Cheating (biology)

Cheating is a term used in behavioral ecology and ethology to describe behavior whereby organisms receive a benefit at the cost of other organisms. Cheating is common in many mutualistic and altruistic relationships.^[1] A cheater is an individual who does not cooperate (or cooperates less than their fair share) but can potentially gain the benefit from others cooperating.^[2] Cheaters are also those who selfishly use common resources to maximize their individual fitness at the expense of a group.^[3] Natural selection favors cheating, but there are mechanisms to regulate it.^[4] The stress gradient hypothesis states that facilitation, cooperation or mutualism should be more common in stressful environments, while cheating, competition or parasitism are common in benign environments (i.e nutrient excess).