The Socioecological Model is a method of categorizing female social relationships through agonism. This is further examined along three social dimensions. The first dimension seeks to establish whether or not a dominance hierarchy is present in the given group being analyzed. A group which lacks a strict hierarchy is defined as egalitarian, in which there are undetectable or poorly defined dominance relationships, or in which the dominance hierarchy is not clear or nonlinear. In these groups, food is often dispersed in a way such that patches cannot be defended, resulting in scramble competition in which the first female to arrive at a food resource may get a larger share of the food simply because she got there first. This means there is nothing to gain from contesting the resource, and thus typically produces weak social relationships in females, with no need for post conflict resolution like grooming. In contrast, a group which exhibits a strict hierarchy is known as despotic, in which there are clearly established, formalized dominance relationships that are usually linear. When there is competition over essential resources, aggressive interactions maintain dominance hierarchy and contest competition is high. High rank can provide priority of access to resources, and potentially higher reproductive success, and may may also result in alliances or affiliative behaviors like grooming. The second dimension aims, once a hierarchy has been observed, to further classify the type of hierarchy present. There may be a nepotistic hierarchy, in which female relatives rank close together due to coalitions and often don’t disperse, or individualistic hierarchies, in which the rank of female relatives are independent of each other, and females do disperse. The third and final dimension seeks to assign the degree of tolerance within the group structure, and generally assumes that as tolerance increases, the severity of aggression decreases while threats toward dominant individuals increases.
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