On the Distribution of Dominance in Populations of Social Organisms

Abstract
Bumble bees may possess a scalar character called dominance, which changes according to certain rules as a result of encounters between pairs of organisms. An equation for the distribution of dominance in a population is derived based on a set, of plausible axioms. The resulting Boltzmann-like integrodifferential equation is analyzed, analytically and/or numerically, for certain important special cases.