Game Theory Models of Animal Behavior (UMAP)

This unit is an introduction to elementary game theory and some of its applications to evolutionary biology. The concept of an evolutionary stable strategy (ESS) is defined and its consequences are explored in several two- and three-person games. References are made throughout to examples of contests between animals in the wild. The unit concludes with a detailed application of this theory to male elephants and their mating strategies, using data from research studies.

Table of Contents:

INTRODUCTION
Animals Playing Games
Rules of the Game
Types of Evolutionary Games

TWO-STRATEGY GAMES
Discrete Symmetric Contests: The Game of Chicken
ESSs and Two-Strategy Games

HAWK AND DOVE: A DISCRETE SYMMETRIC CONTEST
Pure ESSs for Hawk and Dove
Mixed ESSs for Hawk and Dove
Two-Strategy Contests in Nature

THREE-STRATEGY GAMES
Asymmetries Between Players
The Hawk, Dove, Bourgeois Game
Is Bourgeois a Pure ESS?
The Diagonal Rule
Bully: A More Complicated Three-Strategy Game

ASYMMETRIES
Asymmetries in Rescource Values
Asymmetries in Fighting Ability

APPLICATION: MUSTH IN AFRICAN ELEPHANTS
The Payoff Matrix
Strategies for High-ranking and for Low-ranking Males

ANSWERS TO THE EXERCISES

REFERENCES

ABOUT THE AUTHORS