Other Benefits and Costs of Grouping

Abstract

The preceding chapter focused upon foraging and predator-prey interactions through the lens of group living. Arguably, these represent the key areas where animals obtain benefits -- principally access to information and protection from predators -- and pay costs, mainly relating to competition for resources, from grouping with others. This may be so, but there are many other advantages and disadvantages that also apply to social species. Some of the key ones are summarised in this chapter. We have arranged these into broad functional categories, summarised in Table 5.1.