A TECHNIQUE FOR QUANTITATIVE DESCRIPTION OF AGGRESSION-PRODUCED SOCIAL-SYSTEMS

We describe a technique for the quantitative description of social sys tems produced by aggressive interactions between individuals. The assu mption underlying the technique is that individuals often employ one o r both of two different strategies to gain access to resources. One st rategy is to use an established relationship to claim resources wherev er they are found (dominance); the other is to exclude competitors fro m resources in a specific area (territoriality). Our technique allows us to quantify the degree to which the behavioral dimension of each of these strategies is manifested by each individual and also by the who le set of interacting individuals. It will be possible to correlate th e quantified social system variables generated by this approach with q uantified ecological variables, such as population density and abundan ce of food, thus contributing to the development of a more rigorous be havioral ecology. We illustrate this method with quantitative descript ions of variation in juvenile rainbow trout (Oncorhyncus mykiss) corre lated with variation in population density and stream flow velocity.