Evolution of swarming behavior is shaped by how predators attack
Randal S. Olson, David B. Knoester, and Christoph Adami

TL;DR
This study uses an evolutionary model to demonstrate that predator attack strategies critically influence the evolution of grouping behaviors like the selfish herd, confirming and refining Hamilton's domain of danger concept.
Contribution
The paper shows how predator attack modes affect the evolution of selfish herd behavior and extends Hamilton's domain of danger to density-dependent predation in a digital model.
Findings
Predator attack mode influences prey grouping evolution.
Density-dependent predation generalizes Hamilton's domain of danger.
Selfish herd behavior evolves under density-dependent predation.
Abstract
Animal grouping behaviors have been widely studied due to their implications for understanding social intelligence, collective cognition, and potential applications in engineering, artificial intelligence, and robotics. An important biological aspect of these studies is discerning which selection pressures favor the evolution of grouping behavior. In the past decade, researchers have begun using evolutionary computation to study the evolutionary effects of these selection pressures in predator-prey models. The selfish herd hypothesis states that concentrated groups arise because prey selfishly attempt to place their conspecifics between themselves and the predator, thus causing an endless cycle of movement toward the center of the group. Using an evolutionary model of a predator-prey system, we show that how predators attack is critical to the evolution of the selfish herd. Following…
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Taxonomy
TopicsEvolutionary Game Theory and Cooperation · Animal Behavior and Reproduction · Insect and Arachnid Ecology and Behavior
