Environmental fluctuations alter the competitive trade-offs of group size in a social primate

Abstract Larger animal groups are widely understood to require more space and expend more energy to mitigate the foraging costs of within-group competition. Yet between-group interactions and shifting resource distributions can obscure links between group size and behaviour, making responses to demographic change difficult to predict. Here, using 33 years of observational data from 12 neighbouring white-faced capuchin ( Cebus imitator ) groups in Costa Rica, combined with remotely sensed environmental data, we show that within- and between-group competition jointly shape space use, with their relative importance shifting with seasonal and interannual climate cycles. Larger groups compensated for reduced per capita foraging efficiency by expanding into less-exploited areas over longer timescales rather than increasing daily travel. Notably, this expansion disproportionately encroached on smaller neighbouring groups. In the dry season, resource confinement to riparian zones increased intergroup encounters and reduced overlap, with larger groups occupying the highest-quality areas. Climatic extremes linked to El Niño and La Niña exacerbated within-group foraging costs for large groups, whereas intermediate anomalies relaxed these constraints and amplified the benefits of between-group competitive ability. Our findings show that environmental variation shifts the trade-offs of within- and between-group competition, shaping how group-living animals adjust to changing social and ecological conditions.