Here ya go Bojan … this one mixes it all up and turns a common understanding of aggression/competitive behaviour in Evolution, on its ear (I had to read it a few times to get how it works .. its all news to me as well) …
Bacteria develop restraint for survival in a rock-paper-scissors community
Quote:
"By becoming a better competitor in a well-mixed system, it could actually drive itself to extinction," said Joshua Nahum, a University of Washington graduate student in biology. "By growing faster, it actually can hurt its abundance."
…
"In patches with faster growth, members of the unrestrained patch burn through their victims and then are left to face their victims' victims, their own enemies," he said.
|
and the caveat …
Quote:
|
The observed effect only applies to structured communities with limited migration, the researchers said. In an unstructured community with greater migration and mixing, a species that curbed its aggressiveness would not reduce its chances of being engulfed by its enemy.
|
So, from this, it looks like maybe my idea of living symbiotically amongst other species, would only work where migration is limited (by lack of inter-stellar travel capability). By staying put here on Earth, (as Bert suggests), we may actually improve our longevity !! If we intend to travel, we need to 'bulk-up' and get super aggro !
Very interesting, eh ?
Cheers