Ch. 11 Conflict Resolution

In a conflict where two parties want access to a resource the opposing interests is

Each wants to be the winner of the conflict

In a conflict where two parties want access to a resource the aligned interests is

Both want contest settled without a fight

A priori Information/Information going into the battle

Knowledge of own fighting ability(Gained from prior fighting experiences), Frequency of rival encounters(If encounters are frequent, may “pick your battles.”), Knowledge of opponent’s fighting ability(You saw them fight, or fought them previously), Knowledge about resource quality(How bad do you want/need it)

Dominance hierarches are affected by

Winner-loser effect: winning/loosing record influences self
assessment

What determines if food is worth fighting for?

Is it scarce or abundant? Scattered or clumped?

What determines if mates are worth fighting for?

Is the population synchronous(fertile matings in a population are clustered within a restricted time window) or asynchronous(breeding happens over a longer, spread-out period)

What determines if Shelter is worth fighting for?

How much time invested in it? Containing young?

What determines if territory is worth fighting for?

If it contains food, mates, and/or shelter

Resource Value =

delta fitness between winning & loosing a contest over the resource

What are the 3 fighting strategies

Sequential assessment model, Energetic war of attrition model (E-WOA), Cumulative assessment model

Sequential assessment model

Purpose: reveal something about sender’s body size or other aspects of fighting ability