilibrium where subordinates appease dominants by conditional cooperation, resulting in high levels of help and low levels of aggression. This negotiation-based equilibrium can be reached both in the absence of relatedness and in a kin-structured population. However, when relatedness is high, evolution often ends up in an alternative equilibrium where subordinates help their kin unconditionally. The level of help at this kin-selected equilibrium is considerably lower than at the negotiation-based equilibrium, and it corresponds to a level reached when responsiveness is prevented from evolving in the simulations. A mathematical invasion analysis reveals that, quite generally, the alignment of payoffs due to the relatedness of interaction partners tends to impede selection for harsh but effective punishment of defectors. Hence kin structure will often hamper rather than facilitate the evolution of productive cooperation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Andrés E Quiñones
- Theoretical Research in Evolutionary Life Sciences, Groningen Institute for Evolutionary Life Sciences, University of Groningen, Groningen 9747 AG, The Netherlands Department of Behavioural Ecology, Institute of Ecology and Evolution, University of Bern, 3032 Hinterkappelen, Switzerland
| | - G Sander van Doorn
- Theoretical Research in Evolutionary Life Sciences, Groningen Institute for Evolutionary Life Sciences, University of Groningen, Groningen 9747 AG, The Netherlands
| | - Ido Pen
- Theoretical Research in Evolutionary Life Sciences, Groningen Institute for Evolutionary Life Sciences, University of Groningen, Groningen 9747 AG, The Netherlands
| | - Franz J Weissing
- Theoretical Research in Evolutionary Life Sciences, Groningen Institute for Evolutionary Life Sciences, University of Groningen, Groningen 9747 AG, The Netherlands
| | - Michael Taborsky
- Department of Behavioural Ecology, Institute of Ecology and Evolution, University of Bern, 3032 Hinterkappelen, Switzerland
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39
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van den Berg P, Molleman L, Junikka J, Puurtinen M, Weissing FJ. Human cooperation in groups: variation begets variation. Sci Rep 2015; 5:16144. [PMID: 26531770 PMCID: PMC4632011 DOI: 10.1038/srep16144] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/02/2015] [Accepted: 10/07/2015] [Indexed: 11/24/2022] Open
Abstract
Many experiments on human cooperation have revealed that individuals differ systematically in their tendency to cooperate with others. It has also been shown that individuals condition their behaviour on the overall cooperation level of their peers. Yet, little is known about how individuals respond to heterogeneity in cooperativeness in their neighbourhood. Here, we present an experimental study investigating whether and how people respond to heterogeneous behaviour in a public goods game. We find that a large majority of subjects does respond to heterogeneity in their group, but they respond in quite different ways. Most subjects contribute less to the public good when the contributions of their peers are more heterogeneous, but a substantial fraction of individuals consistently contributes more in this case. In addition, we find that individuals that respond positively to heterogeneity have a higher general cooperation tendency. The finding that social responsiveness occurs in different forms and is correlated with cooperativeness may have important implications for the outcome of cooperative interactions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Pieter van den Berg
- Theoretical Research in Evolutionary Life Sciences (TRÊS), University of Groningen, 9747 AG Groningen, Netherlands
| | - Lucas Molleman
- Theoretical Research in Evolutionary Life Sciences (TRÊS), University of Groningen, 9747 AG Groningen, Netherlands.,The Centre for Decision Research and Experimental Economics (CeDEx), University of Nottingham, Sir Clive Granger Building, University Park, Nottingham NG7 2RD, UK
| | - Jaakko Junikka
- University of Jyvaskyla, Department of Biological and Environmental Science, P.O.Box 35, FI-40014 University of Jyvaskyla, Finland.,University of Jyvaskyla, Centre of Excellence in Biological Interactions, P.O.Box 35, FI-40014 University of Jyvaskyla, Finland
| | - Mikael Puurtinen
- University of Jyvaskyla, Department of Biological and Environmental Science, P.O.Box 35, FI-40014 University of Jyvaskyla, Finland.,University of Jyvaskyla, Centre of Excellence in Biological Interactions, P.O.Box 35, FI-40014 University of Jyvaskyla, Finland
| | - Franz J Weissing
- Theoretical Research in Evolutionary Life Sciences (TRÊS), University of Groningen, 9747 AG Groningen, Netherlands
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40
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Zhang J, Zhang C, Cao M, Weissing FJ. Crucial role of strategy updating for coexistence of strategies in interaction networks. Phys Rev E Stat Nonlin Soft Matter Phys 2015; 91:042101. [PMID: 25974434 DOI: 10.1103/physreve.91.042101] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/07/2013] [Indexed: 06/04/2023]
Abstract
Network models are useful tools for studying the dynamics of social interactions in a structured population. After a round of interactions with the players in their local neighborhood, players update their strategy based on the comparison of their own payoff with the payoff of one of their neighbors. Here we show that the assumptions made on strategy updating are of crucial importance for the strategy dynamics. In the first step, we demonstrate that seemingly small deviations from the standard assumptions on updating have major implications for the evolutionary outcome of two cooperation games: cooperation can more easily persist in a Prisoner's Dilemma game, while it can go more easily extinct in a Snowdrift game. To explain these outcomes, we develop a general model for the updating of states in a network that allows us to derive conditions for the steady-state coexistence of states (or strategies). The analysis reveals that coexistence crucially depends on the number of agents consulted for updating. We conclude that updating rules are as important for evolution on a network as network structure and the nature of the interaction.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jianlei Zhang
- Network Analysis and Control Group, Engineering and Technology Institute Groningen, University of Groningen, 9747 AG, Groningen, The Netherlands
- Theoretical Biology Group, Groningen Institute for Evolutionary Life Sciences, University of Groningen, 9747 AG, Groningen, The Netherlands
| | - Chunyan Zhang
- College of Computer and Control Engineering, Nankai University, 300071, Tianjin, China
| | - Ming Cao
- Network Analysis and Control Group, Engineering and Technology Institute Groningen, University of Groningen, 9747 AG, Groningen, The Netherlands
| | - Franz J Weissing
- Theoretical Biology Group, Groningen Institute for Evolutionary Life Sciences, University of Groningen, 9747 AG, Groningen, The Netherlands
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41
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Abstract
It has often been argued that the spectacular cognitive capacities of humans are the result of selection for the ability to gather, process, and use information about other people. Recent studies show that humans strongly and consistently differ in what type of social information they are interested in. Although some individuals mainly attend to what the majority is doing (frequency-based learning), others focus on the success that their peers achieve with their behavior (success-based learning). Here, we show that such differences in social learning have important consequences for the outcome of social interactions. We report on a decision-making experiment in which individuals were first classified as frequency- and success-based learners and subsequently grouped according to their learning strategy. When confronted with a social dilemma situation, groups of frequency-based learners cooperated considerably more than groups of success-based learners. A detailed analysis of the decision-making process reveals that these differences in cooperation are a direct result of the differences in information use. Our results show that individual differences in social learning strategies are crucial for understanding social behavior.
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Affiliation(s)
- Pieter van den Berg
- Theoretical Biology Group, University of Groningen, 9747 AG Groningen, The Netherlands; and
| | - Lucas Molleman
- Theoretical Biology Group, University of Groningen, 9747 AG Groningen, The Netherlands; and The Centre for Decision Research and Experimental Economics, University of Nottingham, Nottingham NG7 2RD, United Kingdom
| | - Franz J Weissing
- Theoretical Biology Group, University of Groningen, 9747 AG Groningen, The Netherlands; and
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Brauer VS, Stomp M, Bouvier T, Fouilland E, Leboulanger C, Confurius-Guns V, Weissing FJ, Stal L, Huisman J. Competition and facilitation between the marine nitrogen-fixing cyanobacterium Cyanothece and its associated bacterial community. Front Microbiol 2015; 5:795. [PMID: 25642224 PMCID: PMC4294207 DOI: 10.3389/fmicb.2014.00795] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/15/2014] [Accepted: 12/23/2014] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
N2-fixing cyanobacteria represent a major source of new nitrogen and carbon for marine microbial communities, but little is known about their ecological interactions with associated microbiota. In this study we investigated the interactions between the unicellular N2-fixing cyanobacterium Cyanothece sp. Miami BG043511 and its associated free-living chemotrophic bacteria at different concentrations of nitrate and dissolved organic carbon and different temperatures. High temperature strongly stimulated the growth of Cyanothece, but had less effect on the growth and community composition of the chemotrophic bacteria. Conversely, nitrate and carbon addition did not significantly increase the abundance of Cyanothece, but strongly affected the abundance and species composition of the associated chemotrophic bacteria. In nitrate-free medium the associated bacterial community was co-dominated by the putative diazotroph Mesorhizobium and the putative aerobic anoxygenic phototroph Erythrobacter and after addition of organic carbon also by the Flavobacterium Muricauda. Addition of nitrate shifted the composition toward co-dominance by Erythrobacter and the Gammaproteobacterium Marinobacter. Our results indicate that Cyanothece modified the species composition of its associated bacteria through a combination of competition and facilitation. Furthermore, within the bacterial community, niche differentiation appeared to play an important role, contributing to the coexistence of a variety of different functional groups. An important implication of these findings is that changes in nitrogen and carbon availability due to, e.g., eutrophication and climate change are likely to have a major impact on the species composition of the bacterial community associated with N2-fixing cyanobacteria.
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Affiliation(s)
- Verena S. Brauer
- Department of Aquatic Microbiology, Institute for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Dynamics, University of AmsterdamAmsterdam, Netherlands
- Department of Theoretical Biology, Center for Ecological and Evolutionary Studies, University of GroningenGroningen, Netherlands
- Laboratoire Ecologie des Systèmes Marins Côtiers ECOSYM, UMR 5119, CNRS, IRD, Ifremer, Université Montpellier 2Montpellier, France
| | - Maayke Stomp
- Department of Aquatic Microbiology, Institute for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Dynamics, University of AmsterdamAmsterdam, Netherlands
| | - Thierry Bouvier
- Laboratoire Ecologie des Systèmes Marins Côtiers ECOSYM, UMR 5119, CNRS, IRD, Ifremer, Université Montpellier 2Montpellier, France
| | - Eric Fouilland
- Laboratoire Ecologie des Systèmes Marins Côtiers ECOSYM, UMR 5119, CNRS, IRD, Ifremer, Université Montpellier 2Montpellier, France
| | - Christophe Leboulanger
- Laboratoire Ecologie des Systèmes Marins Côtiers ECOSYM, UMR 5119, CNRS, IRD, Ifremer, Université Montpellier 2Montpellier, France
| | - Veronique Confurius-Guns
- Department of Marine Microbiology, Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea ResearchYerseke, Netherlands
| | - Franz J. Weissing
- Department of Theoretical Biology, Center for Ecological and Evolutionary Studies, University of GroningenGroningen, Netherlands
| | - LucasJ. Stal
- Department of Aquatic Microbiology, Institute for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Dynamics, University of AmsterdamAmsterdam, Netherlands
- Department of Marine Microbiology, Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea ResearchYerseke, Netherlands
| | - Jef Huisman
- Department of Aquatic Microbiology, Institute for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Dynamics, University of AmsterdamAmsterdam, Netherlands
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van Gestel J, Weissing FJ, Kuipers OP, Kovács ÁT. Density of founder cells affects spatial pattern formation and cooperation in Bacillus subtilis biofilms. ISME J 2014; 8:2069-79. [PMID: 24694715 PMCID: PMC4184017 DOI: 10.1038/ismej.2014.52] [Citation(s) in RCA: 153] [Impact Index Per Article: 15.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/16/2013] [Revised: 02/28/2014] [Accepted: 03/04/2014] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Abstract
In nature, most bacteria live in surface-attached sedentary communities known as biofilms. Biofilms are often studied with respect to bacterial interactions. Many cells inhabiting biofilms are assumed to express 'cooperative traits', like the secretion of extracellular polysaccharides (EPS). These traits can enhance biofilm-related properties, such as stress resilience or colony expansion, while being costly to the cells that express them. In well-mixed populations cooperation is difficult to achieve, because non-cooperative individuals can reap the benefits of cooperation without having to pay the costs. The physical process of biofilm growth can, however, result in the spatial segregation of cooperative from non-cooperative individuals. This segregation can prevent non-cooperative cells from exploiting cooperative neighbors. Here we examine the interaction between spatial pattern formation and cooperation in Bacillus subtilis biofilms. We show, experimentally and by mathematical modeling, that the density of cells at the onset of biofilm growth affects pattern formation during biofilm growth. At low initial cell densities, co-cultured strains strongly segregate in space, whereas spatial segregation does not occur at high initial cell densities. As a consequence, EPS-producing cells have a competitive advantage over non-cooperative mutants when biofilms are initiated at a low density of founder cells, whereas EPS-deficient cells have an advantage at high cell densities. These results underline the importance of spatial pattern formation for competition among bacterial strains and the evolution of microbial cooperation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jordi van Gestel
- Theoretical Biology Group, Centre for Ecological and Evolutionary Studies, University of Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands
- Molecular Genetics Group, Groningen Biomolecular Sciences and Biotechnology Institute, University of Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands
| | - Franz J Weissing
- Theoretical Biology Group, Centre for Ecological and Evolutionary Studies, University of Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands
| | - Oscar P Kuipers
- Molecular Genetics Group, Groningen Biomolecular Sciences and Biotechnology Institute, University of Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands
| | - Ákos T Kovács
- Molecular Genetics Group, Groningen Biomolecular Sciences and Biotechnology Institute, University of Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands
- Terrestrial Biofilms Group, Institute of Microbiology, Friedrich Schiller University of Jena, Jena, Germany
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Molleman L, van den Berg P, Weissing FJ. Consistent individual differences in human social learning strategies. Nat Commun 2014; 5:3570. [PMID: 24705692 DOI: 10.1038/ncomms4570] [Citation(s) in RCA: 68] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/08/2013] [Accepted: 03/06/2014] [Indexed: 11/09/2022] Open
Abstract
Social learning has allowed humans to build up extensive cultural repertoires, enabling them to adapt to a wide variety of environmental and social conditions. However, it is unclear which social learning strategies people use, especially in social contexts where their payoffs depend on the behaviour of others. Here we show experimentally that individuals differ in their social learning strategies and that they tend to employ the same learning strategy irrespective of the interaction context. Payoff-based learners focus on their peers' success, while decision-based learners disregard payoffs and exclusively focus on their peers' past behaviour. These individual differences may be of considerable importance for cultural evolution. By means of a simple model, we demonstrate that groups harbouring individuals with different learning strategies may be faster in adopting technological innovations and can be more efficient through successful role differentiation. Our study highlights the importance of individual variation for human interactions and sheds new light on the dynamics of cultural evolution.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lucas Molleman
- 1] Theoretical Biology Group, University of Groningen, P.O. Box 11103, Groningen 9700 CC, The Netherlands [2]
| | - Pieter van den Berg
- 1] Theoretical Biology Group, University of Groningen, P.O. Box 11103, Groningen 9700 CC, The Netherlands [2]
| | - Franz J Weissing
- Theoretical Biology Group, University of Groningen, P.O. Box 11103, Groningen 9700 CC, The Netherlands
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45
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Zhang J, Zhang C, Chu T, Weissing FJ. Cooperation in networks where the learning environment differs from the interaction environment. PLoS One 2014; 9:e90288. [PMID: 24632774 PMCID: PMC3954561 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0090288] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/28/2013] [Accepted: 02/01/2014] [Indexed: 11/24/2022] Open
Abstract
We study the evolution of cooperation in a structured population, combining insights from evolutionary game theory and the study of interaction networks. In earlier studies it has been shown that cooperation is difficult to achieve in homogeneous networks, but that cooperation can get established relatively easily when individuals differ largely concerning the number of their interaction partners, such as in scale-free networks. Most of these studies do, however, assume that individuals change their behaviour in response to information they receive on the payoffs of their interaction partners. In real-world situations, subjects do not only learn from their interaction partners, but also from other individuals (e.g. teachers, parents, or friends). Here we investigate the implications of such incongruences between the ‘interaction network’ and the ‘learning network’ for the evolution of cooperation in two paradigm examples, the Prisoner's Dilemma game (PDG) and the Snowdrift game (SDG). Individual-based simulations and an analysis based on pair approximation both reveal that cooperation will be severely inhibited if the learning network is very different from the interaction network. If the two networks overlap, however, cooperation can get established even in case of considerable incongruence between the networks. The simulations confirm that cooperation gets established much more easily if the interaction network is scale-free rather than random-regular. The structure of the learning network has a similar but much weaker effect. Overall we conclude that the distinction between interaction and learning networks deserves more attention since incongruences between these networks can strongly affect both the course and outcome of the evolution of cooperation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jianlei Zhang
- State Key Laboratory for Turbulence and Complex Systems, College of Engineering, Peking University, Beijing, China
- Network Analysis and Control Group, Institute for Industrial Engineering, University of Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands
- Theoretical Biology Group, Centre for Ecological and Evolutionary Studies, University of Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands
| | - Chunyan Zhang
- Network Analysis and Control Group, Institute for Industrial Engineering, University of Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands
- Theoretical Biology Group, Centre for Ecological and Evolutionary Studies, University of Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands
| | - Tianguang Chu
- State Key Laboratory for Turbulence and Complex Systems, College of Engineering, Peking University, Beijing, China
- * E-mail: (TC); (FJW)
| | - Franz J. Weissing
- Theoretical Biology Group, Centre for Ecological and Evolutionary Studies, University of Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands
- * E-mail: (TC); (FJW)
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46
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de Jager M, Bartumeus F, Kölzsch A, Weissing FJ, Hengeveld GM, Nolet BA, Herman PMJ, van de Koppel J. How superdiffusion gets arrested: ecological encounters explain shift from Lévy to Brownian movement. Proc Biol Sci 2013; 281:20132605. [PMID: 24225464 PMCID: PMC3843843 DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2013.2605] [Citation(s) in RCA: 47] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Ecological theory uses Brownian motion as a default template for describing ecological movement, despite limited mechanistic underpinning. The generality of Brownian motion has recently been challenged by empirical studies that highlight alternative movement patterns of animals, especially when foraging in resource-poor environments. Yet, empirical studies reveal animals moving in a Brownian fashion when resources are abundant. We demonstrate that Einstein's original theory of collision-induced Brownian motion in physics provides a parsimonious, mechanistic explanation for these observations. Here, Brownian motion results from frequent encounters between organisms in dense environments. In density-controlled experiments, movement patterns of mussels shifted from Lévy towards Brownian motion with increasing density. When the analysis was restricted to moves not truncated by encounters, this shift did not occur. Using a theoretical argument, we explain that any movement pattern approximates Brownian motion at high-resource densities, provided that movement is interrupted upon encounters. Hence, the observed shift to Brownian motion does not indicate a density-dependent change in movement strategy but rather results from frequent collisions. Our results emphasize the need for a more mechanistic use of Brownian motion in ecology, highlighting that especially in rich environments, Brownian motion emerges from ecological interactions, rather than being a default movement pattern.
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Affiliation(s)
- Monique de Jager
- Spatial Ecology Department, Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research (NIOZ), , PO Box 140, 4400 AC Yerseke, The Netherlands, Theoretical Biology Group, University of Groningen, , Nijenborgh 7, 9747 AG Groningen, The Netherlands, Community and Conservation Ecology Group, Centre for Ecological and Evolutionary Studies, University of Groningen, , Nijenborgh 7, 9747 AG Groningen, The Netherlands, Institute of Integrative Biology, ETH Zürich, Universitaetstrasse 16, 8092 Zürich, Switzerland, Center for Advanced Studies of Blanes (CEAB-CSIC), , Accés Cala Sant Francesc, 14, 17300 Blanes, Girona, Spain, Department of Animal Ecology, Netherlands Institute of Ecology (NIOO-KNAW), , PO Box 50, 6700 AB Wageningen, The Netherlands, Project Group Movement Ecology, Netherlands Institute of Ecology (NIOO-KNAW), , PO Box 50, 6700 AB Wageningen, The Netherlands
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48
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Abstract
Models of cultural evolution study how the distribution of cultural traits changes over time. The dynamics of cultural evolution strongly depends on the way these traits are transmitted between individuals by social learning. Two prominent forms of social learning are payoff-based learning (imitating others that have higher payoffs) and conformist learning (imitating locally common behaviours). How payoff-based and conformist learning affect the cultural evolution of cooperation is currently a matter of lively debate, but few studies systematically analyse the interplay of these forms of social learning. Here we perform such a study by investigating how the interaction of payoff-based and conformist learning affects the outcome of cultural evolution in three social contexts. First, we develop a simple argument that provides insights into how the outcome of cultural evolution will change when more and more conformist learning is added to payoff-based learning. In a social dilemma (e.g. a Prisoner’s Dilemma), conformism can turn cooperation into a stable equilibrium; in an evasion game (e.g. a Hawk-Dove game or a Snowdrift game) conformism tends to destabilize the polymorphic equilibrium; and in a coordination game (e.g. a Stag Hunt game), conformism changes the basin of attraction of the two equilibria. Second, we analyse a stochastic event-based model, revealing that conformism increases the speed of cultural evolution towards pure equilibria. Individual-based simulations as well as the analysis of the diffusion approximation of the stochastic model by and large confirm our findings. Third, we investigate the effect of an increasing degree of conformism on cultural group selection in a group-structured population. We conclude that, in contrast to statements in the literature, conformism hinders rather than promotes the evolution of cooperation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lucas Molleman
- Theoretical Biology Group, Centre for Ecological and Evolutionary Studies, University of Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands.
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49
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Abstract
Mathematical models have played an important role in the development of sexual selection theory. These models come in different flavors and they differ in their assumptions, often in a subtle way. Similar questions can be addressed by modeling frameworks from population genetics, quantitative genetics, evolutionary game theory, or adaptive dynamics, or by individual-based simulations. Confronted with such diversity, nonspecialists may have difficulties judging the scope and limitations of the various approaches. Here we review the major modeling frameworks, highlighting their pros and cons when applied to different research questions. We also discuss recent developments, where classical models are enriched by including more detail regarding genetics, behavior, demography, and population dynamics. It turns out that some seemingly well-established conclusions of sexual selection theory are less general than previously thought. Linking sexual selection to other processes such as sex-ratio evolution or speciation also reveals that enriching the theory can lead to surprising new insights.
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Affiliation(s)
- Bram Kuijper
- Theoretical Biology Group, Center for Ecological and Evolutionary Studies, University of Groningen, 9747 AG Groningen, The Netherlands;, ,
- Behavior and Evolution Group, Department of Zoology, University of Cambridge, CB2 3EJ Cambridge, United Kingdom
| | - Ido Pen
- Theoretical Biology Group, Center for Ecological and Evolutionary Studies, University of Groningen, 9747 AG Groningen, The Netherlands;, ,
| | - Franz J. Weissing
- Theoretical Biology Group, Center for Ecological and Evolutionary Studies, University of Groningen, 9747 AG Groningen, The Netherlands;, ,
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50
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Abstract
Clonal organisms with occasional sex are important for our general understanding of the costs and benefits that maintain sexual reproduction. Cyclically parthenogenetic aphids are highly variable in their frequency of sexual reproduction. However, studies have mostly focused on free-living aphids above ground, whereas dispersal constraints and dependence on ant-tending may differentially affect the costs and benefits of sex in subterranean aphids. Here, we studied reproductive mode and dispersal in a community of root aphids that are obligately associated with the ant Lasius flavus. We assessed the genetic population structure of four species (Geoica utricularia, Tetraneura ulmi, Forda marginata and Forda formicaria) in a Dutch population and found that all species reproduce predominantly if not exclusively asexually, so that populations consist of multiple clonal lineages. We show that population viscosity is high and winged aphids rare, consistent with infrequent horizontal transmission between ant host colonies. The absence of the primary host shrub (Pistacia) may explain the absence of sex in three of the studied species, but elm trees (Ulmus) that are primary hosts of the fourth species (T. ulmi) occurred within a few km of the study population. We discuss the extent to which obligate ant-tending and absence of primary hosts may have affected selection for permanent parthenogenesis, and we highlight the need for further study of these aphids in Southern Europe where primary hosts may occur close to L. flavus populations, so that all four root aphid species would have realistic opportunities for completing their sexual life cycle.
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Affiliation(s)
- A B F Ivens
- Theoretical Biology, Centre for Ecological and Evolutionary Studies, University of Groningen, Nijenborgh 7, 9747 AG Groningen, The Netherlands.
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