Role Differentiation in a Coupled Resource Ecology under Multi-Level Selection

[2604.00810] Role Differentiation in a Coupled Resource Ecology under Multi-Level Selection Skip to main content Search Submit Donate Log in Computer Science > Multiagent Systems arXiv:2604.00810 (cs) [Submitted on 1 Apr 2026] Title: Role Differentiation in a Coupled Resource Ecology under Multi-Level Selection Authors: Siddharth Chaturvedi , Ahmed El-Gazzar , Marcel van Gerven View PDF HTML (experimental) Abstract: A group of non-cooperating agents can succumb to the \emph{tragedy-of-the-commons} if all of them seek to maximize the same resource channel to improve their viability. In nature, however, groups often avoid such collapses by differentiating into distinct roles that exploit different resource channels. It remains unclear how such coordination can emerge under continual individual-level selection alone. To address this, we introduce a computational model of multi-level selection, in which group-level selection shapes a common substrate and mutation operator shared by all group members undergoing individual-level selection. We also place this process in an embodied ecology where distinct resource channels are not segregated, but coupled through the same behavioral primitives. These channels are classified as a positive-sum intake channel and a zero-sum redistribution channel. We investigate whether such a setting can give rise to role differentiation under turnover driven by birth and death. We find that in a learned ecology, both channels remain occupied at the colony level, and the collapse into a single acquisition mode is avoided. Zero-sum channel usage increases over generations despite not being directly optimized by group-level selection. Channel occupancy also fluctuates over the lifetime of a boid. Ablation studies suggest that most baseline performance is carried by the inherited behavioral basis, while the learned variation process provides a smaller but systematic improvement prior to saturation. Together, the results suggest that multi-level selection can enable groups in a common-pool setting to circumvent tragedy-of-the-commons through differentiated use of coupled channels under continual turnover. Comments: 9 pages, 6 figures, 1 table Subjects: Multiagent Systems (cs.MA) Report number: ISAL.a.980, 54 Cite as: arXiv:2604.00810 [cs.MA] (or arXiv:2604.00810v1 [cs.MA] for this version) https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2604.00810 Focus to learn more arXiv-issued DOI via DataCite Related DOI : https://doi.org/10.1162/ISAL.a.980 Focus to learn more DOI(s) linking to related resources Submission history From: Siddharth Chaturvedi [ view email ] [v1] Wed, 1 Apr 2026 12:19:15 UTC (3,044 KB) Full-text links: Access Paper: View PDF HTML (experimental) TeX Source view license Additional Features Audio Summary Current browse context: cs.MA < prev | next > new | recent | 2026-04 Change to browse by: cs References & Citations SciX Google Scholar Semantic Scholar export BibTeX citation Bookmark Bibliographic Tools Bibliographic and Citation Tools Bibliographic Explorer Toggle Bibliographic Explorer ( What is the Explorer? ) Connected Papers Toggle Connected Papers ( What is Connected Papers? ) Litmaps Toggle Litmaps ( What is Litmaps? ) scite.ai Toggle scite Smart Citations ( What are Smart Citations? ) Code, Data, Media Code, Data and Media Associated with this Article alphaXiv Toggle alphaXiv ( What is alphaXiv? ) Links to Code Toggle CatalyzeX Code Finder for Papers ( What is CatalyzeX? ) DagsHub Toggle DagsHub ( What is DagsHub? ) GotitPub Toggle Gotit.pub ( What is GotitPub? ) Huggingface Toggle Hugging Face ( What is Huggingface? ) ScienceCast Toggle ScienceCast ( What is ScienceCast? ) Demos Demos Replicate Toggle Replicate ( What is Replicate? ) Spaces Toggle Hugging Face Spaces ( What is Spaces? ) Spaces Toggle TXYZ.AI ( What is TXYZ.AI? ) Related Papers Recommenders and Search Tools Link to Influence Flower Influence Flower ( What are Influence Flowers? ) Core recommender toggle CORE Recommender ( What is CORE? ) Author Venue Institution Topic About arXivLabs arXivLabs: experimental projects with community collaborators arXivLabs is a framework that allows collaborators to develop and share new arXiv features directly on our website. Both individuals and organizations that work with arXivLabs have embraced and accepted our values of openness, community, excellence, and user data privacy. arXiv is committed to these values and only works with partners that adhere to them. Have an idea for a project that will add value for arXiv's community? Learn more about arXivLabs . Which authors of this paper are endorsers? | Disable MathJax ( What is MathJax? ) We gratefully acknowledge support from our major funders , member institutions , and all contributors. About · Help · Contact · Subscribe · Copyright · Privacy · Accessibility · Operational Status (opens in new tab)

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