Elsevier

Animal Behaviour

Volume 31, Issue 1, February 1983, Pages 45-58
Animal Behaviour

A method for assigning cardinal dominance ranks

https://doi.org/10.1016/S0003-3472(83)80172-9Get rights and content

Abstract

Dominance hierarchies are widely described in nature. Commonly, an individual's ordinal rank is used as a measure of its position in the hierarchy, and, therefore its priority of access to resources. This use of ordinal ranks has several related drawbacks: (1) it is difficult to assess the magnitude or the significance of the difference in degree of dominance between two individuals; (2) it is difficult to evaluate the significance of differences between dominance matrices based on different behaviours or on the same behaviour at different times, and (3) it is difficult to use parametric statistical techniques to relate dominance rank to other quantities of interest.

In this paper we describe a method for assigning cardinal dominance indices that does not suffer from these drawbacks. This technique is based on the Bradley-Terry model from the method of paired comparisons. We show how this model can be reinterpreted in terms of dominance interactions. and we describe a simple iterative technique for computing cardinal ranks. We then describe how to evaluate (1) whether the rank differences between individuals are significant, and (2) whether differences in the cardinal hierarchies based on different behaviours or the same behaviour at different times are significant. We then show how to generalize the method to deal with behaviours that sometimes have ambiguous outcomes, or behaviours for which the rank difference between a pair of individuals affects the rate of interaction between them.

References (23)

  • DykstraO.

    Rank analysis of incomplete block designs: a method of paired comparisons employing unequal repetitions of pairs

    Biometrics

    (1960)
  • Cited by (136)

    • An uncertainty law for microbial evolution

      2020, Journal of Theoretical Biology
    • Dominance Relationships, Dominance Hierarchies and Rankings

      2019, Encyclopedia of Animal Behavior, Second Edition: Volume 1-5
    • Sham dustbathing in cages by subordinate hens is increased by a partition providing isolation

      2019, Applied Animal Behaviour Science
      Citation Excerpt :

      Routine work was performed around 08:00–9:00 h and 16:00–17:00 h. Hens were provided with fresh feed manually around 16:30 h. Lights were on from 06:00 to 20:00 h (14 h light and 10 h dark). At 33 weeks of age, social hierarchies of 32 hens in eight groups of four were determined (Boyd and Silk, 1983; Clutton-Brock et al., 1986). Each group was recorded for 2 h per day for 3 days to observe hens’ involvement in agonistic behavior.

    View all citing articles on Scopus

    Present address: School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, Duke University, Durham, N.C. 27706.

    View full text