The Evolution of Cooperation in Two-Dimensional Mobile Populations with Random and Strategic Dispersal

• Published in: Games Vol. 13; no. 3; p. 40
• Main Authors: Weishaar, Kyle, Erovenko, Igor V.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Basel MDPI AG 01-06-2022
• Subjects: Binomial distribution; Cooperation; Dispersion; Evolution; evolution of cooperation; Game theory; Markov analysis; Neighborhoods; Population; Probability; public goods game; structured population
• ISSN: 2073-4336; 2073-4336
• DOI: 10.3390/g13030040

We investigate the effect of the environment dimensionality and different dispersal strategies on the evolution of cooperation in a finite structured population of mobile individuals. We consider a population consisting of cooperators and free-riders residing on a two-dimensional lattice with periodic boundaries. Individuals explore the environment according to one of the four dispersal strategies and interact with each other via a public goods game. The population evolves according to a birth–death–birth process with the fitness of the individuals deriving from the game-induced payouts. We found that the outcomes of the strategic dispersal strategies in the two-dimensional setting are identical to the outcomes in the one-dimensional setting. The random dispersal strategy, not surprisingly, resulted in the worst outcome for cooperators.