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Published on: September 23, 2025
Oscillatory dynamics in the coevolution of cooperation and mobility
Shinsuke Suzuki1, Hiromichi Kimura
1Laboratory for Integrated Theoretical Neuroscience, Riken Brain Science Institute, Hirosawa 2-1, Wako, Saitama 351-0198, Japan.
Journal of Theoretical Biology
|August 9, 2011
Summary
Cooperation can persist through oscillating frequencies, driven by natural selection favoring mobility. This dynamic maintains cooperation without complex cognitive abilities like memory.
Area of Science:
- Evolutionary biology
- Social sciences
- Behavioral ecology
Background:
- Cooperation is crucial but costly, posing an evolutionary puzzle.
- Positive assortment, where cooperators interact more often, can favor cooperation.
- Mobility may facilitate positive assortment, but its coevolutionary dynamics with cooperation are unclear.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the coevolutionary dynamics between cooperation and mobility under natural selection.
- To understand how mobility influences the maintenance of cooperation.
Main Methods:
- An individual-based model was developed.
- Both cooperativeness and mobility were evolved simultaneously under natural selection.
Main Results:
- Coevolutionary dynamics led to oscillating frequencies of cooperation.
- These oscillations occurred when the benefit-to-cost ratio of cooperation was high.
- Natural selection favored specific mobility rates that sustained cooperation dynamically.
Conclusions:
- Mobility can dynamically maintain cooperation through oscillations.
- This mechanism does not require advanced cognitive abilities like individual recognition or memory.
- Findings suggest natural selection fine-tunes mobility for cooperation maintenance.
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