Reproductive conflict in animal societies: hierarchy length increases with colony size in queenless ponerine ants

2003 ◽  
Vol 54 (1) ◽  
pp. 71-79 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thibaud Monnin ◽  
Francis L. W. Ratnieks ◽  
Carlos R. F. Brand�o
Keyword(s):  
Colony Size ◽  
Reproductive Conflict ◽  
Ponerine Ants ◽  
Hierarchy Length ◽  
Animal Societies

scholarly journals Family feuds: social competition and sexual conflict in complex societies

2012 ◽  
Vol 367 (1600) ◽  
pp. 2304-2313 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dustin R. Rubenstein
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Conflict ◽  
Kin Selection ◽  
Social Groups ◽  
Sexual Partners ◽  
Complex Societies ◽  
Social Competition ◽  
Reproductive Conflict ◽  
Sexual Competition ◽  
Kin Structure ◽  
Animal Societies

Darwin was initially puzzled by the processes that led to ornamentation in males—what he termed sexual selection—and those that led to extreme cooperation and altruism in complex animal societies—what was later termed kin selection. Here, I explore the relationships between sexual and kin selection theory by examining how social competition for reproductive opportunities—particularly in females—and sexual conflict over mating partners are inherent and critical parts of complex altruistic societies. I argue that (i) patterns of reproductive sharing within complex societies can drive levels of social competition and reproductive conflict not only in males but also in females living in social groups, and ultimately the evolution of female traits such as ornaments and armaments; (ii) mating conflict over female choice of sexual partners can influence kin structure within groups and drive the evolution of complex societies; and (iii) patterns of reproductive sharing and conflict among females may also drive the evolution of complex societies by influencing kin structure within groups. Ultimately, complex societies exhibiting altruistic behaviour appear to have only arisen in taxa where social competition over reproductive opportunities and sexual conflict over mating partners were low. Once such societies evolved, there were important selective feedbacks on traits used to regulate and mediate intra-sexual competition over reproductive opportunities, particularly in females.

scholarly journals Resolving social conflict among females without overt aggression

2013 ◽  
Vol 368 (1631) ◽  
pp. 20130076 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael A. Cant ◽  
Andrew J. Young
Keyword(s):  
Social Conflict ◽  
Conflicts Of Interest ◽  
Empirical Work ◽  
Overt Aggression ◽  
Reproductive Conflict ◽  
Biological Reality ◽  
Social Partners ◽  
Behavioural Conflict ◽  
Time Changes ◽  
Animal Societies

Members of animal societies compete over resources and reproduction, but the extent to which such conflicts of interest are resolved peacefully (without recourse to costly or wasteful acts of aggression) varies widely. Here, we describe two theoretical mechanisms that can help to understand variation in the incidence of overt behavioural conflict: (i) destruction competition and (ii) the use of threats. The two mechanisms make different assumptions about the degree to which competitors are socially sensitive (responsive to real-time changes in the behaviour of their social partners). In each case, we discuss how the model assumptions relate to biological reality and highlight the genetic, ecological and informational factors that are likely to promote peaceful conflict resolution, drawing on empirical examples. We suggest that, relative to males, reproductive conflict among females may be more frequently resolved peacefully through threats of punishment, rather than overt acts of punishment, because (i) offspring are more costly to produce for females and (ii) reproduction is more difficult to conceal. The main need now is for empirical work to test whether the mechanisms described here can indeed explain how social conflict can be resolved without overt aggression.

scholarly journals Reproductive conflict resolution in cooperative breeders

2019 ◽  
Vol 30 (6) ◽  
pp. 1743-1750
Author(s):  
Dominic L Cram ◽  
Arne Jungwirth ◽  
Helen Spence-Jones ◽  
Tim Clutton-Brock
Keyword(s):  
Conflict Resolution ◽  
Related Species ◽  
Theoretical Models ◽  
Female Group ◽  
Reproductive Conflict ◽  
General Hypothesis ◽  
Suricata Suricatta ◽  
Conflict Resolution Strategies ◽  
Animal Societies ◽  
Resolution Strategies

Abstract Female infanticide is common in animal societies where groups comprise multiple co-breeding females. To reduce the risk that their offspring are killed, mothers can synchronize breeding and pool offspring, making it hard for females to avoid killing their own young. However, female reproductive conflict does not invariably result in reproductive synchrony, and we lack a general hypothesis explaining the variation in conflict resolution strategies seen across species. Here, we investigate the fitness consequences of birth timing relative to other females and the prevalence of birth synchrony in cooperatively breeding Kalahari meerkats (Suricata suricatta). We show that, although there would be substantial benefits to females in synchronizing births and reducing their risk of infanticide, birth synchrony is rare. Since precise breeding synchrony has evolved in a related species with similar infanticidal female reproductive conflict, its absence in meerkats requires an evolutionary explanation. We therefore explore the costs and benefits of synchronizing breeding in two theoretical models, each of which contrasts synchrony with an alternative reproductive strategy: (i) breeding opportunistically and accepting fitness losses to infanticide or (ii) suppressing the reproduction of others to prevent infanticide. Our models show that the costs of synchrony constrain its development if subordinates breed infrequently, and that selection instead favors the suppression of subordinate reproduction by the dominant and opportunistic reproduction by subordinates. Together, our results suggest that the resolution of reproductive conflict in animal societies is shaped by differential breeding propensities among female group members, leading to divergent conflict resolution strategies even in closely related species.

scholarly journals Discrete but variable structure of animal societies leads to the false perception of a social continuum

2016 ◽  
Vol 3 (5) ◽  
pp. 160147 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dustin R. Rubenstein ◽  
Carlos A. Botero ◽  
Eileen A. Lacey
Keyword(s):  
Social Structure ◽  
Variable Structure ◽  
Single Female ◽  
Reproductive Conflict ◽  
Reproductive Structures ◽  
Taxonomic Groups ◽  
Proportional Decrease ◽  
Range Of Values ◽  
Plural Breeding ◽  
Animal Societies

Animal societies are typically divided into those in which reproduction within a group is monopolized by a single female versus those in which it is shared among multiple females. It remains controversial, however, whether these two forms of social structure represent distinct evolutionary outcomes or endpoints along a continuum of reproductive options. To address this issue and to determine whether vertebrates and insects exhibit the same patterns of variation in social structure, we examined the demographic and reproductive structures of 293 species of wasps, ants, birds and mammals. Using phylogenetically informed comparative analyses, we found strong evidence indicating that not all reproductive arrangements within social groups are viable in nature and that in societies with multiple reproductives, selection favours instead taxon-specific patterns of decrease in the proportion of breeders as a function of group size. These outcomes suggest that the selective routes to sociality differ depending upon whether monopolization of reproduction by one individual is possible and that variation within and among taxonomic groups may lead to the false perception of a continuum of social structures. Thus, the occurrence of very large societies may require either complete reproductive monopolization (monogyny/singular breeding) or the maintenance of a taxon-specific range of values for the proportional decrease in the number of breeders within a group (polygyny/plural breeding), both of which may reduce reproductive conflict among females.

scholarly journals Herd immunity drives the epidemic fadeout of avian cholera in Arctic-nesting seabirds

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jacintha G. B. van Dijk ◽  
Samuel A. Iverson ◽  
H. Grant Gilchrist ◽  
N. Jane Harms ◽  
Holly L. Hennin ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Colony Size ◽  
Pasteurella Multocida ◽  
Herd Immunity ◽  
Reproductive Number ◽  
Somateria Mollissima ◽  
Common Eiders ◽  
Serological Status ◽  
Antibody Titers ◽  
Avian Cholera

AbstractAvian cholera, caused by the bacterium Pasteurella multocida, is a common and important infectious disease of wild birds in North America. Between 2005 and 2012, avian cholera caused annual mortality of widely varying magnitudes in Northern common eiders (Somateria mollissima borealis) breeding at the largest colony in the Canadian Arctic, Mitivik Island, Nunavut. Although herd immunity, in which a large proportion of the population acquires immunity to the disease, has been suggested to play a role in epidemic fadeout, immunological studies exploring this hypothesis have been missing. We investigated the role of three potential drivers of fadeout of avian cholera in eiders, including immunity, prevalence of infection, and colony size. Each potential driver was examined in relation to the annual real-time reproductive number (Rt) of P. multocida, previously calculated for eiders at Mitivik Island. Each year, colony size was estimated and eiders were closely monitored, and evaluated for infection and serological status. We demonstrate that acquired immunity approximated using antibody titers to P. multocida in both sexes was likely a key driver for the epidemic fadeout. This study exemplifies the importance of herd immunity in influencing the dynamics and fadeout of epidemics in a wildlife population.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document