Social information drives ecological outcomes among competing species

Through its behavior, an organism intentionally or unintentionally produces information. Use of this “social information” by surrounding conspecifics or heterospecifics is a ubiquitous phenomenon that can drive strong correlations in fitness-associated behaviors, such as predator avoidance, enhancin...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Ecology (Durham) 2019-11, Vol.100 (11), p.1-13
Main Authors: Gil, M. A., Baskett, M. L., Schreiber, S. J.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Allee effect
Avoidance
Avoidance behavior
Coexistence
Competition
Competitive Behavior
Conspecifics
density dependence
Ecology
facilitation
functional response
Interspecific
mutualism
public information
social behavior
Species
stability theory
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Summary:Through its behavior, an organism intentionally or unintentionally produces information. Use of this “social information” by surrounding conspecifics or heterospecifics is a ubiquitous phenomenon that can drive strong correlations in fitness-associated behaviors, such as predator avoidance, enhancing survival within and among competing species. By eliciting indirect positive interactions between competing individuals or species, social information might alter overall competitive outcomes. To test this potential, we present new theory that quantifies the effect of social information, modeled as predator avoidance signals/cues, on the outcomes from intraspecific and interspecific competition. Our analytical and numerical results reveal that social information can rescue populations from extinction and can shift the long-term outcome of competitive interactions from mutual exclusion to coexistence, or vice versa, depending on the relative strengths of intraspecific and interspecific social information and competition. Our findings highlight the importance of social information in determining ecological outcomes.
ISSN:0012-9658
1939-9170
DOI:10.1002/ecy.2835