Records |
Author |
Scheffer, M.; van Nes, E.H. |
Title |
Self-organized similarity, the evolutionary emergence of groups of similar species |
Type |
Journal Article |
Year |
2006 |
Publication |
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America |
Abbreviated Journal |
Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. |
Volume |
103 |
Issue |
16 |
Pages |
6230-6235 |
Keywords |
Animals; *Competitive Behavior; *Ecosystem; *Evolution; *Models, Biological |
Abstract |
Ecologists have long been puzzled by the fact that there are so many similar species in nature. Here we show that self-organized clusters of look-a-likes may emerge spontaneously from coevolution of competitors. The explanation is that there are two alternative ways to survive together: being sufficiently different or being sufficiently similar. Using a model based on classical competition theory, we demonstrate a tendency for evolutionary emergence of regularly spaced lumps of similar species along a niche axis. Indeed, such lumpy patterns are commonly observed in size distributions of organisms ranging from algae, zooplankton, and beetles to birds and mammals, and could not be well explained by earlier theory. Our results suggest that these patterns may represent self-constructed niches emerging from competitive interactions. A corollary of our findings is that, whereas in species-poor communities sympatric speciation and invasion of open niches is possible, species-saturated communities may be characterized by convergent evolution and invasion by look-a-likes. |
Address |
Aquatic Ecology and Water Quality Management Group, Department of Environmental Sciences, Wageningen University, P.O. Box 8080, 6700 DD, Wageningen, The Netherlands. marten.scheffer@wur.nl |
Corporate Author |
|
Thesis |
|
Publisher |
|
Place of Publication |
|
Editor |
|
Language |
English |
Summary Language |
|
Original Title |
|
Series Editor |
|
Series Title |
|
Abbreviated Series Title |
|
Series Volume |
|
Series Issue |
|
Edition |
|
ISSN |
0027-8424 |
ISBN |
|
Medium |
|
Area |
|
Expedition |
|
Conference |
|
Notes |
PMID:16585519 |
Approved |
no |
Call Number |
refbase @ user @ |
Serial |
510 |
Permanent link to this record |
|
|
|
Author |
Mettke-Hofmann, C.; Gwinner, E. |
Title |
Long-term memory for a life on the move |
Type |
Journal Article |
Year |
2003 |
Publication |
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America |
Abbreviated Journal |
Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. |
Volume |
100 |
Issue |
10 |
Pages |
5863-5866 |
Keywords |
Animals; Germany; Israel; Memory/*physiology; Models, Biological; Periodicity; Songbirds/*physiology |
Abstract |
Evidence is accumulating that cognitive abilities are shaped by the specific ecological conditions to which animals are exposed. Long-distance migratory birds may provide a striking example of this. Field observations have shown that, at least in some species, a substantial proportion of individuals return to the same breeding, wintering, and stopover sites in successive years. This observation suggests that migrants have evolved special cognitive abilities that enable them to accomplish these feats. Here we show that memory of a particular feeding site persisted for at least 12 months in a long-distance migrant, whereas a closely related nonmigrant could remember such a site for only 2 weeks. Thus, it seems that the migratory lifestyle has influenced the learning and memorizing capacities of migratory birds. These results build a bridge between field observations suggesting special memorization feats of migratory birds and previous neuroanatomical results from the same two species indicating an increase in relative hippocampal size from the first to the second year of life in the migrant but not in the nonmigrant. |
Address |
Max Planck Research Centre for Ornithology, Department of Biological Rhythms and Behaviour, Von-der-Tann-Strasse 7, 82346 Andechs, Germany. mettke-hofmann@erl.ornithol.mpg.de |
Corporate Author |
|
Thesis |
|
Publisher |
|
Place of Publication |
|
Editor |
|
Language |
English |
Summary Language |
|
Original Title |
|
Series Editor |
|
Series Title |
|
Abbreviated Series Title |
|
Series Volume |
|
Series Issue |
|
Edition |
|
ISSN |
0027-8424 |
ISBN |
|
Medium |
|
Area |
|
Expedition |
|
Conference |
|
Notes |
PMID:12719527 |
Approved |
no |
Call Number |
refbase @ user @ |
Serial |
511 |
Permanent link to this record |
|
|
|
Author |
Bergstrom, C.T.; Lachmann, M. |
Title |
Signaling among relatives. III. Talk is cheap |
Type |
Journal Article |
Year |
1998 |
Publication |
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America |
Abbreviated Journal |
Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. |
Volume |
95 |
Issue |
9 |
Pages |
5100-5105 |
Keywords |
Animal Communication; Animals; Costs and Cost Analysis; *Evolution; Interpersonal Relations; Models, Biological |
Abstract |
The Sir Philip Sidney game has been used by numerous authors to show how signal cost can facilitate honest signaling among relatives. Here, we demonstrate that, in this game, honest cost-free signals are possible as well, under very general conditions. Moreover, these cost-free signals are better for all participants than the previously explored alternatives. Recent empirical evidence suggests that begging is energetically inexpensive for nestling birds; this finding led some researchers to question the applicability of the costly signaling framework to nestling begging. Our results show that cost-free or inexpensive signals, as observed empirically, fall within the framework of signaling theory. |
Address |
Department of Biological Sciences, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA. carl@charles.stanford.edu |
Corporate Author |
|
Thesis |
|
Publisher |
|
Place of Publication |
|
Editor |
|
Language |
English |
Summary Language |
|
Original Title |
|
Series Editor |
|
Series Title |
|
Abbreviated Series Title |
|
Series Volume |
|
Series Issue |
|
Edition |
|
ISSN |
0027-8424 |
ISBN |
|
Medium |
|
Area |
|
Expedition |
|
Conference |
|
Notes |
PMID:9560235 |
Approved |
no |
Call Number |
refbase @ user @ |
Serial |
561 |
Permanent link to this record |
|
|
|
Author |
Cameron, E.Z. |
Title |
Facultative adjustment of mammalian sex ratios in support of the Trivers-Willard hypothesis: evidence for a mechanism |
Type |
Journal Article |
Year |
2004 |
Publication |
Proceedings. Biological sciences / The Royal Society |
Abbreviated Journal |
Proc Biol Sci |
Volume |
271 |
Issue |
1549 |
Pages |
1723-1728 |
Keywords |
Age Factors; Animals; Body Constitution; *Evolution; Female; Glucose/metabolism/physiology; Litter Size; Male; Mammals/*physiology; *Models, Biological; Reproduction/physiology; Seasons; Sex Factors; *Sex Ratio; Time Factors |
Abstract |
Evolutionary theory predicts that mothers of different condition should adjust the birth sex ratio of their offspring in relation to future reproductive benefits. Published studies addressing variation in mammalian sex ratios have produced surprisingly contradictory results. Explaining the source of such variation has been a challenge for sex-ratio theory, not least because no mechanism for sex-ratio adjustment is known. I conducted a meta-analysis of previous mammalian sex-ratio studies to determine if there are any overall patterns in sex-ratio variation. The contradictory nature of previous results was confirmed. However, studies that investigated indices of condition around conception show almost unanimous support for the prediction that mothers in good condition bias their litters towards sons. Recent research on the role of glucose in reproductive functioning have shown that excess glucose favours the development of male blastocysts, providing a potential mechanism for sex-ratio variation in relation to maternal condition around conception. Furthermore, many of the conflicting results from studies on sex-ratio adjustment would be explained if glucose levels in utero during early cell division contributed to the determination of offspring sex ratios. |
Address |
Mammal Research Institute, Department of Zoology and Entomology, University of Pretoria, Pretoria 0002, South Africa. ezcameron@zoology.up.ac.za |
Corporate Author |
|
Thesis |
|
Publisher |
|
Place of Publication |
|
Editor |
|
Language |
English |
Summary Language |
|
Original Title |
|
Series Editor |
|
Series Title |
|
Abbreviated Series Title |
|
Series Volume |
|
Series Issue |
|
Edition |
|
ISSN |
0962-8452 |
ISBN |
|
Medium |
|
Area |
|
Expedition |
|
Conference |
|
Notes |
PMID:15306293 |
Approved |
no |
Call Number |
refbase @ user @ |
Serial |
413 |
Permanent link to this record |
|
|
|
Author |
Zhou, W.-X.; Sornette, D.; Hill, R.A.; Dunbar, R.I.M. |
Title |
Discrete hierarchical organization of social group sizes |
Type |
Journal Article |
Year |
2005 |
Publication |
Proceedings. Biological sciences / The Royal Society |
Abbreviated Journal |
Proc Biol Sci |
Volume |
272 |
Issue |
1561 |
Pages |
439-444 |
Keywords |
Anthropology, Cultural; *Group Structure; Humans; *Models, Biological; *Social Behavior; *Social Environment |
Abstract |
The 'social brain hypothesis' for the evolution of large brains in primates has led to evidence for the coevolution of neocortical size and social group sizes, suggesting that there is a cognitive constraint on group size that depends, in some way, on the volume of neural material available for processing and synthesizing information on social relationships. More recently, work on both human and non-human primates has suggested that social groups are often hierarchically structured. We combine data on human grouping patterns in a comprehensive and systematic study. Using fractal analysis, we identify, with high statistical confidence, a discrete hierarchy of group sizes with a preferred scaling ratio close to three: rather than a single or a continuous spectrum of group sizes, humans spontaneously form groups of preferred sizes organized in a geometrical series approximating 3-5, 9-15, 30-45, etc. Such discrete scale invariance could be related to that identified in signatures of herding behaviour in financial markets and might reflect a hierarchical processing of social nearness by human brains. |
Address |
State Key Laboratory of Chemical Reaction Engineering, East China University of Science and Technology, Shanghai 200237, China |
Corporate Author |
|
Thesis |
|
Publisher |
|
Place of Publication |
|
Editor |
|
Language |
English |
Summary Language |
|
Original Title |
|
Series Editor |
|
Series Title |
|
Abbreviated Series Title |
|
Series Volume |
|
Series Issue |
|
Edition |
|
ISSN |
0962-8452 |
ISBN |
|
Medium |
|
Area |
|
Expedition |
|
Conference |
|
Notes |
PMID:15734699 |
Approved |
no |
Call Number |
refbase @ user @ |
Serial |
549 |
Permanent link to this record |
|
|
|
Author |
Brilot, B.O.; Johnstone, R.A. |
Title |
The limits to cost-free signalling of need between relatives |
Type |
Journal Article |
Year |
2003 |
Publication |
Proceedings. Biological sciences / The Royal Society |
Abbreviated Journal |
Proc Biol Sci |
Volume |
270 |
Issue |
1519 |
Pages |
1055-1060 |
Keywords |
*Animal Communication; Animals; Birds/physiology; Models, Biological; *Social Behavior |
Abstract |
Theoretical models have demonstrated the possibility of stable cost-free signalling of need between relatives. The stability of these cost-free equilibria depends on the indirect fitness cost of cheating and deceiving a donor into giving away resources. We show that this stability is highly sensitive to the distribution of need among signallers and receivers. In particular, cost-free signalling is likely to prove stable only if there is very large variation in need (such that the least-needy individuals stand to gain much less than the most-needy individuals from additional resources). We discuss whether these conditions are likely to be found in altricial avian breeding systems--the most intensively studied instance of signalling of need between relatives. We suggest that cost-free signalling is more likely to prove stable and will provide parents with more information during the earlier phases of chick growth, when parents can more easily meet the demands of a brood (and chicks are more likely to reach satiation). Later, informative yet cost-free signalling is unlikely to persist. |
Address |
Department of Zoology, University of Cambridge, Downing Street, Cambridge CB2 3EJ, UK. bob21@cam.ac.uk |
Corporate Author |
|
Thesis |
|
Publisher |
|
Place of Publication |
|
Editor |
|
Language |
English |
Summary Language |
|
Original Title |
|
Series Editor |
|
Series Title |
|
Abbreviated Series Title |
|
Series Volume |
|
Series Issue |
|
Edition |
|
ISSN |
0962-8452 |
ISBN |
|
Medium |
|
Area |
|
Expedition |
|
Conference |
|
Notes |
PMID:12803895 |
Approved |
no |
Call Number |
refbase @ user @ |
Serial |
558 |
Permanent link to this record |
|
|
|
Author |
Kaplan, A.I.; Borodovskii, M.I. |
Title |
[Alternative animal behavior: a model and its statistical characteristics] |
Type |
Journal Article |
Year |
1989 |
Publication |
Nauchnye Doklady Vysshei Shkoly. Biologicheskie Nauki |
Abbreviated Journal |
Nauchnye Doki Vyss Shkoly Biol Nauki |
Volume |
|
Issue |
3 |
Pages |
29-32 |
Keywords |
Animals; *Behavior, Animal; Cognition; Male; Mathematics; *Models, Biological; *Models, Statistical; Rats; Reinforcement (Psychology) |
Abstract |
The rats' alternative behaviour in T-maze at simultaneous two-sided food refreshment in 13 trials a day during 6 days has been studied. It has been found that in the first testing days the indexes of alternative behaviour of animals correspond to the characteristics of the random alternation. However, on the 5-6th day of testing in the overwhelming majority of rats the true deviation of alternation index above or below than the theoretical values has been revealed. A question on the existence of two strategies of cognitive behaviour alteration and perseveration in rat population is under discussion. |
Address |
|
Corporate Author |
|
Thesis |
|
Publisher |
|
Place of Publication |
|
Editor |
|
Language |
Russian |
Summary Language |
|
Original Title |
Al'ternativnoe povedenie zhivotnykh: model' i statisticheskie kharakteristiki |
Series Editor |
|
Series Title |
|
Abbreviated Series Title |
|
Series Volume |
|
Series Issue |
|
Edition |
|
ISSN |
0470-4606 |
ISBN |
|
Medium |
|
Area |
|
Expedition |
|
Conference |
|
Notes |
PMID:2742929 |
Approved |
no |
Call Number |
Equine Behaviour @ team @ |
Serial |
2799 |
Permanent link to this record |
|
|
|
Author |
Flack, J.C.; Girvan, M.; de Waal, F.B.M.; Krakauer, D.C. |
Title |
Policing stabilizes construction of social niches in primates |
Type |
Journal Article |
Year |
2006 |
Publication |
Nature |
Abbreviated Journal |
Nature |
Volume |
439 |
Issue |
7075 |
Pages |
426-429 |
Keywords |
Animals; Conflict (Psychology); Female; Macaca nemestrina/*physiology/*psychology; Male; Models, Biological; *Social Behavior |
Abstract |
All organisms interact with their environment, and in doing so shape it, modifying resource availability. Termed niche construction, this process has been studied primarily at the ecological level with an emphasis on the consequences of construction across generations. We focus on the behavioural process of construction within a single generation, identifying the role a robustness mechanism--conflict management--has in promoting interactions that build social resource networks or social niches. Using 'knockout' experiments on a large, captive group of pigtailed macaques (Macaca nemestrina), we show that a policing function, performed infrequently by a small subset of individuals, significantly contributes to maintaining stable resource networks in the face of chronic perturbations that arise through conflict. When policing is absent, social niches destabilize, with group members building smaller, less diverse, and less integrated grooming, play, proximity and contact-sitting networks. Instability is quantified in terms of reduced mean degree, increased clustering, reduced reach, and increased assortativity. Policing not only controls conflict, we find it significantly influences the structure of networks that constitute essential social resources in gregarious primate societies. The structure of such networks plays a critical role in infant survivorship, emergence and spread of cooperative behaviour, social learning and cultural traditions. |
Address |
Santa Fe Institute, Santa Fe, New Mexico 87501, USA. jflack@santafe.edu |
Corporate Author |
|
Thesis |
|
Publisher |
|
Place of Publication |
|
Editor |
|
Language |
English |
Summary Language |
|
Original Title |
|
Series Editor |
|
Series Title |
|
Abbreviated Series Title |
|
Series Volume |
|
Series Issue |
|
Edition |
|
ISSN |
1476-4687 |
ISBN |
|
Medium |
|
Area |
|
Expedition |
|
Conference |
|
Notes |
PMID:16437106 |
Approved |
no |
Call Number |
refbase @ user @ |
Serial |
298 |
Permanent link to this record |
|
|
|
Author |
Johnson, D.D.P.; Stopka, P.; Knights, S. |
Title |
Sociology: The puzzle of human cooperation |
Type |
Journal Article |
Year |
2003 |
Publication |
Nature |
Abbreviated Journal |
Nature |
Volume |
421 |
Issue |
6926 |
Pages |
911-2; discussion 912 |
Keywords |
Altruism; *Cooperative Behavior; Evolution; Humans; *Models, Biological; Punishment; Reward; Risk |
Abstract |
|
Address |
Olin Institute for Strategic Studies, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138, USA. dominic@post.harvard.edu |
Corporate Author |
|
Thesis |
|
Publisher |
|
Place of Publication |
|
Editor |
|
Language |
English |
Summary Language |
|
Original Title |
|
Series Editor |
|
Series Title |
|
Abbreviated Series Title |
|
Series Volume |
|
Series Issue |
|
Edition |
|
ISSN |
0028-0836 |
ISBN |
|
Medium |
|
Area |
|
Expedition |
|
Conference |
|
Notes |
PMID:12606989 |
Approved |
no |
Call Number |
refbase @ user @ |
Serial |
467 |
Permanent link to this record |
|
|
|
Author |
Grosenick, L.; Clement, T.S.; Fernald, R.D. |
Title |
Fish can infer social rank by observation alone |
Type |
Journal Article |
Year |
2007 |
Publication |
Nature |
Abbreviated Journal |
Nature |
Volume |
445 |
Issue |
7126 |
Pages |
429-432 |
Keywords |
Aggression/physiology; Animals; Cognition/*physiology; Female; Fishes/*physiology; Learning/*physiology; Male; Models, Biological; *Social Dominance; Territoriality |
Abstract |
Transitive inference (TI) involves using known relationships to deduce unknown ones (for example, using A > B and B > C to infer A > C), and is thus essential to logical reasoning. First described as a developmental milestone in children, TI has since been reported in nonhuman primates, rats and birds. Still, how animals acquire and represent transitive relationships and why such abilities might have evolved remain open problems. Here we show that male fish (Astatotilapia burtoni) can successfully make inferences on a hierarchy implied by pairwise fights between rival males. These fish learned the implied hierarchy vicariously (as 'bystanders'), by watching fights between rivals arranged around them in separate tank units. Our findings show that fish use TI when trained on socially relevant stimuli, and that they can make such inferences by using indirect information alone. Further, these bystanders seem to have both spatial and featural representations related to rival abilities, which they can use to make correct inferences depending on what kind of information is available to them. Beyond extending TI to fish and experimentally demonstrating indirect TI learning in animals, these results indicate that a universal mechanism underlying TI is unlikely. Rather, animals probably use multiple domain-specific representations adapted to different social and ecological pressures that they encounter during the course of their natural lives. |
Address |
Department of Biological Sciences, Stanford University, Stanford, California, 94305, USA. logang@stanford.edu |
Corporate Author |
|
Thesis |
|
Publisher |
|
Place of Publication |
|
Editor |
|
Language |
English |
Summary Language |
|
Original Title |
|
Series Editor |
|
Series Title |
|
Abbreviated Series Title |
|
Series Volume |
|
Series Issue |
|
Edition |
|
ISSN |
1476-4687 |
ISBN |
|
Medium |
|
Area |
|
Expedition |
|
Conference |
|
Notes |
PMID:17251980 |
Approved |
no |
Call Number |
refbase @ user @ |
Serial |
600 |
Permanent link to this record |