Evolution of cooperation mediated by limiting resources: Connecting resource based models and evolutionary game theory

Recent studies have shown that constraints on available resources may play an important role in the evolution of cooperation, especially when individuals do not posses the capacity to recognize other individuals, memory or other developed abilities, as it is the case of most unicellular organisms, algae or even plants. We analyze the evolution of cooperation in the case of a limiting resource, which is necessary for reproduction and survival. We show that, if the strategies determine a prisoner's dilemma, the outcome of the interactions may be modified by the limitation of resources allowing cooperators to invade the entire population. Analytic expressions for the region of cooperation are provided. Furthermore we derive expressions for the connection between fitness, as understood in evolutionary game theory, and resource exchanges, which may be of help to link evolutionary game theoretical results with resource based models.