Laboratory of Ecological and Evolutionary Dynamics, Department of Biological and Environmental Science, University of Helsinki, FIN-00014 Helsinki, Finland.
Am Nat. 2006 Jun;167(6):901-12. doi: 10.1086/504604. Epub 2006 May 10.
Explaining the "prior-residence effect" (automatic owner status of individuals who arrived first in an area) was one of the very first applications of game theory in animal behavior. These models, however, predict paradoxical solutions where intruders always win, with no satisfactory explanation for the absence of such cases in nature. We propose a solution based on new developments in evolutionary game theory. A self-consistent model with feedbacks between individual behavior and population dynamics produces qualitatively different frequency-dependent selection on intruders (floaters) than on territory owners. Starting with an ancestral population with no respect for ownership, the most likely evolutionary end point is complete or partial respect. Conventional rules of conflict resolution thus can rely on "uncorrelated asymmetries" without differences in resource-holding power or territory value, although they will be strengthened by such differences. We also review the empirical literature on animal contests, testing whether asymmetries in resource-holding power are required to explain the observations. Despite much empirical effort, results remain inconclusive, because experiments are often unable to distinguish between the motivation of individuals to fight and the behavioral outcome of a contest. To help arrive at conclusive answers, we suggest a standardized empirical approach to quantify prior-residence effects.
解释“先占效应”（先到达一个地区的个人自动拥有该地区的所有者身份）是博弈论在动物行为学中的最早应用之一。然而，这些模型预测了入侵者总是获胜的矛盾解决方案，对于自然界中不存在这种情况，没有令人满意的解释。我们提出了一个基于进化博弈论新发展的解决方案。一个具有个体行为和种群动态之间反馈的自洽模型，对入侵者（漂游者）产生了与领地所有者不同的定性的、依赖频率的选择。从一个没有尊重所有权的祖先种群开始，最有可能的进化终点是完全或部分尊重。因此，传统的冲突解决规则可以依赖于“不相关的不对称性”，而不考虑资源持有能力或领地价值的差异，尽管这些差异会加强这种不对称性。我们还回顾了关于动物竞争的实证文献，检验了是否需要资源持有能力的不对称性来解释观察结果。尽管进行了大量的实证研究，但结果仍不确定，因为实验往往无法区分个体战斗的动机和竞争的行为结果。为了帮助得出明确的答案，我们建议采用一种标准化的经验方法来量化先占效应。
