社会性在动物中普遍存在,涉及社会群体内部和之间的复杂关系。虽然群体内的互动通常是合作的,群体间的互动通常涉及冲突,或者充其量是宽容。不同成员之间的积极合作,单独的群体很少发生,主要在一些灵长类动物和蚂蚁物种中。这里,我们问为什么群际合作如此罕见,以及什么条件有利于它的发展。我们提出了一个模型,该模型结合了组内和组间关系以及局部和长距离分散。我们证明了扩散模式在群间相互作用的演化中起着关键作用。长距离和局部扩散过程都驱动着人口社会结构,以及群体间冲突的成本和收益,宽容与合作。总的来说,多群体互动模式的演变,包括群体间的侵略和群体间的宽容,甚至利他主义,更有可能是局部扩散。然而,这些群体间关系的演变可能会产生重大的生态影响,这种反馈可能会改变有利于自身进化的生态条件。这些结果表明,群体间合作的演变受到一组特定条件的支持,并且可能在进化上不稳定。我们讨论了我们的结果与蚂蚁和灵长类动物群体间合作的经验证据的关系。本文是讨论会议问题“随时间的集体行为”的一部分。
Sociality is widespread among animals, and involves complex relationships within and between social groups. While intragroup interactions are often cooperative, intergroup interactions typically involve conflict, or at best tolerance. Active cooperation between members of distinct, separate groups occurs very rarely, predominantly in some primate and ant species. Here, we ask why intergroup cooperation is so rare, and what conditions favour its evolution. We present a model incorporating intra- and intergroup relationships and local and long-distance dispersal. We show that dispersal modes play a pivotal role in the evolution of intergroup interactions. Both long-distance and local dispersal processes drive population social structure, and the costs and benefits of intergroup conflict, tolerance and cooperation. Overall, the evolution of multi-group interaction patterns, including both intergroup aggression and intergroup tolerance, or even altruism, is more likely with mostly localized dispersal. However, the evolution of these intergroup relationships may have significant ecological impacts, and this feedback may alter the ecological conditions that favour its own evolution. These results show that the evolution of intergroup cooperation is favoured by a specific set of conditions, and may not be evolutionarily stable. We discuss how our results relate to empirical evidence of intergroup cooperation in ants and primates. This article is part of a discussion meeting issue \'Collective behaviour through time\'.