Optimality Theory in Economics and Biology

A mating system where one male mates exclusively with one female.

A mating system where one male mates with multiple females.

A mating system where one female mates with multiple males.

A mating system where multiple males and females mate with each other.

A mating system based on observed interactions between individuals, including mating and parental care.

A mating system based on the genetic patterns of offspring, including paternity and maternity.

The difference in investment between males and females in reproduction.

The principle that males can increase their reproductive success by mating with multiple females, while females can increase their success by investing heavily in offspring.

Communication is the process where senders use signals to modify the behavior of receivers.

Signals are considered "honest" when they benefit both the sender and the receiver.

Unforced honesty occurs when the interests of the sender and receiver align naturally.

Forced honesty occurs when the interests of the sender and receiver conflict, and the receiver forces honesty by only responding to reliable signals.

Courtship signals are used by individuals to attract mates.

Threat displays are signals used to warn rivals away from resources.

Signals must have evolved to be reliable and beneficial for the receiver, otherwise the signal would be ignored.

The receiver's ability to accurately assess the signal helps ensure the signal's honesty.

Species that invest heavily in their few offspring, providing extensive parental care, resulting in longer lifespans and slower development.

Species that produce many offspring with minimal parental care, focusing on quantity over quality. They are adapted to unpredictable environments with high mortality rates.

A reproductive strategy where an organism reproduces only once in its lifetime, often with a high number of offspring.

Young that are born in a relatively advanced state of development, requiring little care from parents.

Offspring that are born in an immature or helpless state and require significant parental care for an extended period.

A reproductive strategy where females produce multiple clutches of eggs in a breeding season, but cannot provide care for all of them.

The success of a clutch of eggs decreases as the number of eggs increases, because parental care is spread thinner, leading to lower offspring survival.

A mating system where females defend territories and attract multiple males to provide parental care for their eggs.

A mating system where males are responsible for the majority of parental care, including incubation and guarding of eggs.

The investment that parents make in their offspring, which benefits the offspring but can be costly to the parents.

A cost of parental care that reduces the parent's ability to produce offspring in the future.

The benefit of parental care that increases the offspring's chance of survival and success.

The evolutionary theory that predicts that parental care will only evolve if it results in a net fitness increase for the parents.

When siblings compete for parental care and resources, leading to potential conflicts and harm to one another. Often, siblings fight for the most resources, ensuring their survival and potentially increasing their inclusive fitness.

The killing of siblings by one another, often within the same clutch or litter. It's a strategic behavior that ensures the survival of the strongest sibling and maximizes parental investment in a single offspring.

A type of siblicide that occurs occasionally, depending on environmental conditions. It often happens later in development and the outcome is not always fatal.

A type of siblicide that always occurs, where one sibling inevitably kills the other. This is often determined by factors like the order of hatching, the time of development, and the presence of limited resources.

The idea that parents lay more eggs than the number of offspring that typically survive. This strategy can promote siblicide by creating a situation where only one sibling is likely to make it to adulthood.

A hypothesis that suggests parental complicity in facultative siblicide is a strategy to ensure the survival of the fittest offspring, even in variable environments, particularly when resources are limited.

The tendency for parents to make it easier for one sibling to kill another, often by providing resources and opportunities that favor the dominant sibling.

A condition where the individual's own fitness (direct fitness) is weighed against the fitness of their relatives (indirect fitness). The goal is to maximize the net increase in inclusive fitness, which considers the success of both the individual and their relatives.

A strategy where individuals adopt different behaviors based on their condition or environmental circumstances. It involves a single strategy with multiple tactics that may have varying payoffs.

A strategy where individuals exhibit different genetically determined strategies within a population. These strategies are fixed and non-changeable, with each strategy having a genetic basis.

A strategy where the fitness of a strategy is higher when it is rare in a population. This creates a dynamic equilibrium, where the rare strategy has an advantage, leading to a balanced distribution of strategies.

A type of genetic polymorphism where different strategies coexist in a population and are maintained by negative frequency-dependent selection. This results in a stable equilibrium where all strategies have equal payoffs.

A behavior that is guided by a specific set of rules that an individual adopts. A strategy may include several tactics.

One of the possible actions that can be taken by an animal within a strategy. Tactics are often influenced by individual condition or environment.

The net benefit of a behavior for an individual, which can include factors like survival, reproduction, and resource acquisition.

A strategy that, when adopted by most members of a population, cannot be replaced by a different mutant strategy. This creates a stable state where the majority strategy remains dominant.