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Competitive growth in a social fish.

ABSTRACT: Many animal societies have dominance hierarchies in which social rank is correlated with size. In such societies, the growth and size of individuals can be a strategic response to their social environment: in fishes, individuals may decrease their growth rate to remain small and retain a subordinate position; in mammals, individuals may increase their growth rate to become large and attain a dominant position-a strategy called competitive growth. Here, we investigate whether the clown anemonefish, Amphiprion percula, exhibits competitive growth also. We show that juvenile clownfish paired with a size-matched reproductive rival increase their growth rate and size relative to solitary controls. Remarkably, paired individuals achieved this, despite being provided with the same amount of food as solitary controls. Our results demonstrate that clownfish are able to increase their growth rate in response to social competition. This study adds to the growing body of evidence that the growth of social vertebrates can be a fine-tuned plastic response to their social environment.

SUBMITTER: Reed C

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6405469 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Competitive growth in a social fish.

Reed Cymone C Branconi Rebecca R Majoris John J Johnson Cara C Buston Peter P

Biology letters 20190201 2

Many animal societies have dominance hierarchies in which social rank is correlated with size. In such societies, the growth and size of individuals can be a strategic response to their social environment: in fishes, individuals may decrease their growth rate to remain small and retain a subordinate position; in mammals, individuals may increase their growth rate to become large and attain a dominant position-a strategy called competitive growth. Here, we investigate whether the clown anemonefis ...[more]

PMID: 30958131

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Project description:BackgroundWhile most game theoretical models assume that individuals randomly interact with all other group members, strong evidence indicates that individuals tend to preferentially interact with some of them. The position of an individual in a network affects, among other factors related to survival, its predation risk and competitive success. Here I then modified the Hawk-Dove game to explore the effect of social network structure on competitive strategy of individuals that differ in their fighting ability and may adjust their use of the Hawk, Dove and Assessor tactics to maximize their foraging success when they meet opponents they are connected with.ResultsFrom randomly generated networks, I demonstrate that phenotypic assortment by fighting ability reduces individuals' aggressiveness and, as such, favours cooperative interactions. Furthermore, the success of individuals with the weakest fighting ability is usually highest within networks where they most frequently meet opponents with the same fighting ability as their own, suggesting they might benefit from breaking connections with strong contestants. This might be the case when strong contestants systematically rely on the aggressive Hawk tactic or the risk of being predated is low and independent of the number of neighbours. Thus, I extended the model and built a dynamic model to allow individuals not only to adjust their behaviour to local conditions but also to modify the structure of the social network. The number of connections and degree of phenotypic assortment are then affected by ecological factors (e.g. resources value and predation risk), but above all by whether individuals can reliably assess the competitive ability of their opponents and adjust their behaviour accordingly.ConclusionsThese findings provide strong evidence that behaviour can play a key role in shaping network structure and highlight the importance of considering the coevolution of network and behaviour to apprehend its consequences on population dynamics.

Project description:The development of the green economy has significantly impact the traditional mining industry. Mining enterprises must invest in green technology to reduce the environmental pollution caused by flying dust and soil erosion and are subject to increased scrutiny to be socially responsible when conducting their business. To address this issue, we consider a competitive mining supply chain system consisting of two excavators and two exclusive retailers. Among them, the excavators have a certain sense of corporate social responsibility (CSR), that is, in addition to pursuing economic profits, they also consciously pay attention to the interests of consumers. We establish three different game models that two excavators exhibit no CSR behaviour (NN), two excavators exhibit CSR behaviour (SS) and one excavator exhibits CSR behaviour (SN). We examine the optimal decision-making strategies and analyse the impact of social responsibility. Analytical results show that the optimal strategies of mining supply chain are different under different supply chain structures. The optimal decisions of the mining supply chain members are the same in each case under the NN and SS models. In the SN model, the optimal decision strategy value of mining supply chain members is always greater than non-socially responsible supply chain members. In SS model, when the intensity of social responsibility competition is low, two excavators reduce the wholesale price, and retailers reduce the sales price; when the intensity of social responsibility competition is strong, two excavators will increase the wholesale price, and retailers will increase the sales price. These help to promote product sales and increase the profits of the supply chain system. In SN model, with the increase of social responsibility competition intensity, the wholesale price of two excavators and the sales price of retailers first increased and then decreased. Finally, numerical examples illustrated to justify the proposed model.

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Competitive growth in a social fish.

Publications

Competitive growth in a social fish.

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