Skip Navigation

This Article
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Mesterton-Gibbons, M.
Right arrow Articles by Dugatkin, L. A.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow Articles by Mesterton-Gibbons, M.
Right arrow Articles by Dugatkin, L. A.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

© 1995 International Society for Behavioral Ecology

research-article

Toward a theory of dominance hierarchies: effects of assessment, group size, and variation in fighting ability

Michael Mesterton-Gibbonsa and Lee Alan Dugatkinb

aDepartment of Mathematics, Florida State University Tallahassee, FL 32306-3027, USA bDivision of Biological Sciences, University of Missouri Columbia, MO 65211, USA bDepartment of Biology, Life Sciences Building—Room 319, University of Louisville—Belknap Campus Louisville, KY 40292

ABSTRACT

We introduce assessment to the analysis of dominance hierarchies by exploring the effect of an evolutionarily stable fighting rule when there is variation in resource holding potential (RHP) and RHP is not a perfectly reliable predictor of the outcome of a fight. With assessment, the probability of a linear hierarchy decreases with group size but can remain appreciable for groups of up to seven or eight individuals, whereas it decreases virtually to zero if there is no assessment. The probability of a hierarchy that correlates perfectly with RHP is low unless group size is small.

Key words: aggression, dimensionless parameters, dominance hierarchies, evolutionary game theory, resource holding potential, [Behav Ecol 6: 416–423 (1995)].


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?


This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 Behav EcolHome page
W. K. Vahl, T. Lok, J. van der Meer, T. Piersma, and F. J. Weissing
Spatial clumping of food and social dominance affect interference competition among ruddy turnstones
Behav. Ecol., September 1, 2005; 16(5): 834 - 844.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 Integr. Comp. Biol.Home page
P. A. Moore and D. A. Bergman
The Smell of Success and Failure: the Role of Intrinsic and Extrinsic Chemical Signals on the Social Behavior of Crayfish
Integr. Comp. Biol., August 1, 2005; 45(4): 650 - 657.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 Behav EcolHome page
L. A. Dugatkin and R. L. Earley
Group fusion: the impact of winner, loser, and bystander effects on hierarchy formation in large groups
Behav. Ecol., May 1, 2003; 14(3): 367 - 373.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 Behav EcolHome page
P. H. Crowley
Dangerous games and the emergence of social structure: evolving memory-based strategies for the generalized hawk-dove game
Behav. Ecol., November 1, 2001; 12(6): 753 - 760.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 Behav EcolHome page
L. A. Dugatkin
Bystander effects and the structure of dominance hierarchies
Behav. Ecol., May 1, 2001; 12(3): 348 - 352.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]


Disclaimer: Please note that abstracts for content published before 1996 were created through digital scanning and may therefore not exactly replicate the text of the original print issues. All efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, but the Publisher will not be held responsible for any remaining inaccuracies. If you require any further clarification, please contact our Customer Services Department.