Cheating (biology)

Cheating is a term used in behavioral ecology and ethology to describe behavior whereby organisms receive a benefit at the cost of other organisms. Cheating is common in many mutualistic and altruistic relationships. A cheater is an individual who does not cooperate (or cooperates less than their fair share) but can potentially gain the benefit from others cooperating. Cheaters are also those who selfishly use common resources to maximize their individual fitness at the expense of a group. Natural selection favors cheating, but there are mechanisms to regulate it. The stress gradient hypothesis states that facilitation, cooperation or mutualism should be more common in stressful environments, while cheating, competition or parasitms are common in benign environments (i.e nutrient excess). Organisms communicate and cooperate to perform a wide range of behaviors. Mutualism, or mutually beneficial interactions between species, is common in ecological systems. These interactions can be thought of "biological markets" in which species offer partners goods that are relatively inexpensive for them to produce and receive goods that are more expensive or even impossible for them to produce. However, these systems provide opportunities for exploitation by individuals that can obtain resources while providing nothing in return. Exploiters can take on several forms: individuals outside a mutualistic relationship who obtain a commodity in a way that confers no benefit to either mutualist, individuals who receive benefits from a partner but have lost the ability to give any in return, or individuals who have the option of behaving mutualistically towards their partners but chose not to do so. Cheaters, who do not cooperate but benefit from others who do cooperate gain a competitive edge. In an evolutionary context, this competitive edge refers to a greater ability to survive or to reproduce. If individuals who cheat are able to gain survivorship and reproductive benefits while incurring no costs, natural selection should favor cheaters.