Editing Behavioral ecology (section)

===Cooperation===
Cooperation is broadly defined as behavior that provides a benefit to another individual that specifically evolved for that benefit.  This excludes behavior that has not been expressly selected for to provide a benefit for another individual, because there are many commensal and parasitic relationships where the behavior one individual (which has evolved to benefit that individual and no others) is taken advantage of by other organisms. Stable cooperative behavior requires that it provide a benefit to both the actor and recipient, though the benefit to the actor can take many different forms.<ref name=Davies/>

====Within species====
Within species cooperation occurs among members of the same species.  Examples of intraspecific cooperation include cooperative breeding (such as in weeper capuchins) and cooperative foraging (such as in wolves). There are also forms of cooperative defense mechanisms, such as the "fighting swarm" behavior used by the stingless bee ''[[Tetragonula carbonaria]]''.<ref name=gloag2008>{{cite journal |author=Gloag, R. |year=2008 |title=Nest defence in a stingless bee: What causes fighting swarms in ''Trigona carbonaria'' (Hymenoptera, Meliponini)? |journal=Insectes Sociaux |volume=55 |issue=4 |pages=387–391 |display-authors=etal |doi=10.1007/s00040-008-1018-1|s2cid=44720135 }}</ref> Much of this behavior occurs due to kin selection.  Kin selection allows cooperative behavior to evolve where the actor receives no direct benefits from the cooperation.<ref name=Davies/>

Cooperation (without kin selection) must evolve to provide benefits to both the actor and recipient of the behavior.  This includes reciprocity, where the recipient of the cooperative behavior repays the actor at a later time. This may occur in vampire bats but it is uncommon in non-human animals.<ref name = wilkinson>{{cite journal | author = Wilkinson, G.S. | year = 1984 | title = Reciprocal food sharing in the vampire bat | journal = Nature | volume = 308 | pages = 181–184 | bibcode = 1984Natur.308..181W | doi = 10.1038/308181a0 | issue = 5955| s2cid = 4354558 }}</ref>  Cooperation can occur willingly between individuals when both benefit directly as well.  Cooperative breeding, where one individual cares for the offspring of another, occurs in several species, including [[wedge-capped capuchin#Alloparenting|wedge-capped capuchin]] monkeys.<ref name = obrien4>{{cite journal |author1=O'Brien, Timothy G.  |author2=John G. Robinson  |name-list-style=amp| year = 1991 | title = Allomaternal Care by Female Wedge-Capped Capuchin Monkeys: Effects of Age, Rank and Relatedness | journal  = Behaviour | volume = 119 |issue=1–2  | pages = 30–50 | doi = 10.1163/156853991X00355}}</ref>

Cooperative behavior may also be enforced, where their failure to cooperate results in negative consequences.  One of the best examples of this is [[worker policing]], which occurs in social insect colonies.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Ratnieks|first=Francis L. W.|author2=Heikki Helanterä|title=The evolution of extreme altruism and inequality in insect societies|journal=Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B|date=October 2009 |volume=364 |issue=1553|pages=3169–3179 |doi=10.1098/rstb.2009.0129 |pmid=19805425 |pmc=2781879}}</ref>

The [[cooperative pulling paradigm]] is a popular experimental design used to assess if and under which conditions animals cooperate. It involves two or more animals pulling rewards towards themselves via an apparatus they can not successfully operate alone.<ref name="de Waal">de Waal, Frans (2016). "Are We Smart Enough To Know How Smart Animals Are?" {{isbn|978-1-78378-305-2}}, p. 276</ref>

====Between species====
Cooperation can occur between members of different species.  For interspecific cooperation to be evolutionarily stable, it must benefit individuals in both species.  Examples include pistol shrimp and goby fish, nitrogen fixing microbes and legumes,<ref name=postgate>{{cite book |author=Postgate, J |year=1998 |title=Nitrogen Fixation, 3rd Edition |publisher=Cambridge University Press, Cambridge UK}}</ref> ants and aphids.<ref name = dawkins>{{cite book | author = Dawkins, Richard | year = 1976 | title = The Selfish Gene | publisher = Oxford University Press}}</ref>  In ants and aphids, aphids secrete a sugary liquid called honeydew, which ants eat.  The ants provide protection to the aphids against predators, and, in some instances, raise the aphid eggs and larvae inside the ant colony. This behavior is analogous to human domestication.<ref name = dawkins/> The genus of goby fish, ''[[Elacatinus]]'' also demonstrate cooperation by removing and feeding on [[ectoparasites]] of their clients.<ref>{{Cite journal|author1=M.C. Soares |author2=I.M. Côté |author3=S.C. Cardoso |author4=R.Bshary |name-list-style=amp|date=August 2008| title = The cleaning goby mutualism: a system without punishment, partner switching or tactile stimulation | journal =Journal of Zoology| volume =276 |issue =3 | pages =306–312 | doi=10.1111/j.1469-7998.2008.00489.x|url=http://doc.rero.ch/record/28974/files/Soares_Marta_C._-_The_cleaning_goby_mutualism_a_system_without_20120417.pdf }}</ref>  The species of wasp ''[[Polybia rejecta]]'' and ants ''Azteca chartifex'' show a cooperative behavior protecting one another's nests from predators.

[[Market (economics)|Market]] economics often govern the details of the cooperation:  e.g. the amount exchanged between individual animals follow the rules of [[supply and demand]].<ref>{{cite news|last1=Crair|first1=Ben|title=The Secret Economic Lives of Animals|url=https://www.bloomberg.com/features/2017-biological-markets/|access-date=1 August 2017|work=[[Bloomberg News]]|date=1 August 2017}}</ref>