Evolution of risk preference is determined by reproduction dynamics, life history, and population size.

ABSTRACT: Alternative behavioral strategies typically differ in their associated risks, meaning that a different variance in fitness-related outcomes characterizes each behavior. Understanding how selection acts on risk preference is crucial to interpreting and predicting behavior. Despite much research, most theoretical frameworks have been laid out as optimization problems from the individual's perspective, and the influence of population dynamics has been underappreciated. We use agent-based simulations that implement competition between two simple behavioral strategies to illuminate effects of population dynamics on risk-taking. We explore the effects of inter-generational reproduction dynamics, population size, the number of decisions throughout an individual's life, and simple alternate distri

SUBMITTER: Kolodny O 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5571215 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature