(Press-News.org) Virtually all organisms in the living world compete with members of their own species. However, individuals differ strongly in how much they invest into their competitive ability. Some individuals are highly competitive and eager to get access to high-quality resources, while others seem to avoid competition, instead making prudent use of the lower-quality resources that are left over for them. Moreover, the degree of competitiveness in animal and human societies seems to fluctuate considerably over time. A theoretical study published in "Nature Communications" this week sheds some new light on these findings. The authors demonstrate that the evolution of competitiveness has a strong tendency towards diversification. When competitiveness is externally favoured, it can destabilize animal and human societies and in extreme cases even threaten their survival.
To analyse the evolution of competitiveness, a team of scientists from the Universities of Bonn (Germany), Bielefeld (Germany) and Groningen (Netherlands) developed a model that reflects the idea that competitiveness comes at a price. In the model, individuals that invest a lot into being competitive gain access to high-quality resources, but the features making them competitive hamper them in making maximal use of these resources. "In many organisms, some individuals invest a lot into being successful in the competition with their conspecifics", says Sebastian Baldauf from the University of Bonn, first author of the study. "They grow, for example, weaponry like horns or antlers and do hardly feed in order to be able to conquer and defend large territories. This may secure them many matings, but they might get more fitness out of each mating when they would spend their energy on other activities, like paternal care."
The simple assumption that individuals with highest competitive ability are not able to make maximal use of the acquired resources suffices to explain the diversity in competitiveness observed in nature. If not too much is at stake, that is, if high-competitive individuals acquire only slightly better resources than low-competitive individuals, evolution leads to the stable coexistence of two types of individuals: one type does not invest into competition at all and is content with lower-quality resources, and a second type that invest an appreciable (but not maximal) part of their energy into being competitive. If much is at stake, such coexistence does not occur. Instead, the model predicts cyclical changes in competitive ability over time. For large periods, there is an arm's race to the top, leading to an ever-increasing degree of competitiveness in the population. This process continues until the costs of competitiveness become too high: competitiveness crashes to zero, but once there the whole rat race starts again. "Hence, the same model explains the coexistence of alternative strategies and the change of competitiveness in time", Baldauf says. "Moreover, the model can explain the variation in competitiveness across populations of the same species."
Heating up the fire
The study also considers how the evolution of competitiveness is affected by external factors. As an example, the authors considered the joint evolution of competitiveness in males and the evolution of preferences in females for either high- or low-competitive males. "We were interested in the question whether females evolve preferences for males with high-quality resources but little energy left for paternal care or for males that are content with low-quality resources but able to compensate by providing much care," says Leif Engqvist, co-author of the study. It turned out that females almost always evolved preferences for highly competitive males, even if mating with uncompetitive but caring males would have resulted in more offspring. These preferences, in turn, fuelled the males' arm's race towards higher and higher levels of competitiveness. Engqvist: "In stressful times, like periods of food shortage, this process can even lead to population extinction, since the investment in competition exceeds the value of the resources."
"Extreme care is required when transferring insights from a simple evolutionary model to humans", says Franjo Weissing from the University of Groningen. "Our article therefore does not say too much about competitiveness in humans. However, also in humans there is huge diversity in competitiveness, and individuals with highest competitive ability often seem least prudent in the exploitation of their resources. It is therefore tempting to speculate that the external stimulation of competitiveness by societal pressure, which is analogous to the stimulation of competitiveness by the female preferences in our model, can lead to such a wastage of resources that our future survival is threatened."
INFORMATION:
Reference:
Baldauf, S.A., Engqvist, L. & Weissing, F.J. (2014): Diversifying evolution of competitiveness. Nature Communications, doi: 10.1038/ncomms6233
Media contacts:
Dr. Sebastian A. Baldauf
Institute for Evolutionary Biology and Ecology
University of Bonn
Tel. +49-(0)228-735749
E-Mail: sbaldauf@evolution.uni-bonn.de
Prof. Dr. Franz J. Weissing
Centre for Ecological and Evolutionary Studies
University of Groningen
Tel. +31-(0)50-3632131 or -3638669
E-Mail: f.j.weissing@rug.nl
Dr. Leif Engqvist
Abteilung Evolutionsbiologie
University of Bielefeld
Tel. +49-(0)521-1062822
E-Mail: leif.engqvist@uni-bielefeld.de END
Evolution of competitiveness
Scientists explain diversity in competitiveness and warn that too much emphasis on competition can have negative effects on human society
2014-10-29
ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:
Ghrelin stimulates an appetite for drinking alcohol
2014-10-29
Philadelphia, PA, October 29, 2014 – Ghrelin is a hormone released by the stomach and it stimulates appetite and food intake. Alcohol is commonly viewed as a psychoactive substance that primarily affects brain function, but it is also a highly caloric food.
This knowledge, combined with findings from animal studies, led researchers to the hypothesis that ghrelin has the potential to stimulate alcohol craving.
Dr. Lorenzo Leggio and his colleagues tested this in humans and found that, as they had anticipated, alcohol craving was increased in heavy drinkers following ...
Where you live doesn't matter if you have heart disease, study finds
2014-10-29
TORONTO, ON, Oct. 28, 2014 — People living in rural areas are at no greater risk of dying from heart disease than their urban counterparts, according to a new study by researchers at Women's College Hospital and the Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences (ICES).
The study, the first to examine outpatient quality of care between urban and rural communities, counters existing research, which suggested gaps in care for those living in rural areas.
"Research has long suggested people with heart disease in rural areas are at a disadvantage when it comes to access ...
Genome sequenced of enterovirus D68 circulating in St. Louis
2014-10-29
Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have sequenced the genome of enterovirus D68 sampled from patients treated at St. Louis Children's Hospital. Nationwide, the virus has spread rapidly in recent months and caused severe respiratory illness in young children, with some patients requiring hospitalization.
"Having the DNA sequence of this virus enables additional research," said senior author Gregory A. Storch, MD, the Ruth L. Siteman Professor of Pediatrics. "It can be used to create better diagnostic tests. It also may help us understand ...
CU Denver study says upgrading infrastructure could reduce flood damage
2014-10-29
DENVER (Oct. 29, 2014) – The severe flooding that devastated a wide swath of Colorado last year might have been less destructive if the bridges, roads and other infrastructure had been upgraded or modernized, according to a new study from the University of Colorado Denver.
"People need to understand the importance and seriousness of infrastructure," said Jimmy Kim, PhD, associate professor of structural engineering at the CU Denver College of Engineering and Applied Science and lead author the study. "There is an assumption that a bridge will stand forever and that's ...
Blood test developed to diagnose early onset Alzheimer's disease
2014-10-29
The research team previously identified that changes in the brain occur two decades before patients show signs of dementia. These changes can be detected through expensive brain imaging procedures.
The new early detection blood-test could predict these changes and a person's risk of developing AD much earlier than is currently possible.
The blood test has the potential to improve prediction for AD to 91 per cent accuracy. However, this needs to be further tested in a larger population across three to five years, due to AD being a progressive disease.
In an initial ...
New solar power material converts 90 percent of captured light into heat
2014-10-29
A multidisciplinary engineering team at the University of California, San Diego developed a new nanoparticle-based material for concentrating solar power plants designed to absorb and convert to heat more than 90 percent of the sunlight it captures. The new material can also withstand temperatures greater than 700 degrees Celsius and survive many years outdoors in spite of exposure to air and humidity. Their work, funded by the U.S. Department of Energy's SunShot program, was published recently in two separate articles in the journal Nano Energy.
By contrast, current ...
Why some butterflies sound like ants
2014-10-29
Washington D.C, October 29, 2014 -- Ant nests can offer a lot to organisms other than just ants. They are well-protected, environmentally-stable and resource-rich spaces -- in many ways everything a tiny creature could ask for in a home. So long as you can live with an army of ants of course.
For the thousands of species of insects that squat inside ant nests, survival means finding ways to live with the ants -- by foiling the chemical cues ants use to distinguish friend from foe, for instance. Now a team of scientists from the University of Turin in Italy have been ...
New scientific review reveals emerging and established health benefits of whole grain oats
2014-10-29
CHICAGO, IL, OCTOBER, 29, 2014 – According to a new, wide-reaching collection of scientific reviews published in the October 2014 supplement issue of the British Journal of Nutrition, oats may play an important role in improving satiety, diet quality and digestive, cardiovascular and general metabolic health. In the supplement issue, entitled "Oats, More Than Just a Whole Grain," scientists from around the world explore the oat from agriculture and sustainability to nutrition policy and opportunity and new insights in nutritional science that go beyond cardiovascular ...
Black Republicans put most faith in US government
2014-10-29
Black Republicans trust the United States government more than other political groups, finds a new study from the University of British Columbia, ahead of the mid-term U.S. elections to be held on November 4.
Using election data from 1958 – 2012, the study measures the role race plays in determining levels of government trust for black and white Americans. While both groups show similar levels of political trust, when party lines are factored in, black Republicans are revealed to be the most faithful.
"Being both black and Republican is seen by some as going against ...
Women who took part in VOICE speak up about why they didn't use HIV prevention products
2014-10-29
CAPE TOWN, October 29, 2014 – Many of the women at first acted surprised. Some insisted the blood tests were wrong. But most conveyed to researchers why they had not used the study products assigned to them as participants in VOICE, a large HIV prevention trial that, as a likely consequence, did not find any of the three products that were tested to be effective.
The women were among 127 former VOICE participants who, as part of a behavioral sub-study called VOICE D, agreed to take part in in-depth interviews and/or focus group discussions after learning the results ...
LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:
Call for papers: 14th Asia-Pacific Conference on Transportation and the Environment (APTE 2025)
A novel disturbance rejection optimal guidance method for enhancing precision landing performance of reusable rockets
New scan method unveils lung function secrets
Searching for hidden medieval stories from the island of the Sagas
Breakthrough study reveals bumetanide treatment restores early social communication in fragile X syndrome mouse model
Neuroscience leader reveals oxytocin's crucial role beyond the 'love hormone' label
Twelve questions to ask your doctor for better brain health in the new year
Microelectronics Science Research Centers to lead charge on next-generation designs and prototypes
Study identifies genetic cause for yellow nail syndrome
New drug to prevent migraine may start working right away
Good news for people with MS: COVID-19 infection not tied to worsening symptoms
Department of Energy announces $179 million for Microelectronics Science Research Centers
Human-related activities continue to threaten global climate and productivity
Public shows greater acceptance of RSV vaccine as vaccine hesitancy appears to have plateaued
Unraveling the power and influence of language
Gene editing tool reduces Alzheimer’s plaque precursor in mice
TNF inhibitors prevent complications in kids with Crohn's disease, recommended as first-line therapies
Twisted Edison: Bright, elliptically polarized incandescent light
Structural cell protein also directly regulates gene transcription
Breaking boundaries: Researchers isolate quantum coherence in classical light systems
Brain map clarifies neuronal connectivity behind motor function
Researchers find compromised indoor air in homes following Marshall Fire
Months after Colorado's Marshall Fire, residents of surviving homes reported health symptoms, poor air quality
Identification of chemical constituents and blood-absorbed components of Shenqi Fuzheng extract based on UPLC-triple-TOF/MS technology
'Glass fences' hinder Japanese female faculty in international research, study finds
Vector winds forecast by numerical weather prediction models still in need of optimization
New research identifies key cellular mechanism driving Alzheimer’s disease
Trends in buprenorphine dispensing among adolescents and young adults in the US
Emergency department physicians vary widely in their likelihood of hospitalizing a patient, even within the same facility
Firearm and motor vehicle pediatric deaths— intersections of age, sex, race, and ethnicity
[Press-News.org] Evolution of competitivenessScientists explain diversity in competitiveness and warn that too much emphasis on competition can have negative effects on human society