不相關(guān)個體之間合作的演化對于社會科學(xué)和自然科學(xué)領(lǐng)域的研究人員來說都是一個謎,。更深了解這一現(xiàn)象的一個可能的障礙是,，理論工作者和實驗工作者有各行其是的傾向。Bshary等人通過將博弈理論模擬方法,、野外觀測和實驗驗證在一項關(guān)于合作現(xiàn)象的一個迄今尚未有人探索過的問題的研究中結(jié)合起來,，從而避免了理論與實驗的脫離，而他們所研究的這個問題是名為“半擬隆頭魚”的“醫(yī)生魚”（或稱“清潔魚”）與它們的客戶魚的穩(wěn)定雌雄對之間的清潔互助關(guān)系,。
理論預(yù)測,，兩個服務(wù)提供者應(yīng)當(dāng)比單個服務(wù)提供者向其客戶提供更高質(zhì)量的服務(wù)，只要它們相互合作就行,。野外觀測和實驗都證實了該模型預(yù)測,。一對“醫(yī)生魚”成功的關(guān)鍵是這樣一個事實：當(dāng)一個清潔者從其客戶身上吃掉皮外寄生蟲時，另一個可繼續(xù)進行其所喜歡的欺騙行為,，即吃其客戶的粘液,，與此同時仍可保證客戶滿意。（生物谷Bioon.com）
生物谷推薦原始出處：
Nature 455, 964-966 (16 October 2008) | doi:10.1038/nature07184
Pairs of cooperating cleaner fish provide better service quality than singletons
Redouan Bshary1, Alexandra S. Grutter2, Astrid S. T. Willener1 & Olof Leimar3
1 University of Neuchatel, Department of Zoology, Rue Emile-Argand 11 Case postale 158, 2009 Neuchatel, Switzerland
2 University of Queensland, School of Integrative Biology, St Lucia, Queensland 4072, Australia
3 Stockholm University, Department of Zoology, SE-10691 Stockholm, Sweden
Service providers may vary service quality depending on whether they work alone or provide the service simultaneously with a partner. The latter case resembles a prisoner's dilemma1, 2, 3, 4, in which one provider may try to reap the benefits of the interaction without providing the service. Here we present a game-theory model based on the marginal value theorem5, which predicts that as long as the client determines the duration, and the providers cooperate towards mutual gain, service quality will increase in the pair situation. This prediction is consistent with field observations and with an experiment on cleaning mutualism, in which stable male–female pairs of the cleaner wrasse Labroides dimidiatus repeatedly inspect client fish jointly. Cleaners cooperate by eating ectoparasites6 off clients but actually prefer to cheat and eat client mucus7. Because clients often leave in response to such cheating, the benefits of cheating can be gained by only one cleaner during a pair inspection. In both data sets, the increased service quality during pair inspection was mainly due to the smaller females behaving significantly more cooperatively than their larger male partners. In contrast, during solitary inspections, cleaning behaviour was very similar between the sexes. Our study highlights the importance of incorporating interactions between service providers to make more quantitative predictions about cooperation between species.
