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Experimental evidence of frequency-dependent selection on group behaviour

Nature Ecology & Evolution volume 3, pages 702–707 (2019)Cite this article

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Abstract

Evolutionary ecologists often seek to identify the mechanisms maintaining intraspecific variation. In social animals, whole groups can exhibit between-group differences in their collective traits. We examined whether negative frequency-dependent selection (that is, a rare-type advantage) could help to maintain between-group variation. We engineered neighbourhoods of social spider colonies bearing bold or shy foraging phenotypes and monitored their fecundity in situ. We found that bold colonies enjoyed a rare-type advantage that is lost as the frequency of bold colonies in a neighbourhood increases. The success of shy colonies was not frequency dependent. These dynamics seem to be driven by a foraging advantage of bold colonies that is lost in bold neighbourhoods because prey become scarce, and shy colonies perform better than bold colonies under low-resource conditions. Thus, to understand selection on collective traits, it is insufficient to examine groups in isolation. The phenotypic environment in which groups reside and compete must also be considered.

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Fig. 1: Capture web size and attacker deployment across colonies.
Fig. 2: Egg case production and the frequency of bold colonies.
Fig. 3: The relationship between the number of prey carcasses and egg cases produced by colonies, and survival curves.

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Data availability

The data used in this study are available from Dryad (https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.m592p4g). Raw data are depicted in Fig. 3b,c and Supplementary Figs. 1–6.

Change history

  • 18 February 2020

    Editorial Note: Readers are alerted that the reliability of some of the data presented in this Article is currently in question and is being investigated by the editors. A further editorial response will follow when the issues are resolved.

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Acknowledgements

We thank A. Santoro, E. Eliason, H. Moeller, D. Fisher, A. Little and A. Radford for their help in improving previous versions of this manuscript. Funding was provided by NSF IOS grant numbers 1455895 to J.N.P., 1456010 to N.P.W., NIH GM115509 to N.P.W. and J.N.P., and the Tricounsel Agencies of Canada in association with a Canada 150 Research Chair Professorship to J.N.P.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Ecology, Evolution & Marine Biology, University of California—Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA, USA

    Jonathan N. Pruitt

  2. Department of Psychology, Neuroscience & Behaviour, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada

    Jonathan N. Pruitt & Brendan L. McEwen

  3. Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN, USA

    Steven T. Cassidy

  4. Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, University of California—Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA

    Gabriella M. Najm & Noa Pinter-Wollman

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All authors contributed to study design, data collection, statistical analysis, and composing of the manuscript. All authors were included in all aspects of the pipeline.

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Correspondence to Jonathan N. Pruitt.

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Pruitt, J.N., McEwen, B.L., Cassidy, S.T. et al. Experimental evidence of frequency-dependent selection on group behaviour. Nat Ecol Evol 3, 702–707 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-019-0852-z

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