Resource scarcity shifts evolutionary success from competition toward cooperation

Evidence

The pioneers produce a community based on the principles of unlimited growth, sprawl, and high energy consumption, sucking up resources as fast as they can, wresting land from others through competition, and then moving on. When resources begin to run short, as they always will, cooperation and strategies that promote stability—strategies perfected by rainforest ecosystems—will be favored by evolution. The breadth and depth of these reciprocal symbioses are especially well developed in oldgrowth forests, which are designed for the long haul. — Robin Wall Kimmerer, Braiding Sweetgrass, 1048

Categorization

• XREF: Echoes ch67’s claim that ‘Mutualism between species emerges under scarcity, not abundance’ — here stated in full successional-evolutionary terms against pioneer-community competition. — connects to: Population pressure produced cooperation and commons regulation, not tragedy — Carolyn Merchant, The Death of Nature: Women, Ecology,…, 266; Mutualism between species emerges under scarcity, not abundance — Robin Wall Kimmerer, Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom,…, 997; Mutualistic reciprocity succeeds where individual competition would fail under stress — Robin Wall Kimmerer, Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom,…, 1009 (+3 more)
• DEFINE: Clearly frames pioneer/opportunistic strategies as a stage that cooperation and symbiosis supersede when resources run short.

Broader Connections

• Mutualistic reciprocity succeeds where individual competition would fail under stress #corroborates (0.82) — Robin Wall Kimmerer, Braiding Sweetgrass, 1009
• Intergroup competition shifts populations toward self-sacrificial cooperation #qualifies (0.75) — Norenzayan, Ara, Big gods - how religion transformed…, 462
• High potential losses prevent cooperation from ever getting started #contradicts (0.72)
• Cultural evolution can spread maladaptive behaviors that destroy social cooperation #qualifies (0.72) — Norenzayan, Ara, Big gods - how religion transformed…, 447