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Hierarchical development of dominance through the winner-loser effect and socio-spatial structure

In many groups of animals the dominance hierarchy is linear. What mechanisms underlie this linearity of the dominance hierarchy is under debate. Linearity is often attributed to cognitively sophisticated processes, such as transitive inference and eavesdropping. An alternative explanation is that it...

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Autores principales: van Haeringen, Erik, Hemelrijk, Charlotte
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Public Library of Science 2022
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8809560/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35108262
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0243877
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author van Haeringen, Erik
Hemelrijk, Charlotte
author_facet van Haeringen, Erik
Hemelrijk, Charlotte
author_sort van Haeringen, Erik
collection PubMed
description In many groups of animals the dominance hierarchy is linear. What mechanisms underlie this linearity of the dominance hierarchy is under debate. Linearity is often attributed to cognitively sophisticated processes, such as transitive inference and eavesdropping. An alternative explanation is that it develops via the winner-loser effect. This effect implies that after a fight has been decided the winner is more likely to win again, and the loser is more likely to lose again. Although it has been shown that dominance hierarchies may develop via the winner-loser effect, the degree of linearity of such hierarchies is unknown. The aim of the present study is to investigate whether a similar degree of linearity, like in real animals, may emerge as a consequence of the winner-loser effect and the socio-spatial structure of group members. For this purpose, we use the model DomWorld, in which agents group and compete and the outcome of conflicts is self-reinforcing. Here dominance hierarchies are shown to emerge. We analyse the dominance hierarchy, behavioural dynamics and network triad motifs in the model using analytical methods from a previous study on dominance in real hens. We show that when one parameter, representing the intensity of aggression, was set high in the model DomWorld, it reproduced many patterns of hierarchical development typical of groups of hens, such as its high linearity. When omitting from the model the winner-loser effect or spatial location of individuals, this resemblance decreased markedly. We conclude that the combination of the spatial structure and the winner-loser effect provide a plausible alternative for hierarchical linearity to processes that are cognitively more sophisticated. Further research should determine whether the winner-loser effect and spatial structure of group members also explains the characteristics of hierarchical development in other species with a different dominance style than hens.
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spelling pubmed-88095602022-02-03 Hierarchical development of dominance through the winner-loser effect and socio-spatial structure van Haeringen, Erik Hemelrijk, Charlotte PLoS One Research Article In many groups of animals the dominance hierarchy is linear. What mechanisms underlie this linearity of the dominance hierarchy is under debate. Linearity is often attributed to cognitively sophisticated processes, such as transitive inference and eavesdropping. An alternative explanation is that it develops via the winner-loser effect. This effect implies that after a fight has been decided the winner is more likely to win again, and the loser is more likely to lose again. Although it has been shown that dominance hierarchies may develop via the winner-loser effect, the degree of linearity of such hierarchies is unknown. The aim of the present study is to investigate whether a similar degree of linearity, like in real animals, may emerge as a consequence of the winner-loser effect and the socio-spatial structure of group members. For this purpose, we use the model DomWorld, in which agents group and compete and the outcome of conflicts is self-reinforcing. Here dominance hierarchies are shown to emerge. We analyse the dominance hierarchy, behavioural dynamics and network triad motifs in the model using analytical methods from a previous study on dominance in real hens. We show that when one parameter, representing the intensity of aggression, was set high in the model DomWorld, it reproduced many patterns of hierarchical development typical of groups of hens, such as its high linearity. When omitting from the model the winner-loser effect or spatial location of individuals, this resemblance decreased markedly. We conclude that the combination of the spatial structure and the winner-loser effect provide a plausible alternative for hierarchical linearity to processes that are cognitively more sophisticated. Further research should determine whether the winner-loser effect and spatial structure of group members also explains the characteristics of hierarchical development in other species with a different dominance style than hens. Public Library of Science 2022-02-02 /pmc/articles/PMC8809560/ /pubmed/35108262 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0243877 Text en © 2022 van Haeringen, Hemelrijk https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
spellingShingle Research Article
van Haeringen, Erik
Hemelrijk, Charlotte
Hierarchical development of dominance through the winner-loser effect and socio-spatial structure
title Hierarchical development of dominance through the winner-loser effect and socio-spatial structure
title_full Hierarchical development of dominance through the winner-loser effect and socio-spatial structure
title_fullStr Hierarchical development of dominance through the winner-loser effect and socio-spatial structure
title_full_unstemmed Hierarchical development of dominance through the winner-loser effect and socio-spatial structure
title_short Hierarchical development of dominance through the winner-loser effect and socio-spatial structure
title_sort hierarchical development of dominance through the winner-loser effect and socio-spatial structure
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8809560/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35108262
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0243877
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