The spatial spread of altruism versus the evolutionary response of egoists
- 7 October 2000
- journal article
- Published by The Royal Society in Proceedings. Biological sciences
- Vol. 267 (1456), 1979-1985
- https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2000.1239
Abstract
Several recent models have shown that altruism can spread in viscous populations, i.e. in spatially structured populations within which individuals interact only with their immediate neighbours and disperse only over short distances. I first confirm this result with an individual–based model of a viscous population, where an individual can vary its level of investment into a behaviour that is beneficial to its neighbours but costly to itself. Two distinct classes of individuals emerge: egoists with no or very little investment into altruism, and altruists with a high level of investment; intermediate levels of altruism are not maintained. I then extend the model to investigate the consequences of letting interaction and dispersal distances evolve along with altruism. Altruists maintain short distances, while the egoists respond to the spread of altruism by increasing their interaction and dispersal distances. This allows the egoistic individuals to be maintained in the population at a high frequency. Furthermore, the coevolution of investment into altruism and interaction distance can lead to a stable spatial pattern, where stripes of altruists (with local interactions) alternate with stripes of egoists (with far–reaching interactions). Perhaps most importantly, this approach shows that the ease with which altruism spreads in viscous populations is maintained despite countermeasures evolved by egoists.This publication has 22 references indexed in Scilit:
- The Continuous Prisoner's Dilemma: I. Linear Reactive StrategiesJournal of Theoretical Biology, 1999
- The Unit of Selection in Viscous Populations and the Evolution of AltruismJournal of Theoretical Biology, 1998
- The Evolution of Generosity and Choosiness in Cooperative ExchangesJournal of Theoretical Biology, 1998
- Development of cooperative relationships through increasing investmentNature, 1998
- Coevolution of recovery ability and virulenceProceedings. Biological sciences, 1998
- Species coexistence and self-organizing spatial dynamicsNature, 1994
- Population Dynamics and Pattern Formation in Theoretical PopulationsEcology, 1994
- Inclusive fitness in a homogeneous environmentProceedings. Biological sciences, 1992
- The Evolution of CooperationScience, 1981
- Structured Demes and the Evolution of Group-Advantageous TraitsThe American Naturalist, 1977