Evolution of cooperation in multi-population

¹ School of Statistics and Mathematics, Yunnan University of Finance and Economics Kunming, 650221, Yunnan, PRC
² School of Software, Yunnan University - Kunming, 650504, Yunnan, PRC
³ The Key Laboratory for Software Engineering of Yunnan Province - Kunming, 650504, Yunnan, PRC
⁴ The Engineering Research Center of Cyberspace - Kunming, 650504, Yunnan, PRC
⁵ Center for Ecology and Environmental Sciences, Northwestern Polytechnical University Xi'an, 710072, Shanxi, PRC
⁶ School of Mechanical Engineering and Center for OPTical IMagery Analysis and Learning (OPTIMAL), Northwestern Polytechnical University - Xi'an, 710072, Shanxi, PRC

Received: 12 February 2020
Accepted: 17 September 2020

Abstract

Cooperative behavior is key to the survival of species in ecosystems. Here, we extend the traditional prisoner's dilemma game by proposing a multi-population model in which players can obtain a lower payoff via interactions with neighbors belonging to different populations than interactions within the same population. Then we study novel spatiotemporal dynamics of cooperation among multi-populations and find that fascinating pattern forms and spatiotemporal dynamic emerges, accompanied by the self-organization of populations. In particular, under favorable conditions, the system with fewer populations maintains cooperative behavior stability. While under adverse conditions the cycle between populations tends to collapse, leading to a lower level of cooperation. These observations highlight and explain why multi-populations greatly promote cooperative behavior in social dilemmas.