Social dilemmas of sociality due to beneficial and costly contagion.

ABSTRACT: Levels of sociality in nature vary widely. Some species are solitary; others live in family groups; some form complex multi-family societies. Increased levels of social interaction can allow for the spread of useful innovations and beneficial information, but can also facilitate the spread of harmful contagions, such as infectious diseases. It is natural to assume that these contagion processes shape the evolution of complex social systems, but an explicit account of the dynamics of sociality under selection pressure imposed by contagion remains elusive. We consider a model for the evolution of sociality strategies in the presence of both a beneficial and costly contagion. We study the dynamics of this model at three timescales: using a susceptible-infectious-susceptible (SIS) model to des

SUBMITTER: Cooney DB 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9721494 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature