scholarly journals Promiscuity, paternity and personality in the great tit

2011 ◽  
Vol 279 (1734) ◽  
pp. 1724-1730 ◽  
Author(s):  
Samantha C. Patrick ◽  
Joanne R. Chapman ◽  
Hannah L. Dugdale ◽  
John L. Quinn ◽  
Ben C. Sheldon
Keyword(s):  
Risk Taking ◽  
Parus Major ◽  
Activity Levels ◽  
Relative Importance ◽  
Alternative Possibility ◽  
Costs And Benefits ◽  
Fitness Costs ◽  
Mating Tactics ◽  
Extra Pair Paternity ◽  
The Social

Understanding causes of variation in promiscuity within populations remain a major challenge. While most studies have focused on quantifying fitness costs and benefits of promiscuous behaviour, an alternative possibility—that variation in promiscuity within populations is maintained because of linkage with other traits—has received little attention. Here, we examine whether promiscuity in male and female great tits ( Parus major )—quantified as extra-pair paternity (EPP) within and between nests—is associated with variation in a well-documented personality trait: exploration behaviour in a novel environment. Exploration behaviour has been shown to correlate with activity levels, risk-taking and boldness, and these are behaviours that may plausibly influence EPP. Exploration behaviour correlated positively with paternity gained outside the social pair among males in our population, but there was also a negative correlation with paternity in the social nest. Hence, while variation in male personality predicted the relative importance of paternity gain within and outside the pair bond, total paternity gained was unrelated to exploration behaviour. We found evidence that males paired with bold females were more likely to sire extra-pair young. Our data thus demonstrate a link between personality and promiscuity, with no net effects on reproductive success, suggesting personality-dependent mating tactics, in contrast with traditional adaptive explanations for promiscuity.

scholarly journals Fitness costs and benefits vary for two facultative Burkholderia symbionts of the social amoeba, Dictyostelium discoideum

2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (17) ◽  
pp. 9878-9890 ◽  
Author(s):  
Justine R. Garcia ◽  
Tyler J. Larsen ◽  
David C. Queller ◽  
Joan E. Strassmann
Keyword(s):  
Dictyostelium Discoideum ◽  
Costs And Benefits ◽  
Fitness Costs ◽  
Social Amoeba ◽  
The Social

On Measuring the Social Opportunity Cost of Labour in the Presence of Tariffs and an Informal Sector (The Distinguishedl Lecture)

1992 ◽  
Vol 31 (4I) ◽  
pp. 535-564 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Ali Khan
Keyword(s):  
Informal Sector ◽  
Opportunity Cost ◽  
Costs And Benefits ◽  
Open Letter ◽  
Review Of The Literature ◽  
The Social ◽  
Action Project ◽  
Relevant Group ◽  
Net Benefits ◽  
The Individual

Harberger introduced his influential 1971 essay with the following words. This paper is intended not as a scientific study, nor as a review of the literature, but rather as a tract - an open letter to the profession, as it were - pleading that three basic postulates be accepted as providing a conventional framework for applied welfare economics. The postulates are: (a) The competitive demand price for a given unit measures the value of that unit to the demander; (b) The competitive supply price for a given unit measures the value of that unit to the supplier; and (c) When evaluating the net benefits or costs of a given action (project, programme, or policy), the costs and benefits accruing to each member of the relevant group (e.g., a nation) should normally be added without regard to the individual(s) to whom they accrue.

Heterogeneous Mental Health Consequences of COVID-19: Costs and Benefits

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anthony D Mancini
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Health Impact ◽  
Costs And Benefits ◽  
Substantial Variation ◽  
Mental Health Functioning ◽  
Health Functioning ◽  
The Social ◽  
Mental Health Costs ◽  
Long Term Impact

In this commentary, I argue that the mental health impact of COVID-19 will show substantial variation across individuals, contexts, and time. Further, one key contributor to this variation will be the proximal and long-term impact of COVID-19 on the social environment. In addition to the mental health costs of the pandemic, it is likely that a subset of people will experience improved social and mental health functioning.

scholarly journals Functional morphology of immature mating in a widow spider

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Lenka Sentenská ◽  
Aileen Neumann ◽  
Yael Lubin ◽  
Gabriele Uhl
Keyword(s):  
Sperm Competition ◽  
Storage Conditions ◽  
Sperm Storage ◽  
Sperm Transfer ◽  
Costs And Benefits ◽  
Micro Computed Tomography ◽  
Mating Tactics ◽  
Adult Females ◽  
Storage Organs ◽  
Widow Spider

Abstract Background Mating generally occurs after individuals reach adulthood. In many arthropods including spiders, the adult stage is marked by a final moult after which the genitalia are fully developed and functional. In several widow spider species (genus Latrodectus), however, immature females may mate a few days before they moult to adulthood, i.e. in their late-subadult stage. While the “adult” mating typically results in cannibalism, males survive the “immature” mating. During both “immature” and “adult” matings, males leave parts of their paired copulatory organs within female genitalia, which may act as mating plugs. To study potential costs and benefits of the two mating tactics, we investigated female genital morphology of the brown widow spider, L. geometricus. Light microscopy, histology and micro-computed tomography of early-subadult, late-subadult and adult females were conducted to determine the overall pattern of genital maturation. We compared genitalia of mated late-subadult and adult females to reveal potential differences in the genitalic details that might indicate differential success in sperm transfer and different environments for sperm storage and sperm competition. Results We found that the paired sperm storage organs (spermathecae) and copulatory ducts are developed already in late-subadult females and host sperm after immature mating. However, the thickness of the spermathecal cuticle and the staining of the secretions inside differ significantly between the late-subadult and adult females. In late-subadult females mating plugs were found with higher probability in both spermathecae compared to adult females. Conclusions Sperm transfer in matings with late-subadult females follows the same route as in matings with adult females. The observed differences in the secretions inside the spermathecae of adult and late-subadult females likely reflect different storage conditions for the transferred sperm which may lead to a disadvantage under sperm competition if the subadult female later re-mates with another male. However, since males mating with late-subadult females typically transfer sperm to both spermathecae they might benefit from numerical sperm competition as well as from monopolizing access to the female sperm storage organs. The assessment of re-mating probability and relative paternity will clarify the costs and benefits of the two mating tactics in light of these findings.

Representing Social Construction in Consumer Activities: Single-Period and Multi-Period Activity Production

1994 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
pp. 139-156
Author(s):  
Steven D. Silver
Keyword(s):  
Social Construction ◽  
Evolutionary Process ◽  
Decision Makers ◽  
Maximization Problem ◽  
Activity Levels ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Subsequent Period ◽  
Single Period ◽  
The Social ◽  
Endogenous Variables

Consumers are seen as limited decision makers who set short-term activity levels from their budgets, stocks of experience, and values following a preference-maximizing heuristic. Disturbances to activity levels in their evolution by exogeneties of social and economic environments, and the feedback of activity levels which agents have no systematic ability to anticipate, reset stock and value levels through the interactive relationships among endogenous variables. Agents then solve the maximization problem for a subsequent period using stock and value levels as modified by the evolutionary process. The dependence of a single-period decision on the stock and value constructs is examined and forms for the dynamic evolution of stock and value constructs that represent the feedback of activity levels to stock and value levels are also introduced. Implications of these forms for the social construction of activities are discussed.

Mandatory urban rainwater harvesting: learning from experience

2012 ◽  
Vol 65 (7) ◽  
pp. 1200-1207 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeremy Gabe ◽  
Sam Trowsdale ◽  
Diveshkumar Mistry
Keyword(s):  
Urban Areas ◽  
Rainwater Harvesting ◽  
Marginal Utility ◽  
Empirical Knowledge ◽  
Costs And Benefits ◽  
Learning From Experience ◽  
End User ◽  
User Perspective ◽  
The Social ◽  
Semistructured Interviews

Rainwater harvesting is effectively mandated in several urban areas of New Zealand. To understand the costs and benefits of rainwater harvesting from an end-user perspective, semistructured interviews were conducted with 14 homeowners in northern Auckland affected by these regulations. Residents report differences in four aspects of urban rainwater infrastructure – security of supply, water quality, the learning process and financial costs – that could represent key values for public acceptance. When responses are examined from the perspective of experience that has built empirical knowledge, participants explained how their satisfaction with rainwater harvesting increased over time. We hypothesise that for those lacking experience, urban rainwater consumption is a function of empirical knowledge and has initially rising marginal utility. Regulation that recognises the costs of social learning is likely to be a more effective pathway towards maximising the social benefits associated with integrated urban water management.

Respondents in Asian Cultures (e.g., Chinese) are More Risk-Seeking and More Overconfident than Respondents in Other Cultures (e.g., in United States) but the Reciprocal Predictions are in Total Opposition: How and Why?

2004 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 263-292 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shu Li ◽  
Yongqing Fang
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Social Network ◽  
Risk Taking ◽  
Risk Preferences ◽  
Risk Preference ◽  
Cross Cultural ◽  
Cultural Variations ◽  
Risk Seeking ◽  
The Social ◽  
Predicted Risk

AbstractTriggered by rather surprising findings that respondents in Asian cultures (e.g., Chinese) are more risk-seeking and more overconfident than respondents in other cultures (e.g., in United States) and that the reciprocal predictions are in total opposition, four experiments were designed to extend previous collective-culture oriented researches. Results revealed that (1) Singapore 21, which is a vision of Singapore in the 21st century and has highlighted the promotion of a collective culture, did not advocate greater risk-seeking but led to weaker overconfidence; (2) the knowledge of "financial help from social network" did not permit prediction of risk preference but the knowledge of "the value difference between possible outcomes" did; (3) the social network could be viewed not only as a positive "cushion" but also as a negative "burden" in both gain and loss domains of risky choices; (4) the predictions of the risk-as-value, risk-as-feelings and stereotype hypotheses were not consistent with the predicted risk preferences of others but the predictions of the economic-performance hypothesis were consistent with the predicted risk preferences as well as the predicted overconfidence of others. The implications for cross-cultural variations in overconfidence and for cross-cultural variations in risk-taking were discussed.

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