Landscape heterogeneity and behavioral traits drive the evolution of lion group territoriality

Group territoriality is exhibited in a diverse range of species and is associated with complex behaviors such as cooperation and altruism. Current hypotheses for the evolutionary transition from solitary to group territoriality consider resource dispersion and population density as the primary drivers. We developed a spatially explicit, agent-based simulation model based on African lions (Panthera leo) to explore the evolution of group territoriality across a range of landscape heterogeneities and population densities. We also examined, within these differing landscapes, how 3 potential behavioral advantages to group territoriality (cooperative defense, increase in territory size, and territorial inheritance) influence the evolution of this trait. Simulation results demonstrate that group territoriality may be an emergent property, which evolves due to synergistic interactions of landscape structure, population density, and behavior. Social individuals were significantly more likely to dominate in both resource-poor and resource-rich, heterogeneous landscapes where individuals exhibit all 3 behavioral traits. Similar environment–behavior interactions may have shaped the evolution of sociality from solitary territoriality across a broad range of taxa.

[1]  D. Macdonald,et al.  Reproductive success of female leopards Panthera pardus: the importance of top-down processes , 2013 .

[2]  John M. Harris,et al.  Variation in Craniomandibular Morphology and Sexual Dimorphism in Pantherines and the Sabercat Smilodon fatalis , 2012, PloS one.

[3]  V. Zverev,et al.  Delayed local responses of downy birch to damage by leafminers and leafrollers , 2012 .

[4]  D. Macdonald,et al.  Territory quality determines social group composition in Ethiopian wolves Canis simensis. , 2012, The Journal of animal ecology.

[5]  Craig Packer,et al.  Nonlinear effects of group size on the success of wolves hunting elk , 2012 .

[6]  P. Waser,et al.  Ichneumia alhicauda and the Evolution of Viverrid Gregariousness , 2010 .

[7]  S. O’Brien,et al.  Phylogeny and evolution of cats (Felidae) , 2010 .

[8]  R. Slotow,et al.  Impact of conservation interventions on the dynamics and persistence of a persecuted leopard (Panthera pardus) population , 2009 .

[9]  Craig Packer,et al.  Serengeti real estate: density vs. fitness-based indicators of lion habitat quality. , 2009, Ecology letters.

[10]  Craig Packer,et al.  Group territoriality and the benefits of sociality in the African lion, Panthera leo , 2009, Animal Behaviour.

[11]  A. Swanson,et al.  Sport Hunting, Predator Control and Conservation of Large Carnivores , 2009, PloS one.

[12]  S. Bowles.  Did Warfare Among Ancestral Hunter-Gatherers Affect the Evolution of Human Social Behaviors? , 2009, Science.

[13]  C. Packer,et al.  Optimal group size, dispersal decisions and postdispersal relationships in female African lions , 2009, Animal Behaviour.

[14]  C. Carbone,et al.  Parallels between playbacks and Pleistocene tar seeps suggest sociality in an extinct sabretooth cat, Smilodon , 2009, Biology Letters.

[15]  Samuel Bowles,et al.  Being human: Conflict: Altruism's midwife , 2008, Nature.

[16]  Colin A. Chapman,et al.  Fission‐Fusion Dynamics , 2008, Current Anthropology.

[17]  C. Veltman.  Flock, pair and group living lifestyles without cooperative breeding by Australian Magpies Gymnorhina tibicen , 2008 .

[18]  Anna Mosser.  Group territoriality of the African lion: Behavioral adaptation in a heterogeneous landscape , 2008 .

[19]  K. H. Rogers,et al.  Structural biodiversity monitoring in savanna ecosystems: Integrating LiDAR and high resolution imagery through object-based image analysis , 2008 .

[20]  High population density promotes the evolution of ownership , 2008, Ecological Research.

[21]  D. Turcotte.  Self-organized complexity in geomorphology : Observations and models , 2007 .

[22]  Todd M. Scanlon,et al.  Positive feedbacks promote power-law clustering of Kalahari vegetation , 2007, Nature.

[23]  M. Boyce,et al.  Landscape heterogeneity shapes predation in a newly restored predator-prey system. , 2007, Ecology letters.

[24]  Guillaume Simioni,et al.  Changing scale in ecological modelling: A bottom up approach with an individual based vegetation model , 2007 .

[25]  R. Wrangham.  Conflict: Why apes and humans kill , 2006 .

[26]  Craig Packer,et al.  Planning for success: Serengeti lions seek prey accessibility rather than abundance , 2005 .

[27]  Craig Packer,et al.  Ecological Change, Group Territoriality, and Population Dynamics in Serengeti Lions , 2005, Science.

[28]  Michael S. Mitchell,et al.  A mechanistic home range model for optimal use of spatially distributed resources , 2004 .

[29]  D. Fudenberg,et al.  Emergence of cooperation and evolutionary stability in finite populations , 2004, Nature.

[30]  T. Getty,et al.  Cooperative nest defence in red–winged blackbirds: reciprocal altruism, kinship or by–product mutualism? , 2004, Proceedings of the Royal Society of London. Series B: Biological Sciences.

[31]  K. Clifton.  The costs and benefits of territory sharing for the Caribbean coral reef fish, Scarus iserti , 1990, Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology.

[32]  P. Waser.  Sociality or territorial defense? The influence of resource renewal , 1981, Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology.

[33]  H. Kruuk.  Foraging and spatial organisation of the European badger, Meles meles L. , 1978, Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology.

[34]  J. Bradbury,et al.  Social organization and foraging in emballonurid bats , 1977, Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology.

[35]  J. Bradbury,et al.  Social organization and foraging in emballonurid bats , 2004, Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology.

[36]  R. Wrangham,et al.  INTERGROUP RELATIONS IN CHIMPANZEES , 2003 .

[37]  D. G. Chapple.  ECOLOGY, LIFE-HISTORY, AND BEHAVIOR IN THE AUSTRALIAN SCINCID GENUS EGERNIA, WITH COMMENTS ON THE EVOLUTION OF COMPLEX SOCIALITY IN LIZARDS , 2003 .

[38]  E. Revilla.  Moving beyond the resource dispersion hypothesis , 2003 .

[39]  E. Revilla.  What does the Resource Dispersion Hypothesis explain, if anything? , 2003 .

[40]  Dominic D. P. Johnson,et al.  Sentenced without trial: reviling and revamping the Resource Dispersion Hypothesis , 2003 .

[41]  Peter A. Corning,et al.  The re-emergence of "emergence": A venerable concept in search of a theory , 2002, Complex..

[42]  Eldridge S. Adams,et al.  APPROACHES TO THE STUDY OF TERRITORY SIZE AND SHAPE , 2001 .

[43]  C. Packer,et al.  Egalitarianism in Female African Lions , 2001, Science.

[44]  J. Grinnell,et al.  Roaring and social communication in African lions: the limitations imposed by listeners , 2001, Animal Behaviour.

[45]  T. Pope.  Reproductive success increases with degree of kinship in cooperative coalitions of female red howler monkeys (Alouatta seniculus) , 2000, Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology.

[46]  D. A. Mclennan,et al.  Phylogeny and Speciation of Felids , 2000, Cladistics : the international journal of the Willi Hennig Society.

[47]  A. Jansen.  Home Ranges and Group-territoriality in Chowchillas Orthonyx spaldingii , 1999 .

[48]  T. A. Langen,et al.  ECOLOGICAL FACTORS AFFECTING GROUP AND TERRITORY SIZE IN WHITE-THROATED MAGPIE-JAYS , 1998 .

[49]  The Lack Clutch in a Communal Breeder: Lion Litter Size is a Mixed Evolutionarily Stable Strategy , 1995, The American Naturalist.

[50]  C. Packer,et al.  Cooperation in male lions: kinship, reciprocity or mutualism? , 1995, Animal Behaviour.

[51]  T. Caro.  Cheetahs of the Serengeti Plains: Group Living in an Asocial Species , 1994 .

[52]  S. Emlen,et al.  Benefits, constrainsts and the evolution of the family. , 1994, Trends in ecology & evolution.

[53]  C. Packer,et al.  Roaring and numerical assessment in contests between groups of female lions, Panthera leo , 1994, Animal Behaviour.

[54]  I. Rowley,et al.  Philopatry or dispersal: competition for territory vacancies in the splendid fairy-wren, Malurus splendens , 1993, Animal Behaviour.

[55]  W. Koenig,et al.  The Evolution of Delayed Dispersal in Cooperative Breeders , 1992, The Quarterly Review of Biology.

[56]  Robin I. M. Dunbar,et al.  Intergroup Aggression in Chimpanzees and Humans [and Comments and Replies] , 1991, Current Anthropology.

[57]  C. Packer,et al.  Why Lions Form Groups: Food is Not Enough , 1990, The American Naturalist.

[58]  Eldridge S. Adams,et al.  Boundary disputes in the territorial ant Azteca trigona: effects of asymmetries in colony size , 1990, Animal Behaviour.

[59]  P. Stacey,et al.  Territory Quality and Dispersal Options in the Acorn Woodpecker, and a Challenge to the Habitat-Saturation Model of Cooperative Breeding , 1987, The American Naturalist.

[60]  D. Cheney.  Interactions and relationships between groups , 1987 .

[61]  E. Lindström.  Territory inheritance and the evolution of group-living in carnivores , 1986, Animal Behaviour.

[62]  A. Carlson.  Group territoriality in the rattling cisticola, Cisticola chiniana , 1986 .

[63]  T. Schantz.  Spacing strategies, kin selection, and population regulation in altricial vertebrates , 1984 .

[64]  David W. Macdonald,et al.  The ecology of carnivore social behaviour , 1983, Nature.

[65]  T. Getty.  Analysis of Central‐Place Space‐Use Patterns: The Elastic Disc Revisited , 1981 .

[66]  N. Davies,et al.  Owners and satellites: the economics of territory defence in the Pied Wagtail, Motacilla alba , 1981 .

[67]  Anthony J. Gaston,et al.  The Evolution of Group Territorial Behavior and Cooperative Breeding , 1978, The American Naturalist.

[68]  G. E. Woolfenden,et al.  The Inheritance of Territory in Group-Breeding Birds , 1978 .

[69]  John Maynard Smith,et al.  The logic of asymmetric contests , 1976, Animal Behaviour.

[70]  E. Wilson,et al.  Sociobiology: The New Synthesis , 1976 .

[71]  B. Bertram.  Lion population regulation , 1973 .

[72]  J F Eisenberg,et al.  Comparisons of canid and felid social systems from an evolutionary perspective. , 1973, Animal behaviour.

[73]  V. Gelder,et al.  The Serengeti Lion , 1973 .

[74]  J. Brown.  Cooperative breeding and altruistic behaviour in the mexican jay , 1970 .

[75]  N. E. Collias,et al.  Evolution of social organisation and visual communication in the weaver birds (Ploceinae) , 1964 .