Evolution Of Complex Social Systems Research Articles

Social dilemmas of sociality due to beneficial and costly contagion.

Levels of sociality in nature vary widely. Some species are solitary; others live in family groups; some form complex multi-family societies. Increased levels of social interaction can allow for the spread of useful innovations and beneficial information, but can also facilitate the spread of harmful contagions, such as infectious diseases. It is natural to assume that these contagion processes shape the evolution of complex social systems, but an explicit account of the dynamics of sociality under selection pressure imposed by contagion remains elusive. We consider a model for the evolution of sociality strategies in the presence of both a beneficial and costly contagion. We study the dynamics of this model at three timescales: using a susceptible-infectious-susceptible (SIS) model to describe contagion spread for given sociality strategies, a replicator equation to study the changing fractions of two different levels of sociality, and an adaptive dynamics approach to study the long-time evolution of the population level of sociality. For a wide range of assumptions about the benefits and costs of infection, we identify a social dilemma: the evolutionarily-stable sociality strategy (ESS) is distinct from the collective optimum-the level of sociality that would be best for all individuals. In particular, the ESS level of social interaction is greater (respectively less) than the social optimum when the good contagion spreads more (respectively less) readily than the bad contagion. Our results shed light on how contagion shapes the evolution of social interaction, but reveals that evolution may not necessarily lead populations to social structures that are good for any or all.

Cross-modal individual recognition in wild African lions.

Individual recognition is considered to have been fundamental in the evolution of complex social systems and is thought to be a widespread ability throughout the animal kingdom. Although robust evidence for individual recognition remains limited, recent experimental paradigms that examine cross-modal processing have demonstrated individual recognition in a range of captive non-human animals. It is now highly relevant to test whether cross-modal individual recognition exists within wild populations and thus examine how it is employed during natural social interactions. We address this question by testing audio-visual cross-modal individual recognition in wild African lions (Panthera leo) using an expectancy-violation paradigm. When presented with a scenario where the playback of a loud-call (roaring) broadcast from behind a visual block is incongruent with the conspecific previously seen there, subjects responded more strongly than during the congruent scenario where the call and individual matched. These findings suggest that lions are capable of audio-visual cross-modal individual recognition and provide a useful method for studying this ability in wild populations.

Strategic and tactical fighting decisions in cichlid fishes with divergent social systems

The costs and benefits of engaging in a contest will differ depending on the social situation of the individuals involved. Therefore, understanding contest behaviour can help to elucidate the trade-offs of living in differing social systems and shed light on the evolution of social behaviour. In the current study, we compared contest behaviour in two closely related species of Lamprologine cichlid fish. Neolamprologus pulcher and Telmatochromis temporalis are both pair-breeding cichlids, but N. pulcher are highly social, group-living fish, while T. temporalis display no grouping behaviour. To examine how competition varies by species, sex and familiarity, we staged same-sex conspecific contests over a shelter, a resource that is highly valued by both species, where contestants were either familiar or unfamiliar to one another. When we examined tactical and strategic components of these contests, we found that the highly social species had shorter contests and engaged in fewer costly aggressive acts than did the non-social species. Individuals of the highly social species were also more likely to resolve conflicts through the use of submissive displays, while individuals of the non-social species were more likely to flee from conflict. Familiarity increased the use of submissive displays in the highly social species but not in the less social species. Our findings suggest that conflict resolution behaviour and dominance hierarchy formation are fundamentally linked to the evolution of complex social systems.

The dynamics of animal social networks: analytical, conceptual, and theoretical advances

Social network analysis provides a broad and complex perspective on animal sociality that is widely applicable to almost any species. Recent applications demonstrate the utility of network analysis for advancing our understanding of the dynamics, selection pressures, development, and evolution of complex social systems. However, most studies of animal social networks rely primarily on a descriptive approach. To propel the field of animal social networks beyond exploratory analyses and to facilitate the integration of quantitative methods that allow for the testing of ecologically and evolutionarily relevant hypotheses, we review methodological and conceptual advances in network science, which are underutilized in studies of animal sociality. First, we highlight how the use of statistical modeling and triadic motifs analysis can advance our understanding of the processes that structure networks. Second, we discuss how the consideration of temporal changes and spatial constraints can shed light on the dynamics of social networks. Third, we consider how the study of variation at multiple scales can potentially transform our understanding of the structure and function of animal networks. We direct readers to analytical tools that facilitate the adoption of these new concepts and methods. Our goal is to provide behavioral ecologists with a toolbox of current methods that can stimulate novel insights into the ecological influences and evolutionary pressures structuring networks and advance our understanding of the proximate and ultimate processes that drive animal sociality.

A hybrid agent based virtual organization for studying knowledge evolution in social systems

Social modeling applies computational methods and techniques to the analysis of social processes and human behavior.Cultural algorithms (CA’s) are evolutionary systems which utilize agent technology and which supports any evolutionarystrategy like genetic algorithm, evolutionary algorithm or swarm intelligence or ant algorithms. CA’s have been used formodeling the evolution of complex social systems, for re-engineering rule based systems, for data mining, and for solvingoptimization problems. In the current study a cultural algorithm framework is used to model an Agent Based VirtualOrganization (ABVO) for studying the dynamics of a social system at micro as well as macro level. Research gap exists indefining a concrete and systematic method for evaluating and validating Agent Based Social Systems (ABSS). Also theknowledge evolution process at micro and macro levels of an organization needs further exploration. The proposed CA isapplied to the problem of multi-objective optimization (MOO) of classification rules. The evolutionary knowledgeproduced by the agents in creating the rules is accepted into the belief space of the CA and macro evolution takes place.The belief space in turn influences the agents in successive generations. The rules created by the individuals and theknowledge sources created during evolution provide a concrete method to evaluate both the individuals as well as thewhole social system. The feasibility of the system has been tested on bench mark data sets and the results are encouraging.

Optimal Foraging Patterns in the Sierra Nevada, Alta California

Western Mono acorn caches in the south-central Sierra Nevada are distributed in five km radii around central place winter settlements corresponding to predicted distributions, taking into account labor and travel costs associated with caching. Caches more than five km from winter settlements are distributed in a manner facilitating spring residential moves. These data indicate an efficient foraging and caching pattern geared towards maximizing storage capacity around winter settlements while at the same time fostering substantial seasonal group mobility. Because acorn caching was traditionally women's labor in Mono society, this situation clearly demonstrates that women's economic pursuits not only sustained Mono populations through the winter, but also facilitated seasonal residential moves essential to exploiting a patchy Sierran resource base. Because women's labor underwrote so much of the Mono economy, it also evinces a case where efficient women's foraging paid for ostensibly inefficient, status-seeking men's behaviors, such as trade and perhaps prestige hunting. This division of labor, and the differential prestige associated with men's versus women's pursuits, illustrates how attributes of sociocultural complexity can develop in relatively small foraging societies, ultimately suggesting that similar patterns may hold for the evolution of complex social systems throughout late prehistoric and contact period California.

Agreeing to Disagree

Two friends debate the relative importance of kinship in the evolution of complex social systems in insects.

Diet and social status during the La Tène period in Bohemia: Carbon and nitrogen stable isotope analysis of bone collagen from Kutná Hora-Karlov and Radovesice

Bone collagen carbon and nitrogen stable isotope ratios were obtained from three La Tène period inhumation cemeteries in the Czech Republic (Kutná Hora-Karlov, Radovesice I and Radovesice II) and 16 Hallstatt period inhumations in northern Austria. Results indicate that during the La Tène period in Bohemia, overall diet was based on animal protein and plant foods following the C 3 photosynthetic pathway, although δ 13C values for two individuals from Kutná Hora-Karlov indicate at least some contribution from C 4 plant foods, most likely millet. At Kutná Hora-Karlov, more positive δ 15N values for male individuals buried with items of iron weaponry indicate the existence of a differential dietary system within the male population based on individual “warrior” status. A comparison with data from a number of Hallstatt period inhumations in northern Austria and a previously published study of a Hallstatt period site in Slovenia [Murray, M.L., Schoeninger, M.J., 1988. Diet, status, and complex social structure in Iron Age Central Europe: Some contributions from bone chemistry. In: Gibson, D.B., Geselowitz, M.N. (Eds.), Tribe and Polity in Late Prehistoric Europe: Demography, Production and Exchange in the Evolution of Complex Social Systems. Plenum Press, New York, pp. 155–176] enables an examination of the spread of millet as a major dietary component. This data will be of use to studies of diet in prehistoric Europe and provides evidence for dietary divisions relating to social stratification during the La Tène B–C, a period often seen as less complex than the preceding Hallstatt period.

Celtic Chiefdom, Celtic State: The Evolution of Complex Social Systems in Prehistoric Europe:Celtic Chiefdom, Celtic State: The Evolution of Complex Social Systems in Prehistoric Europe

Prehistoric Cultural Ecology and Evolution: Insights from Southern Jordan. Donald O. Henry. New York: Plenum Press, 1995. 466 pp.

Ancient, Medieval, and Early Modern - Tribe and Polity in Late Prehistoric Europe: Demography, Production and Exchange in the Evolution of Complex Social Systems. Edited by D. Blair Gibson and Michael N. Geselowitz. New York: Plenum Press, 1988. Pp. 234. $42.50.

Ancient, Medieval, and Early Modern - Tribe and Polity in Late Prehistoric Europe: Demography, Production and Exchange in the Evolution of Complex Social Systems. Edited by D. Blair Gibson and Michael N. Geselowitz. New York: Plenum Press, 1988. Pp. 234. $42.50. - Volume 50 Issue 1

: Tribe and Polity in Late Prehistoric Europe: Demography, Production, and Exchange in the Evolution of Complex Social Systems . D. Blair Gibson, Michael N. Geselowitz.

: Tribe and Polity in Late Prehistoric Europe: Demography, Production, and Exchange in the Evolution of Complex Social Systems . D. Blair Gibson, Michael N. Geselowitz.

Biological and Social Evolution

BIOLOGICAL AND SOCIAL EVOLUTION WILUAM R. HAZZARD* As a biologist, I am concerned at the rate and extent ofsocial evolution within my lifetime. A fundamental principle of the Darwinian theory of evolution contends that the survival of the species is promoted by gradual change; a corollary states that dramatic change, even by mutation , is usually disastrous and hence self-limiting, either preventing survival until the age of reproduction or preventing reproduction per se. As a biologist, I also respect the concept that evolution preserves that which is successful; conversely, that which has evolved must be assumed to have the highest probability of success in a given environment. Barring major change in the environment, major change in the species is thus to be avoided. As a biologist, I also contend that social systems are the product of evolution. It is clear, for instance, that the success of certain organisms—for example, bees—has depended on the evolution of complex social systems requiring, for example, extensive and intricate cooperation , expression of dominance and submission, and the restriction of specialized functions to certain individuals. The lessons of comparative biology suggest that such social patterns extend to the primates, clearly including man (and woman). The challenge to biologists has been to determine the complex mechanisms, presumably genetic, which underlie such social evolution.1 In the human species these principles of gradual, genetically controlled evolution are under great contemporary challenge. Clearly the environment, largely because of man's influence, cannot be considered stable. Equally clearly, adaptation to changes in the environment cannot be entrusted entirely to the time-consuming, traditional forces of random , minor genetic change and reproductive superfluity. Nevertheless, * Department of Medicine, The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and The Johns Hopkins Hospital, Baltimore, Maryland 21205. 1 These concepts are among those of a relatively new and somewhat controversial discipline , sociobiology [1], recently discussed in [2, 3],© 1983 by The University of Chicago. AU rights reserved. 003 1-5982/84/2701-0368$01 .00 22 I William R. Hazzard · Biological and Social Evolution I contend that radical, rapid change, even in the cause of our greatest national heritage, the pursuit of individual freedom, invites social, even biological, disaster. Proceeding from these arguments, I suggest that those social structures which have evolved to the present should be assumed to have survival value and not be casually abandoned. This translates, for example , into preservation of the family as the basic unit of society. It also translates into respect for traditional roles within the family and careful contemplation ofthe potential impact ofchanges in these roles—notably those related to sex. As a biologist and especially as a gerontologist, I have the greatest respect for (and am more than a little bit envious of) the female of our species. Not only does she retain the premier biological privilege of bearing young, she outlives us men as well. She seems biologically relatively immune to those forces which curtail the longevity of her male counterparts, especially in the contemporary world in which the risks of childbearing have been minimized and raw physical strength relates poorly to survival or even personal success. As a biologist, I therefore suggest that the unique and essential contributions of women not be sacrificed in the blind, fruitless pursuit of complete sexual equality. As one committed to the related fields of gerontology and geriatric medicine (which are almost certain to become the domain principally of women), I am constantly aware of the cruel pressures which beset young women entering these disciplines, pressures from spouse and family, pressures to begin or to defer childbearing , pressures to compete and advance professionally. And I am constantly in awe of these women as they balance and respond successfully to these pressures. Despite the ability of "superwomen" to overcome such stress, I conclude that the survival of our species will be best promoted by retention of relatively traditional roles for most women (and men). To expect men to abandon their traditional roles and assume those traditionally assigned to women on a completely equal basis is unrealistic not only from the standpoint ofsexual politics but also from the biological perspective. The sexes have evolved both biologically and socially over many eons...