Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Département Ecologie, Physiologie et Ethologie, Strasbourg, France.
J Theor Biol. 2012 Aug 7;306:93-103. doi: 10.1016/j.jtbi.2012.04.020. Epub 2012 Apr 24.
Shared and unshared consensuses are present in both human and animal societies. To date, few studies have applied an evolutionary perspective to the viability of these systems. This study therefore aimed to assess if decision-making allows group members to satisfy all their needs and to survive, decision after decision, day after day. The novelty of this study is the inclusion of multiple decision-making events with varying conditions and the parameterization of the model based on data in macaques, bringing the model closer to ecologically reality. The activity budgets of group members in the model did not differ significantly from those observed in macaques, making the model robust and providing mechanistic insight. Three different decision-making systems were then tested: (1) One single leader, (2) Leading according to needs and (3) Voting process. Results show that when individuals have equal needs, all decision-making systems are viable. However, one single leader cannot impose its decision when the needs of other group members differ too much from its own needs. The leading according to needs system is always viable whatever the group heterogeneity. However, the individual with the highest body mass decides in the majority of cases. Finally, the voting process also appears to be viable, with a majority threshold that differs according to group size and to different individual needs. This study is the first clear prediction of the different types of consensus in animal groups used in various different conditions.
共享共识和非共享共识存在于人类和动物社会中。迄今为止，很少有研究从进化的角度来评估这些系统的可行性。因此，本研究旨在评估决策是否允许群体成员满足他们所有的需求，并在一天又一天的决策中生存下来。本研究的新颖之处在于纳入了多个具有不同条件的决策事件，并根据猕猴的数据对模型进行参数化，使模型更接近生态现实。模型中群体成员的活动预算与在猕猴中观察到的预算没有显著差异，这使得模型具有鲁棒性，并提供了机制性的见解。然后测试了三种不同的决策系统：（1）单一领导者，（2）根据需求进行领导，（3）投票过程。结果表明，当个体的需求相同时，所有的决策系统都是可行的。然而，当其他群体成员的需求与其自身需求差异太大时，单一领导者无法强加其决策。无论群体异质性如何，根据需求进行领导的系统总是可行的。然而，在大多数情况下，体重最高的个体做出决策。最后，投票过程似乎也是可行的，其多数阈值根据群体规模和不同个体的需求而有所不同。本研究首次明确预测了在各种不同条件下使用的动物群体中的不同类型的共识。
