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Modes of migration and multilevel selection in evolutionary multiplayer games.
Yuriy Pichugin1, Chaitanya S Gokhale1, Julián Garcia2
1New Zealand Institute For Advanced Study, Massey University at Albany, Private Bag 102904, North Shore Mail Centre, Auckland 0745, New Zealand.
Journal of Theoretical Biology
|October 13, 2015
Summary
Cooperation can evolve in structured populations, with coordinated migration expanding the conditions for its evolution. Strong altruism requires coordinated migration, unlike weak altruism.
Area of Science:
- Evolutionary biology
- Game theory
- Population dynamics
Background:
- The evolution of cooperation in group-structured populations is a key area of research.
- However, the impact of different migration patterns on cooperation remains underexplored.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate how various modes of individual migration between groups affect the evolution of cooperation.
- To identify the conditions under which cooperative strategies can outcompete defectors.
Main Methods:
- Incorporated four distinct modes of migration, varying in individual coordination levels.
- Analyzed multiplayer games to determine fixation probabilities of cooperative versus defective strategies for each migration mode.
Main Results:
- The range of games favoring cooperation expands with increased coordination among migrating individuals.
- Weak altruism evolves across all migration modes if the benefit-to-cost ratio is sufficiently high.
- Strong altruism specifically requires coordinated migration for its evolution.
Conclusions:
- Coordinated migration significantly enhances the conditions for cooperation to evolve in structured populations.
- Migration frequency and coordination level influence the potential for group-level selection.
- Understanding migration dynamics is crucial for explaining the persistence of cooperation and altruism.
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