Dominance between the sexes in group-living animals
Chairs: Charlotte Hemelrijk and Lauren Seex (University of Groningen)
Dominance relationships among adults are generally considered central in the social life of group-living animals. However, between the sexes they are often ignored even if males and females live together in groups. By default males are assumed to be dominant over females, because they are bigger. Yet, several studies show that despite the males’ larger body size, females may still be dominant over a fraction of males in the group (co-dominance or partial dominance).
In the present symposium, we focus on any research related to intersexual dominance relationships. How they are associated with adult sexual dimorphism, sex ratio, physiological effects (hormonal, winner-loser effect), behavior (agonistic support, affiliation, sexual coercion, etcetera) and ecology. Studies may either be empirical (long term data or a single group), theoretical (computational) or both. Presentations on all taxa are of interest, such as primates, birds and rodents.
| Eve Davidian, Ngorongoro Hyena Project, Tanzania | The ecology and evolution of male-female power relationships in social mammals |
| Charlotte Hemelrijk and Lauren Seex, Groningen, the Netherlands | The winner-loser effect contributes to female co-dominance with males as shown in theoretical and empirical studies. |
| Miguel Puentes-Escamilla, University of Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands | Female wild rats (Rattus norvegicus) are co-dominant with males despite females being half the size of males |
| Lisa Horn, Department of Behavioral and Cognitive Biology, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria | Context affects preschool children’s dominance in between-sex competition |
| Claudia Fichtel, German Primate Center, Göttingen, Germany | Sex and the social lives of gidros (Eulemur rufifrons) |
ECBB 22 - All of life is social 