Dispersal, eviction, and conflict in meerkats (Suricata suricatta): An evolutionarily stable strategy model

Stephens, PA; Russell, AF; Young, AJ; Sutherland, WJ; Clutton-Brock, TH

Abstract

Decisions regarding immigration and emigration are crucial to understanding group dynamics in social animals, but dispersal is rarely treated in models of optimal behavior. We developed a model of evolutionarily stable dispersal and eviction strategies for a cooperative mammal, the meerkat Suricata suricatta. Using rank and group size as state variables, we determined state-specific probabilities that subordinate females would disperse and contrasted these with probabilities of eviction by the dominant female, based on the long-term fitness consequences of these behaviors but incorporating the potential for error. We examined whether long-term fitness considerations explain group size regulation in meerkats; whether long-term fitness considerations can lead to conflict between dominant and subordinate female group members; and under what circumstances those conflicts were likely to lead to stability, dispersal, or eviction. Our results indicated that long-term fitness considerations can explain group size regulation in meerkats. Group size distributions expected from predicted dispersal and eviction strategies matched empirical distributions most closely when emigrant survival was approximately that determined from the field study. Long-term fitness considerations may lead to conflicts between dominant and subordinate female meerkats, and eviction is the most likely result of these conflicts. Our model is computationally intensive but provides a general framework for incorporating future changes in the size of multimember cooperative breeding groups.

Citation

Stephens, P., Russell, A., Young, A., Sutherland, W., & Clutton-Brock, T. (2005). Dispersal, eviction, and conflict in meerkats (Suricata suricatta): An evolutionarily stable strategy model. The American Naturalist, 165(1), 120-135. https://doi.org/10.1086/426597

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Publication Date: Jan 1, 2005
• Deposit Date: Jun 26, 2008
• Publicly Available Date: Jun 23, 2008
• Journal: American Naturalist
• Print ISSN: 0003-0147
• Electronic ISSN: 1537-5323
• Publisher: The University of Chicago Press
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 165
• Issue: 1
• Pages: 120-135
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1086/426597
• Keywords: Cooperative breeding, ESS model, Reproductive skew, Social queuing, Reproductive skew, Animal societies, Group-size, Disentangling concessions, Breeding success, Survival, Helpers, Emigration, Kalahari.
• Public URL: https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1540196