Defectors Can Create Conditions That Rescue Cooperation.

ABSTRACT: Cooperation based on the production of costly common goods is observed throughout nature. This is puzzling, as cooperation is vulnerable to exploitation by defectors which enjoy a fitness advantage by consuming the common good without contributing fairly. Depletion of the common good can lead to population collapse and the destruction of cooperation. However, population collapse implies small population size, which, in a structured population, is known to favor cooperation. This happens because small population size increases variability in cooperator frequency across different locations. Since individuals in cooperator-dominated locations (which are most likely cooperators) will grow more than those in defector-dominated locations (which are most likely defectors), cooperators can outgrow

SUBMITTER: Waite AJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4687000 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature