Spatial population expansion promotes the evolution of cooperation in an experimental Prisoner's Dilemma (original) (raw)

Abstract

Van Dyken et al 2013. Spatial population expansion promotes the evolution of cooperation in an experimental Prisoner's Dilemma. Current Biology 26: 919-923 Cooperation in spatially expanding populations 2 Cooperation forms the basis for numerous complex phenotypes, from cell-cell 43 communication and biofilm formation in microbes to nest construction in multicellular 44 species [12, 13]. Explaining how cooperation evolves despite the direct fitness advantage 45 gained by free-riding remains a central challenge in biology and the social sciences [1-3]. 46 This is particularly true in the Prisoner's Dilemma game [1, 4, 5] where cooperators 47 always lose in direct competition with defectors, leading to a "Tragedy of the Commons" 48 [14]. Nearly half a century of research on social evolution has offered insight into this 49 dilemma, with inclusive fitness theory focusing attention on the importance of high 50 genetic relatedness [15], multilevel selection theory highlighting the role played by 51 competition among social groups [16, 17], and spatial games showing the importance of 52 population structure [18-21]. Here we bring these three frameworks together, 53 demonstrating that spatial population expansion creates a setting where both relatedness 54 and intergroup competition are amplified, promoting the evolution of cooperation. 55 Spatial population expansion occurs when a species spreads outward to fill vacant 56 eco-space or to supplant resident species, resulting in increased geographic range. 57 Human migration out of Africa [7] is one salient example, while more generic examples 58 include ecological invasions, epidemics, growth of microbial colonies, and expansion due 59 to habitat modification caused by environmental disturbance or climate change [8-11]. 60 Spatially expanding populations form a propagating density wave called a "Fisher wave" 61 with a constant speed proportional to the square root of the mean growth rate (i.e., 62 Malthusian fitness) of subpopulations at the front [22]. Genetically heterogeneous 63 populations may also form an "allele frequency" wave representing the spatial spread of 64 alleles [22] (see Supplemental Information). 231

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