2026/07/01 by Josh J. Arbon, Andrew N. Radford · 2 voices
Agricultural and Biological Sciences · Environmental Science · #Animal Behavior and Reproduction #Anticipation (artificial intelligence) #Avian ecology and behavior #Flexibility (engineering) #Group conflict #Population #Resource (disambiguation) #Social conflict #Variation (astronomy) #Wildlife Ecology and Conservation
paper · doi:10.1016/j.tree.2026.06.002
published in Trends in Ecology & Evolution (Elsevier BV)
openalex publication_date 2026/07/01 · openalex created_date 2026/07/17 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/01
Intergroup conflict is a powerful selective force throughout the animal kingdom. While research has traditionally focused on actions during and after contests, animals also exhibit behavioural flexibility in anticipation of potential intergroup encounters. Synthesising findings from diverse taxa, we describe how social species adjust pre-emptive information gathering, resource use, cohesion, synchrony, and intragroup interactions across a heterogeneous 'landscape of intergroup conflict'. We show how variation in threat level, driven by spatial context, rival characteristics, and individual motivation, affects these behaviours, and how balancing sensed information and memories of past interactions underlies associated decision-making. Testing the consequences of intergroup pre-emptive behaviour using experimental, technological, and analytical advances will develop understanding of its role in socio-cognitive evolution, population dynamics, and community structure.