Insect Prison Game ~upd~ Access

3.3 Termite Colony Wars (Macrotermes bellicosus) In prolonged colony conflicts, termites sometimes block enemy soldiers into sealed chambers rather than killing them. These prisoners are not executed but starved or reabsorbed. This represents a "punishment" Containment strategy that deters future escalation without incurring direct combat costs.

3.1 Slave-Making Ants (Formica sanguinea) Empirical data show that F. sanguinea rarely kills defending F. fusca workers. Instead, they employ a "Contain" strategy: they raid pupae, bring them back, and the eclosing adults function as prison laborers. In IPG terms, Escalate (killing all defenders) yields short-term gain but loss of future labor. Contain yields long-term net benefit (V - M) > (V - C_c) when M is low. insect prison game

Consider two players: a and a Defender (D) , contesting a resource of value V . Payoffs are determined as follows: Instead, they employ a "Contain" strategy: they raid

The Insect Prison Game: A Model of Escalation, Cooperation, and Containment in Competitive Ecosystems and Containment in Competitive Ecosystems