On the evolutionary stability of female infanticide |
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Authors: | J Tuomi Jep Agrell Tapio Mappes |
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Institution: | Department of Theoretical Ecology, Lund University, Ecology Building, S-223 62 Lund, Sweden, SE Department of Animal Ecology, Lund University, Ecology Building, S-223 62 Lund, Sweden, SE Department of Biological and Environmental Science, Univ of Jyv?skyl?, PO Box 35, FIN-40351 Jyv?skyl?, Finland, FI
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Abstract: | Territoriality among female rodents may have evolved as an adaptation to intraspecific competition for resources or, alternatively,
to defend pups against infanticide. In order to evaluate the latter, we analyse the conditions that allow an infanticidal
strategy to invade a population of non-infanticidal females, and the circumstances under which infanticide may become an evolutionarily
stable strategy (ESS). Our game theoretical analyses indicate that infanticide has to be associated with some direct (cannibalism)
or indirect (reduced competition) resource benefits in order to invade a non-infanticidal population. We also expect that
females will primarily kill litters of nearby neighbors, thereby removing the closest competitors while keeping costs at a
low level. However, once established in a population, infanticide may be an ESS, even if females do not gain any resource
benefits. This is theoretically possible if a female through infanticide can reduce the possibility that other, potentially
infanticidal, females establish and/or stay close to her nest. While behavioral data indicate that these special circumstances
sometimes occur, they may be too specific to apply generally to small rodents. Therefore, we expect that the evolutionary
stability of infanticide often requires resource benefits, and that female infanticide in small rodents may, in fact, be a
consequence rather than a cause of territoriality.
Received: 27 June 1996 / Accepted after revision: 28 December 1996 |
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Keywords: | Evolutionary stability Female behavior Game theory Infanticide Small rodents |
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