Chase Ivan D, Tovey Craig, Spangler-Martin Debra, Manfredonia Michael
Department of Sociology, State University of New York, Stony Brook, NY 11794-4356, USA.
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2002 Apr 16;99(8):5744-9. doi: 10.1073/pnas.082104199.
Linear hierarchies, the classical pecking-order structures, are formed readily in both nature and the laboratory in a great range of species including humans. However, the probability of getting linear structures by chance alone is quite low. In this paper we investigate the two hypotheses that are proposed most often to explain linear hierarchies: they are predetermined by differences in the attributes of animals, or they are produced by the dynamics of social interaction, i.e., they are self-organizing. We evaluate these hypotheses using cichlid fish as model animals, and although differences in attributes play a significant part, we find that social interaction is necessary for high proportions of groups with linear hierarchies. Our results suggest that dominance hierarchy formation is a much richer and more complex phenomenon than previously thought, and we explore the implications of these results for evolutionary biology, the social sciences, and the use of animal models in understanding human social organization.
线性等级制度，即经典的啄食顺序结构，在包括人类在内的众多物种的自然界和实验室中都很容易形成。然而，仅靠偶然形成线性结构的概率相当低。在本文中，我们研究了最常被提出用于解释线性等级制度的两种假说：它们由动物属性的差异预先决定，或者它们由社会互动的动态过程产生，即它们是自组织的。我们以丽鱼科鱼类作为模式动物来评估这些假说，虽然属性差异起了重要作用，但我们发现对于高比例具有线性等级制度的群体而言，社会互动是必要的。我们的结果表明，优势等级制度的形成是一个比以前认为的更加丰富和复杂的现象，并且我们探讨了这些结果对进化生物学、社会科学以及在理解人类社会组织中使用动物模型的意义。
