Related Experiment Video
Updated: May 7, 2026
07:06
Chronic Social Defeat Stress in Early Adolescent Male Mice
Published on: January 24, 2025
Longevity suppresses conflict in animal societies
1CRC Evolution of Social Behavior, University of Göttingen, , Kellnerweg 6, 37077 Göttingen, Germany.
Biology Letters
|October 4, 2013
Summary
Animal societies may be peaceful because conflict increases mortality risk, not just resource loss. Higher longevity and relatedness promote less conflict, explaining peaceful animal societies.
Area of Science:
- Evolutionary biology
- Behavioral ecology
- Theoretical ecology
Background:
- Traditional models of social conflict in animal groups focus on resource depletion as the main cost.
- However, increased mortality is a significant cost of conflict for many species.
- Existing models may not fully capture the drivers of peaceful social structures.
Purpose of the Study:
- To develop an inclusive fitness model of social conflict that incorporates mortality costs.
- To investigate how mortality risk influences the evolution of within-group conflict.
- To compare outcomes with models where resource depletion is the primary cost.
Main Methods:
- Development of a simple inclusive fitness model.
- Mathematical modeling of social conflict dynamics.
- Analysis of the impact of longevity and relatedness on conflict levels.
Main Results:
- Increased longevity significantly reduces the level of within-group conflict.
- High relatedness among group members, combined with mortality costs, can lead to the evolution of peaceful societies.
- Peaceful outcomes are not possible in models solely based on resource depletion costs.
Conclusions:
- Mortality costs are a crucial factor in understanding the evolution of social conflict in animals.
- The incorporation of mortality costs provides an explanation for the remarkable peacefulness observed in many animal societies.
- Longevity and relatedness are key parameters shaping social dynamics and conflict levels.
Related Concept Videos
02:04Conservation of Small Populations
Small population sizes put a species at extreme risk of extinction due to a lack of variation, and a consequent decrease in adaptability. This weakens the chances of survival under pressures such as climate change, competition from other species, or new diseases. Large populations are more likely to survive pressures such as these, as such populations are more likely to harbor individuals that have genetic variants that are adaptive under new stresses. Small populations are much less likely to...
02:34Competition
When organisms require the same limited resources within an environment, they may have to compete for them. Competition is a net-negative interaction. Even if two competing individuals or populations do not interact directly, the overall fitness of both competitors is lowered as a result of not having full access to the limited resource.
01:29Life Histories
Overview
02:12Relationship Formation
What do you think is the single most influential factor in determining with whom you become friends and whom you form romantic relationships? You might be surprised to learn that the answer is simple: the people with whom you have the most contact. This most important factor is proximity. You are more likely to be friends with people you have regular contact with. For example, there are decades of research that shows that you are more likely to become friends with people who live in your dorm,...
02:20Longitudinal Research
Sometimes we want to see how people change over time, as in studies of human development and lifespan. When we test the same group of individuals repeatedly over an extended period of time, we are conducting longitudinal research. Longitudinal research is a research design in which data-gathering is administered repeatedly over an extended period of time. For example, we may survey a group of individuals about their dietary habits at age 20, retest them a decade later at age 30, and then again...
02:39Predator-Prey Interactions
Predators consume prey for energy. Predators that acquire prey and prey that avoid predation both increase their chances of survival and reproduction (i.e., fitness). Routine predator-prey interactions elicit mutual adaptations that improve predator offenses, such as claws, teeth, and speed, as well as prey defenses, including crypsis, aposematism, and mimicry. Thus, predator-prey interactions resemble an evolutionary arms race.