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One user initiated a closing vote to this question: What are some of the earliest known species on earth that display pecking order?

One user explained that my question is "homework", because "a question that addresses a basic biology concept that may seem trivial to biology professionals".

After a few friendly conversation, that user explicitly admitted that, (as a biology professional,) he does not have full knowledge of some of the foundation works in "pecking order". There is of course nothing wrong with that because no one has the full knowledge on any non-trivial topics. I truly appreciate him for bringing up an unique view-point from a biologist, which is not entire same as other biologists.

I further clarified this is not a homework question. I also explained why the question is asked. Though the question is still closed because of "homework".

If by any chance I could get any help, I will be much appreciated.

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You basically answered the main question in the linked post yourself, since you establish your own 'definition' of pecking order, including everything up to the point of metabolic evolutionary pressure in microbes (I disagree completely, but this field of research is outside of my comfort zone, so I won't argue), hence your answer is to be sought in microbes, and if you like a species name with that, search for 'Archaea', it'll make an interesting read and may lead you to your answer.

However, you also ask whether plants can have a pecking order, as a sort of sub-question. Given your personal definition of 'pecking order' including microbial survival strategies, the answer would be 'yes', namely those that have an [evolutionary] advantage over other species, making them more fit to survive (I again disagree with calling this a pecking order).

What I think is that the real underlying questions are the following:

  1. 'Whether evolutionary pressure favoring one species above another can be called 'pecking order' (you know my views by now :-), and/or
  2. 'What is the definition of pecking order?'

In other words, I think the question is rightfully put on hold, because you need to flesh out your post. The best way to do that, is by doing your homework, namely carefully defining what it actually is you are struggling with. In other words, help us to help you :) Focus your post on one question, not more. Prevent luring people into a discussion, we have a chat room dedicated to that purpose.

I would encourage you to edit your existing post on this to maintain the post's history together with its comments.

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    $\begingroup$ Sure, starting a new question right now. So in general lengthy discussion is not welcome? $\endgroup$
    – High GPA
    Mar 21, 2022 at 8:38
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    $\begingroup$ @HighGPA - Correct, please reserve the discussion to chat or meta. $\endgroup$
    – AliceD Mod
    Mar 21, 2022 at 9:19
  • $\begingroup$ Oh do you mean that my original question is deleted after been closed? $\endgroup$
    – High GPA
    Mar 21, 2022 at 10:14
  • $\begingroup$ @HighGPA - big oops, please edit the existing post $\endgroup$
    – AliceD Mod
    Mar 21, 2022 at 10:15
  • $\begingroup$ If I decide to abide to your stricter definition of "pecking order", what will be some of the earliest species that display this pecking order? $\endgroup$
    – High GPA
    Mar 21, 2022 at 11:32
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    $\begingroup$ @HighGPA - I didn't posit any definition whatsoever. Just trying to dissect the question into its elements to help you help us to help you, ehhhh what did I just say? No kidding, I haven't got a definition in that sense and my guess is that that's exactly what this is all about. I have no answer, just trying to provide handles to flesh out this question. $\endgroup$
    – AliceD Mod
    Mar 21, 2022 at 11:55
  • $\begingroup$ Ok, so if I understand correctly, the question "What is the definition of pecking order" is non-trivial? $\endgroup$
    – High GPA
    Mar 21, 2022 at 12:04
  • $\begingroup$ I edited the original question $\endgroup$
    – High GPA
    Mar 21, 2022 at 12:18
  • $\begingroup$ @HighGPA well to me it is pretty trivial, but not for you apparently. $\endgroup$
    – AliceD Mod
    Mar 21, 2022 at 12:18
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    $\begingroup$ @HighGPA You jump from pecking order to metabolics with the following: 'However, many other sources equate pecking order with dominance hierarchy, or the metabolic evolutionary pressure, namingly some individuals have an evolutionary advantage over others, making them more fit to survive. For example, bacteria can has pecking order. Supporting literature include this.' The elife article makes no mention of pecking order whatsoever. You jump from a behavior in higher animals to metabolics in microorganisms. I have never heard of a pecking order between bacteria. $\endgroup$
    – AliceD Mod
    Mar 21, 2022 at 12:23
  • $\begingroup$ To me, a pecking order exists in higher order animals, and is associated with complex, social behavior. That very well may result in more food available for an alpha male, but has nothing to do with one microorganism scooping up more nutrients than another of the same species in a petri dish. $\endgroup$
    – AliceD Mod
    Mar 21, 2022 at 12:25
  • $\begingroup$ Microorganisms also have complex social behaviors, according to this: pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/11245940/…. $\endgroup$
    – High GPA
    Mar 21, 2022 at 13:29
  • $\begingroup$ Ok let me explain again. So multiple sources say that "pecking order" is just an old synonym of dominance hierarchy, and the citation is about dominance hierarchy (a.k.a. pecking order). The paper on plant directly mention pecking order, though. $\endgroup$
    – High GPA
    Mar 22, 2022 at 0:34
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    $\begingroup$ @HighGPA The "pecking order" mentioned in that paper on plants is absolutely nothing like the "pecking order" among social animals. It appears to be used as a distant metaphor: the authors even put it in quotes which I believe they do to indicate this metaphorical usage. Have you read that paper? Can you see how distinct it is? For one, they aren't even talking about members of the same species but about different species. $\endgroup$
    – Bryan Krause Mod
    Mar 22, 2022 at 2:49
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    $\begingroup$ @HighGPA I think you misunderstand the types of precision that scientific writers use. They explain elsewhere in their own papers what they mean by "pecking order", you can't just search those two words and expect it's the same... There is also such thing as metaphor. I think you'd learn a lot more by actually reading these papers than having someone write an answer explaining that your question makes no sense because you didn't read the papers and based your question on unfounded assumptions - those answers tend to just lead to arguments with the original poster and aren't fun for anyone. $\endgroup$
    – Bryan Krause Mod
    Mar 24, 2022 at 13:37

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