This paper introduces a new approach to describe the spread of research topics across disciplines using epidemic models. The approach is based on applying individual-based models from mathematical epidemiology to the diffusion of a research topic over a contact network that represents knowledge...

Evolutionary game theory is an increasingly important way to model the evolution of biological populations. Many early models were in the form of matrix games, or bi-matrix games in asymmetric situations when individuals occupy distinct roles within the contest, where rewards are accrued through...

Dominance hierarchies based on resource holding potential (RHP) or age are central to the social structure of many group-living animals. Nonhuman primate females and some other mammals are unusual because ranks can depend on kin support or follow an inverse age-graded pattern independent of kin....

Nestling brood parasites vary in the harm that they do to their companions in the nest. Here we use a game-theoretical model to attempt to account for this variation. Our model considers hosts that might routinely abandon single nestlings, regardless of whether they are host young or brood...

For foragers that exploit patchily distributed resources that are challenging to locate, detecting discoveries made by others with a view to joining them and sharing the patch may often be an attractive tactic, and such behavior has been observed across many taxa. If, as will commonly be true,...

We consider the optimal behavior of a cryptic prey individual as it is approached by a predator searching for prey. Although the predator has not yet discovered the prey, it has an increasing likelihood of doing so as it gets closer to the prey. Further, the closer the predator is to the prey...

Individuals repeatedly face a multi-decision task with unknown payoff distributions. They have minimal memory and update their strategy by observing previous play (and not strategy) of someone else. We select behavior rules that increase average payoffs as often as possible in a large population...