Collapse and rescue of cooperation in evolving dynamic networks

Nature Communications
Erol Akçay

Abstract

The evolutionary dynamics of social traits depend crucially on the social structure of a population. The effects of social structure on social behaviors are well-studied, but relatively little is known about how social structure itself coevolves with social traits. Here, I study such coevolution with a simple yet realistic model of within-group social structure where social connections are either inherited from a parent or made randomly. I show that cooperation evolves when individuals make few random connections, but the presence of cooperation selects for increased rates of random connections, which leads to its collapse. Inherent costs of social connections can prevent this negative feedback, but these costs can negate some or all of the aggregate benefits of cooperation. Exogenously maintained social inheritance can mitigate the latter problem and allow cooperation to increase the average fitness of a population. These results illustrate how coevolutionary dynamics can constrain the long-term persistence of cooperation.

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Citations

Feb 16, 2020·Nature Communications·Andrew R TilmanErol Akçay
Feb 23, 2020·Proceedings. Mathematical, Physical, and Engineering Sciences·Xin WangFeng Fu
Aug 28, 2019·Science Advances·Marco Smolla, Erol Akçay
Jun 9, 2021·Biological Reviews of the Cambridge Philosophical Society·Samin GokcekusJosh A Firth

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