Abstracts » Zoology and wildlife conservation

Incest and other artefacts: a reply to Simpson and Barton

Article Abstract:

Dominance rank has some effect on mating success, and two critical assumptions must not be ignored. One is female philopatry, and the other is that dominance rank is equated to mating desire. Failure to take these into account changes the over-all perspective. Moreover, the statistic used is indeed biased, but not useless, as implied. Lastly, the biasedness is leveled out by using measures that avoid statistical disasters.

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Dominance and mating success: avoiding incest and artefact

Article Abstract:

The statistical soundness of the test statistics employed to measure dominance rankin primates is evaluated. This proposed statistic, which is associated with Spearman's coefficient, has many loopholes. First, it is unstable and biased. Moreover, it can fail to reveal a relationship actually present, thereby it is also weak and uninformative. Therefore, it is senseless to base conclusions on such kind of statistics.

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Does the number of males influence the relationship between dominance and mating success in primates?

Article Abstract:

Dominance as a determinant of mating success in male primates is investigated. Results show that demographic factorsplay some role in determining the effectiveness of particular mating strategies. But the interrelationships between these factors will only be elucidated through long-term experimental studies, rather than through hasty, short-term studies.

Research, Social hierarchy in animals, Dominance (Animal behavior)

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