scholarly journals Costs dictate strategic investment in dominance interactions

2022 ◽  
Vol 377 (1845) ◽  
Author(s):  
Tobit Dehnen ◽  
Danai Papageorgiou ◽  
Brendah Nyaguthii ◽  
Wismer Cherono ◽  
Julia Penndorf ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Lower Cost ◽  
Social Groups ◽  
Theme Issue ◽  
Pecking Order ◽  
Dominance Hierarchies ◽  
Strategic Investment ◽  
Aggressive Interactions ◽  
Current State ◽  
Dominance Interactions ◽  
Group Members

Dominance is important for access to resources. As dominance interactions are costly, individuals should be strategic in whom they interact with. One hypothesis is that individuals should direct costly interactions towards those closest in rank, as they have most to gain—in terms of attaining or maintaining dominance—from winning such interactions. Here, we show that male vulturine guineafowl ( Acryllium vulturinum ), a gregarious species with steep dominance hierarchies, strategically express higher-cost aggressive interactions towards males occupying ranks immediately below themselves in their group's hierarchy. By contrast, lower-cost aggressive interactions are expressed towards group members further down the hierarchy. By directly evaluating differences in the strategic use of higher- and lower-cost aggressive interactions towards competitors, we show that individuals disproportionately use highest-cost interactions—such as chases—towards males found one to three ranks below themselves. Our results support the hypothesis that the costs associated with different interaction types can determine their expression in social groups with steep dominance hierarchies. This article is part of the theme issue ‘The centennial of the pecking order: current state and future prospects for the study of dominance hierarchies’.

scholarly journals Costs dictate strategic investment in dominance interactions

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tobit Dehnen ◽  
Danai Papageorgiou ◽  
Brendah Nyaguthii ◽  
Wismer Cherono ◽  
Julia Penndorf ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Low Cost ◽  
Social Groups ◽  
Analytical Framework ◽  
Access To Resources ◽  
Dominance Hierarchies ◽  
Strategic Investment ◽  
Dominance Interactions ◽  
Group Members ◽  
The Difference ◽  
Rank Differences

Dominance is important for access to resources. As dominance interactions are costly, individuals should be strategic in who they interact with. One hypothesis is that individuals should direct costly interactions towards those closest in rank, as they have most to gain--in terms of attaining or maintaining dominance--from winning such interactions. Here, we develop a novel analytical framework to test whether interactions are directed strategically in relation to rank differences, and use these to compare strategies across types of interactions that vary in cost. We show that male vulturine guineafowl (Acryllium vulturinum), a gregarious species with steep dominance hierarchies, strategically direct costly interactions towards males occupying ranks immediately below themselves in their group's hierarchy. In contrast, low-cost interactions are not directed towards closest competitors, but towards group members slightly further down the hierarchy. We then show that, as a result of the difference in strategic use of high- and low-cost interactions towards closest competitors, individuals disproportionately use highest-cost interactions--such as chases--towards males found one to three ranks below them. Our results support the hypothesis that the costs associated with different interaction types can determine their expression in social groups.

scholarly journals DomArchive: a century of published dominance data

2022 ◽  
Vol 377 (1845) ◽  
Author(s):  
Eli D. Strauss ◽  
Alex R. DeCasien ◽  
Gabriela Galindo ◽  
Elizabeth A. Hobson ◽  
Daizaburo Shizuka ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Best Practices ◽  
Comparative Studies ◽  
R Package ◽  
Behavioural Ecology ◽  
Future Prospects ◽  
Theme Issue ◽  
Pecking Order ◽  
Dominance Hierarchies ◽  
Current State ◽  
And Function

Dominance behaviours have been collected for many groups of animals since 1922 and serve as a foundation for research on social behaviour and social structure. Despite a wealth of data from the last century of research on dominance hierarchies, these data are only rarely used for comparative insight. Here, we aim to facilitate comparative studies of the structure and function of dominance hierarchies by compiling published dominance interaction datasets from the last 100 years of work. This compiled archive includes 436 datasets from 190 studies of 367 unique groups (mean group size 13.8, s.d. = 13.4) of 135 different species, totalling over 243 000 interactions. These data are presented in an R package alongside relevant metadata and a tool for subsetting the archive based on biological or methodological criteria. In this paper, we explain how to use the archive, discuss potential limitations of the data, and reflect on best practices in publishing dominance data based on our experience in assembling this dataset. This archive will serve as an important resource for future comparative studies and will promote the development of general unifying theories of dominance in behavioural ecology that can be grounded in testing with empirical data. This article is part of the theme issue ‘The centennial of the pecking order: current state and future prospects for the study of dominance hierarchies’.

scholarly journals Aggression, rank and power: why hens (and other animals) do not always peck according to their strength

2022 ◽  
Vol 377 (1845) ◽  
Author(s):  
Rebecca J. Lewis
Keyword(s):  
Power Relationship ◽  
Future Prospects ◽  
Theme Issue ◽  
Pecking Order ◽  
Dominance Hierarchies ◽  
Seminal Paper ◽  
Power Differential ◽  
Current State ◽  
The Stability ◽  
Subordinate Individual

Thorlief Schjelderup-Ebbe's seminal paper on the ‘pecking’ order of chickens inspired numerous ethologists to research and debate the phenomenon of dominance. The expansion of dominance to the broader concept of power facilitated disentangling aggression, strength, rank and power. Aggression is only one means of coercing other individuals, and can sometimes highlight a lack of power. The fitness advantages of aggression may only outweigh the costs during periods of uncertainty. Effective instruments of power also include incentives and refusals to act. Moreover, the stability of the power relationship might vary with the instruments used if different means of power vary in the number and types of outcomes achieved, as well as the speed of accomplishing those outcomes. In well-established relationships, actions or physiological responses in the subordinate individual may even be the only indicator of a power differential. A focus on strength, aggression and fighting provides an incomplete understanding of the power landscape that individuals actually experience. Multiple methods for constructing hierarchies exist but greater attention to the implications of the types of data used in these constructions is needed. Many shifts in our understanding of power were foreshadowed in Schjelderup-Ebbe's discussion about deviations from the linear hierarchy in chickens. This article is part of the theme issue ‘The centennial of the pecking order: current state and future prospects for the study of dominance hierarchies’.

scholarly journals The centennial of the pecking order: current state and future prospects for the study of dominance hierarchies

2022 ◽  
Vol 377 (1845) ◽  
Author(s):  
Eli D. Strauss ◽  
James P. Curley ◽  
Daizaburo Shizuka ◽  
Elizabeth A. Hobson
Keyword(s):  
Full Range ◽  
Individual Characteristics ◽  
Future Prospects ◽  
Theme Issue ◽  
Pecking Order ◽  
Dominance Hierarchies ◽  
Current State ◽  
Species Characteristics ◽  
Foundational Work ◽  
Analytical Approaches

A century ago, foundational work by Thorleif Schjelderup-Ebbe described a ‘pecking order’ in chicken societies, where individuals could be ordered according to their ability to exert their influence over their group-mates. Now known as dominance hierarchies, these structures have been shown to influence a plethora of individual characteristics and outcomes, situating dominance research as a pillar of the study of modern social ecology and evolution. Here, we first review some of the major questions that have been answered about dominance hierarchies in the last 100 years. Next, we introduce the contributions to this theme issue and summarize how they provide ongoing insight in the epistemology, physiology and neurobiology, hierarchical structure, and dynamics of dominance. These contributions employ the full range of research approaches available to modern biologists. Cross-cutting themes emerging from these contributions include a focus on cognitive underpinnings of dominance, the application of network-analytical approaches, and the utility of experimental rank manipulations for revealing causal relationships. Reflection on the last 100 years of dominance research reveals how Schjelderup-Ebbe's early ideas and the subsequent research helped drive a shift from an essentialist view of species characteristics to the modern recognition of rich inter-individual variation in social, behavioural and physiological phenotypes. This article is part of the theme issue ‘The centennial of the pecking order: current state and future prospects for the study of dominance hierarchies’.

Emergence of size-structured dominance hierarchies through size-dependent feedback

2022 ◽  
Vol 377 (1845) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ian M. Hamilton ◽  
Macie D. Benincasa
Keyword(s):  
Size Structure ◽  
Dynamic Game ◽  
Optimal Investment ◽  
Growth Suppression ◽  
Pecking Order ◽  
Dominance Hierarchies ◽  
Size Dependent ◽  
Current State ◽  
Dominance Structure ◽  
Competition For Food

Size-based dominance hierarchies influence fitness, group size and population dynamics and link dominance structure to evolutionary and ecological outcomes. While larger individuals often gain dominance, social status may influence growth and size in return, resulting in feedbacks among status, growth and size. Here, we present two models evaluating how these feedbacks influence the emergence of size structure in a dominance hierarchy. In the first, size influences competition for food and investment in suppressing growth of groupmates. Stable size differences emerged when suppression was greatest for similarly sized individuals and size had little effect on competition for food. The model predicted size divergence when size strongly affected competition for food. In the second model, we used a dynamic game to solve for optimal investment in growth suppression as a function of size structure. Investment in growth suppression was favoured only when dominants and subordinates were similar in size, generating size ratios different than those expected by chance. Variation in the feedbacks among growth, size and status can explain variation in emergent size structure of dominance hierarchies and its consequences for conflict within groups. This article is part of the theme issue ‘The centennial of the pecking order: current state and future prospects for the study of dominance hierarchies’.

Cortisol responsiveness and dominance rank, but not baseline cortisol level, are repeatable traits in adult female guinea pigs

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Taylor Lynne Rystrom ◽  
Romy C. Prawitt ◽  
S. Helene Richter ◽  
Norbert Sachser ◽  
Sylvia Kaiser
Keyword(s):  
Social Behavior ◽  
Adult Female ◽  
Guinea Pigs ◽  
Dominance Rank ◽  
Dominance Hierarchies ◽  
Current State ◽  
Baseline Cortisol ◽  
Group Members ◽  
Endocrine Mechanism ◽  
Males And Females

Social interactions among group members often lead to the formation of stable dominance hierarchies. Glucocorticoids (i.e. cortisol) have been proposed as an endocrine mechanism underlying social behavior, and previous studies have linked baseline as well as challenge glucocorticoid concentrations to dominance rank. Since the importance of rank on fitness differs between males and females, selection pressures acting on the underlying endocrine mechanisms may differ between the sexes. In male guinea pigs, for example, it is known that cortisol responsiveness mediates social behavior and that dominance rank and cortisol responsiveness are stable within individuals over time. It is unclear whether this is also the case for female guinea pigs. Thus the aim of this study was to investigate whether cortisol concentrations are repeatable in female guinea pigs and whether female rank is correlated to baseline cortisol concentrations or cortisol responsiveness. We show that cortisol responsiveness and dominance rank were significantly repeatable but not correlated in female guinea pigs. Furthermore, baseline cortisol was not repeatable and also did not correlate to dominance rank. Our results demonstrate that baseline cortisol and cortisol responsiveness represent different biological processes; cortisol responsiveness reflects a stable trait while baseline cortisol likely fluctuates with current state. Furthermore, cortisol responsiveness as a mediator of aggressive behavior and dominance acquisition might not be important for maintaining dominance hierarchies in stable groups of females displaying minimal aggression. Overall, this study reveals the remarkable stability of cortisol responsiveness and dominance rank in an adult female rodent and lays the groundwork for future investigations into the causes and consequences of this individual variation.

scholarly journals Dominance in a socially dynamic setting: hierarchical structure and conflict dynamics in ravens' foraging groups

2022 ◽  
Vol 377 (1845) ◽  
Author(s):  
Palmyre H. Boucherie ◽  
Mario Gallego-Abenza ◽  
Jorg J. M. Massen ◽  
Thomas Bugnyar
Keyword(s):  
Dynamic Structure ◽  
First Year ◽  
Dominance Hierarchies ◽  
Dynamic Setting ◽  
Current State ◽  
Dominance Structure ◽  
In Captivity ◽  
In The Wild ◽  
Group Members ◽  
To Receive

Dominance hierarchies typically emerge in systems where group members regularly encounter and compete for resources. In birds, the ‘open’ and dynamic structure of foraging groups may prevent the emergence of structured hierarchies, although this assumption have hardly been tested. We report on agonistic data for ravens Corvus corax , collected over two 18-month periods for 183 marked individuals of a wild (fluid) population and 51 birds from six captive (stable) groups. We show that the dominance structure (steep and transitive) in wild foraging groups is strikingly similar to that found in captivity. In the wild, we found that higher ranks are mainly occupied by males, older and more aggressive individuals that also tend to receive fewer aggressions. Exploring the mechanisms sustaining the wild dominance structure, we confirmed that males are more aggressive than females and, with age, tend to receive fewer aggressions than females. Males that are about to leave the foraging groups for some months are less aggressive than newcomers or locals, while newcomers are specifically targeted by aggressions in their first year (as juveniles). Taken together, our results indicate that the socially dynamic conditions ravens face during foraging do not hinder, but provide opportunities for, using (advanced) social cognition. This article is part of the theme issue ‘The centennial of the pecking order: current state and future prospects for the study of dominance hierarchies’.

scholarly journals Dominance in humans

2022 ◽  
Vol 377 (1845) ◽  
Author(s):  
Tian Chen Zeng ◽  
Joey T. Cheng ◽  
Joseph Henrich
Keyword(s):  
Evolutionary Biology ◽  
High Status ◽  
Pecking Order ◽  
Social Hierarchies ◽  
Dominance Hierarchies ◽  
Institutional Power ◽  
Specific Effects ◽  
Current State ◽  
Behavioural Patterns ◽  
Specific Factors

Dominance captures behavioural patterns found in social hierarchies that arise from agonistic interactions in which some individuals coercively exploit their control over costs and benefits to extract deference from others, often through aggression, threats and/or intimidation. Accumulating evidence points to its importance in humans and its separation from prestige—an alternate avenue to high status in which status arises from information (e.g. knowledge, skill, etc.) or other non-rival goods. In this review, we provide an overview of the theoretical underpinnings of dominance as a concept within evolutionary biology, discuss the challenges of applying it to humans and consider alternative theoretical accounts which assert that dominance is relevant to understanding status in humans. We then review empirical evidence for its continued importance in human groups, including the effects of dominance—independently of prestige—on measurable outcomes such as social influence and reproductive fitness, evidence for specialized dominance psychology, and evidence for gender-specific effects. Finally, because human-specific factors such as norms and coalitions may place bounds on purely coercive status-attainment strategies, we end by considering key situations and contexts that increase the likelihood for dominance status to coexist alongside prestige status within the same individual, including how: (i) institutional power and authority tend to elicit dominance; (ii) dominance-enhancing traits can at times generate benefits for others (prestige); and (iii) certain dominance cues and ethology may lead to mis-attributions of prestige. This article is part of the theme issue ‘The centennial of the pecking order: current state and future prospects for the study of dominance hierarchies’.

scholarly journals The build-up of dominance hierarchies in eusocial insects

2022 ◽  
Vol 377 (1845) ◽  
Author(s):  
Hiroyuki Shimoji ◽  
Shigeto Dobata
Keyword(s):  
Division Of Labour ◽  
Pecking Order ◽  
Dominance Hierarchies ◽  
Eusocial Insects ◽  
Network Analyses ◽  
Current State ◽  
Individual Memory ◽  
Behavioural Interactions ◽  
Selective Forces ◽  
Reproductive Division

Reproductive division of labour is a hallmark of eusocial insects. However, its stability can often be hampered by the potential for reproduction by otherwise sterile nest-mates. Dominance hierarchy has a crucial role in some species in regulating which individuals reproduce. Compared with those in vertebrates, the dominance hierarchies in eusocial insects tend to involve many more individuals, and should require additional selective forces unique to them. Here, we provide an overview of a series of studies on dominance hierarchies in eusocial insects. Although reported from diverse eusocial taxa, dominance hierarchies have been extensively studied in paper wasps and ponerine ants. Starting from molecular physiological attributes of individuals, we describe how the emergence of dominance hierarchies can be understood as a kind of self-organizing process through individual memory and local behavioural interactions. The resulting global structures can be captured by using network analyses. Lastly, we argue the adaptive significance of dominance hierarchies from the standpoint of sterile subordinates. Kin selection, underpinned by relatedness between nest-mates, is key to the subordinates' acceptance of their positions in the hierarchies. This article is part of the theme issue ‘The centennial of the pecking order: current state and future prospects for the study of dominance hierarchies’.

scholarly journals Neural systems that facilitate the representation of social rank

2022 ◽  
Vol 377 (1845) ◽  
Author(s):  
Madeleine F. Dwortz ◽  
James P. Curley ◽  
Kay M. Tye ◽  
Nancy Padilla-Coreano
Keyword(s):  
Social Rank ◽  
Model Organisms ◽  
Neural Systems ◽  
Learning Mechanisms ◽  
Pecking Order ◽  
Approach And Avoidance ◽  
Dominance Hierarchies ◽  
Current State ◽  
The Brain ◽  
Unique Individual

Across species, animals organize into social dominance hierarchies that serve to decrease aggression and facilitate survival of the group. Neuroscientists have adopted several model organisms to study dominance hierarchies in the laboratory setting, including fish, reptiles, rodents and primates. We review recent literature across species that sheds light onto how the brain represents social rank to guide socially appropriate behaviour within a dominance hierarchy. First, we discuss how the brain responds to social status signals. Then, we discuss social approach and avoidance learning mechanisms that we propose could drive rank-appropriate behaviour. Lastly, we discuss how the brain represents memories of individuals (social memory) and how this may support the maintenance of unique individual relationships within a social group. This article is part of the theme issue ‘The centennial of the pecking order: current state and future prospects for the study of dominance hierarchies’.

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