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Relationship between dominance hierarchy steepness and rank-relatedness of benefits in primates.

ABSTRACT: In animal social groups, the extent to which individuals consistently win agonistic interactions and their ability to monopolize resources represent 2 core aspects of their competitive regime. However, whether these two aspects are closely correlated within groups has rarely been studied. Here, we tested the hypothesis that hierarchy steepness, which is generally used to represent power differentials between group members, predicts the variation in the distribution of fitness-related benefits (i.e. fecundity, infant survival, mating success, and feeding success) in relation to individual dominance ranks. We tested this hypothesis in primate groups using comparative phylogenetic meta-analytical techniques. Specifically, we reviewed published and unpublished studies to extract data on individual dominance ranks, their access to fitness-related benefits, and hierarchy steepness. We collected and included in our analysis a total of 153 data points, representing 27 species (including 2 chimpanzee sub-species). From these, we used 4 common methods to measure individual dominance ranks and hierarchy steepness, i.e. D _ij -based normalized David's scores, randomized Elo-ratings, and David's scores and Elo-ratings estimated in Bayesian frameworks. We found that hierarchy steepness had no effect on the strength of the relationship between dominance rank and access to fitness-related benefits. Our results suggest that hierarchy steepness does not reflect between-group variation in the extent to which individual dominance affects the acquisition of fitness-related benefits in primates. Although the ability to win agonistic encounters is essential, we speculate that other behavioral strategies adopted by individuals may play crucial roles in resource acquisition in animal competitive regimes.

SUBMITTER: Huang P

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11347755 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Sep-Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Relationship between dominance hierarchy steepness and rank-relatedness of benefits in primates.

Huang Pengzhen P Arlet Malgorzata E ME Balasubramaniam Krishna N KN Beisner Brianne A BA Bliss-Moreau Eliza E Brent Lauren J N LJN Duboscq Julie J García-Nisa Iván I Kaburu Stefano S K SSK Kendal Rachel R Konečná Martina M Marty Pascal R PR McCowan Brenda B Micheletta Jérôme J Ostner Julia J Schülke Oliver O Schino Gabriele G Majolo Bonaventura B

Behavioral ecology : official journal of the International Society for Behavioral Ecology 20240813 5

In animal social groups, the extent to which individuals consistently win agonistic interactions and their ability to monopolize resources represent 2 core aspects of their competitive regime. However, whether these two aspects are closely correlated within groups has rarely been studied. Here, we tested the hypothesis that hierarchy steepness, which is generally used to represent power differentials between group members, predicts the variation in the distribution of fitness-related benefits (i ...[more]

PMID: 39193469

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Project description:A dominance hierarchy is the set of ranks occupied by species within an assemblage. Species with a high position within the dominance hierarchy tend to dominate subordinate species in contests for access to resources. In hummingbirds, greater weight and wing disc loading have been associated with highest ranks within the dominance hierarchy. Nevertheless, the limit to which the difference between the weight of contending species represents a competitive advantage has not yet been determined. Here, we determined the dominance hierarchy of a hummingbird assemblage exploiting the most abundant floral resource (Palicourea padifolia, Rubiaceae) in a cloud forest of central Veracruz, Mexico. Specifically, we tested whether species weight and wing disc loading influence the dominance hierarchy. Additionally, we tested whether the flowers visited per foraging bout increases with species weight and dominance. We further tested whether weight, wing disc loading, and the genetic relatedness between contenders influenced the dominance relationships in species-pair interactions. Our results indicate that the hierarchy is positively influenced by weight. Hummingbirds visited similar number of flowers regardless their weight or their dominance. Nevertheless, the probability that the heaviest contender won contests was positively associated with the differences of weight and genetic relatedness between contenders. Contrarily, the probability that the contender with greatest wing disc loading won contests was positively associated with differences of weight and negatively associated with the relatedness between contenders. However, these models only explained between 22% and 34% of the variation, respectively. Our results demonstrate that the weight was the major contributor to high dominance values. However, future studies should include (1) the temporal variability of the weight and (2) experimental predictor variables such the burst power of the hummingbirds to evaluate its effects on the dynamics of dominance hierarchies in hummingbird assemblages. All the hummingbird species present in the studied assemblage have developed wide behavioral mechanisms that compensate their morphological differences, which allow them to coexist, even when they compete for the access to the same resource.

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Relationship between dominance hierarchy steepness and rank-relatedness of benefits in primates.

Publications

Relationship between dominance hierarchy steepness and rank-relatedness of benefits in primates.

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