A comparison of dominance rank metrics reveals multiple competitive landscapes in an animal society.

ABSTRACT: Across group-living animals, linear dominance hierarchies lead to disparities in access to resources, health outcomes and reproductive performance. Studies of how dominance rank predicts these traits typically employ one of several dominance rank metrics without examining the assumptions each metric makes about its underlying competitive processes. Here, we compare the ability of two dominance rank metrics-simple ordinal rank and proportional or 'standardized' rank-to predict 20 traits in a wild baboon population in Amboseli, Kenya. We propose that simple ordinal rank best predicts traits when competition is density-dependent, whereas proportional rank best predicts traits when competition is density-independent. We found that for 75% of traits (15/20), one rank metric performed better tha

SUBMITTER: Levy EJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7542799 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature