scholarly journals Sex, long life and the evolutionary transition to cooperative breeding in birds

2015 ◽  
Vol 282 (1816) ◽  
pp. 20151663 ◽  
Author(s):  
Philip A. Downing ◽  
Charlie K. Cornwallis ◽  
Ashleigh S. Griffin
Keyword(s):  
Cooperative Breeding ◽  
Group Living ◽  
Typical Feature ◽  
Evolution Of Cooperation ◽  
Female Promiscuity ◽  
Helping Behaviour ◽  
Indirect Fitness ◽  
Fitness Benefits ◽  
Long Life ◽  
The Relationship

Long life is a typical feature of individuals living in cooperative societies. One explanation is that group living lowers mortality, which selects for longer life. Alternatively, long life may make the evolution of cooperation more likely by ensuring a long breeding tenure, making helping behaviour and queuing for breeding positions worthwhile. The benefit of queuing will, however, depend on whether individuals gain indirect fitness benefits while helping, which is determined by female promiscuity. Where promiscuity is high and therefore the indirect fitness benefits of helping are low, cooperation can still be favoured by an even longer life span. We present the results of comparative analyses designed to test the likelihood of a causal relationship between longevity and cooperative breeding by reconstructing ancestral states of cooperative breeding across birds, and by examining the effect of female promiscuity on the relationship between these two traits. We found that long life makes the evolution of cooperation more likely and that promiscuous cooperative species are exceptionally long lived. These results make sense of promiscuity in cooperative breeders and clarify the importance of life-history traits in the evolution of cooperative breeding, illustrating that cooperation can evolve via the combination of indirect and direct fitness benefits.

Annual Reproductive Yield in the Cooperative Pygmy Nuthatch (Sitta pygmaea)

The Auk ◽  
1988 ◽  
Vol 105 (1) ◽  
pp. 70-77 ◽  
Author(s):  
William J. Sydeman ◽  
Marcel Güntert ◽  
Russell P. Balda
Keyword(s):  
Reproductive Success ◽  
Cooperative Breeding ◽  
Reproductive Output ◽  
Breeding Birds ◽  
Overwinter Survival ◽  
Northern Arizona ◽  
Floral Diversity ◽  
Indirect Fitness ◽  
The Difference ◽  
The Relationship

Abstract We studied cooperative-breeding Pygmy Nuthatches (Sitta pygmaea) for 4 yr in northern Arizona. Breeding units contained 2-5 birds. Helpers were found at about 30% of all nests. All helpers that later bred on the study area were male. Helpers were mostly yearlings, and offspring or siblings of the birds that they aided, but often aided at least one unrelated breeder. Breeding units with helpers produced significantly more young than those without helpers. Breeding units in habitats with the greatest floral diversity and structural maturity fledged significantly more young than those in other habitats. Habitat did not influence the effect of helpers. Year effects increased the strength of the relationship between helpers and annual reproductive output. Previous breeding experience and pair-bond duration were not related to reproductive success. Total brood loss, although rare, was responsible for the difference in reproductive output among pairs with and without helpers and between habitats. Breeding birds with helpers benefit by an increase in direct fitness. The advantage to the helpers is not clear but may be an increase in indirect fitness associated with aiding relatives. Helpers may benefit directly, however, by sharing roosting cavities on a group territory thereby enhancing overwinter survival.

scholarly journals First- and second-order sociality determine survival and reproduction in cooperative cichlids

2015 ◽  
Vol 282 (1819) ◽  
pp. 20151971 ◽  
Author(s):  
Arne Jungwirth ◽  
Michael Taborsky
Keyword(s):  
Social Organization ◽  
Group Size ◽  
Reproductive Output ◽  
Local Population ◽  
Cichlid Fish ◽  
Evolution Of Cooperation ◽  
Large Group ◽  
Indirect Fitness ◽  
Fitness Benefits ◽  
Different Levels

Cooperative breeders serve as a model to study the evolution of cooperation, where costs and benefits of helping are typically scrutinized at the level of group membership. However, cooperation is often observed in multi-level social organizations involving interactions among individuals at various levels. Here, we argue that a full understanding of the adaptive value of cooperation and the evolution of complex social organization requires identifying the effect of different levels of social organization on direct and indirect fitness components. Our long-term field data show that in the cooperatively breeding, colonial cichlid fish Neolamprologus pulcher , both large group size and high colony density significantly raised group persistence. Neither group size nor density affected survival at the individual level, but they had interactive effects on reproductive output; large group size raised productivity when local population density was low, whereas in contrast, small groups were more productive at high densities. Fitness estimates of individually marked fish revealed indirect fitness benefits associated with staying in large groups. Inclusive fitness, however, was not significantly affected by group size, because the direct fitness component was not increased in larger groups. Together, our findings highlight that the reproductive output of groups may be affected in opposite directions by different levels of sociality, and that complex forms of sociality and costly cooperation may evolve in the absence of large indirect fitness benefits and the influence of kin selection.

scholarly journals Familiar neighbours, but not relatives, enhance fitness in a territorial mammal

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Erin R. Siracusa ◽  
Stan Boutin ◽  
Ben Dantzer ◽  
Jeffrey E. Lane ◽  
David W. Coltman ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Kin Selection ◽  
Evolutionary Biology ◽  
Social Systems ◽  
Group Living ◽  
Evolution Of Cooperation ◽  
Red Squirrels ◽  
Direct Benefits ◽  
North American Red Squirrels ◽  
Fitness Benefits ◽  
Effects Of Aging

SummaryOne of the outstanding questions in evolutionary biology is the extent to which mutually beneficial interactions and kin-selection can facilitate the evolution of cooperation by mitigating conflict between interacting organisms. The indirect fitness benefits gained from associating with kin are an important pathway to conflict resolution [1], but conflict can also be resolved if individuals gain direct benefits from cooperating with one another (e.g. mutualism or reciprocity) [2]. Owing to the kin-structured nature of many animal societies, it has been difficult for previous research to assess the relative importance of these mechanisms [3–5]. However, one area that might allow for the relative roles of kin-selection and mutualistic benefits to be disentangled is in the resolution of conflict over territorial space [6]. While much research has focused on group-living species, the question of how cooperation can first be favoured in solitary, territorial species remains a key question. Using 22 years of data from a population of North American red squirrels, we assessed how kinship and familiarity with neighbours affected fitness in a territorial mammal. While living near kin did not enhance fitness, familiarity with neighbours increased survival and annual reproductive success. These fitness benefits were strong enough to compensate for the effects of aging later in life, with potential consequences for the evolution of senescence. We suggest that such substantial fitness benefits provide the opportunity for the evolution of cooperation between adversarial neighbours, offering insight into the role that mutually beneficial behaviours might play in facilitating and stabilizing social systems.Graphical Abstract

scholarly journals Kinship affects investment by helpers in a cooperatively breeding bird

2010 ◽  
Vol 277 (1698) ◽  
pp. 3299-3306 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ki-Baek Nam ◽  
Michelle Simeoni ◽  
Stuart P. Sharp ◽  
Ben J. Hatchwell
Keyword(s):  
Cooperative Breeding ◽  
Kin Selection ◽  
Genetic Relatedness ◽  
Critical Role ◽  
Breeding Systems ◽  
Pedigree Information ◽  
Breeding Bird ◽  
Cooperatively Breeding ◽  
Indirect Fitness ◽  
Fitness Benefits

Helping behaviour in cooperative breeding systems has been attributed to kin selection, but the relative roles of direct and indirect fitness benefits in the evolution of such systems remain a matter of debate. In theory, helpers could maximize the indirect fitness benefits of cooperation by investing more in broods with whom they are more closely related, but there is little evidence for such fine-scale adjustment in helper effort among cooperative vertebrates. In this study, we used the unusual cooperative breeding system of the long-tailed tit Aegithalos caudatus to test the hypothesis that the provisioning effort of helpers was positively correlated with their kinship to broods. We first use pedigrees and microsatellite genotypes to characterize the relatedness between helpers and breeders from a 14 year field study. We used both pedigree and genetic approaches because long-tailed tits have access to pedigree information acquired through social relationships, but any fitness consequences will be determined by genetic relatedness. We then show using both pedigrees and genetic relatedness estimates that alloparental investment by helpers increases as their relatedness to the recipients of their care increases. We conclude that kin selection has played a critical role in moulding the investment decisions of helpers in this cooperatively breeding species.

scholarly journals Kin selection in Columbian ground squirrels ( Urocitellus columbianus ): littermate kin provide individual fitness benefits

2009 ◽  
Vol 277 (1684) ◽  
pp. 989-994 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vincent A. Viblanc ◽  
Coline M. Arnaud ◽  
F. Stephen Dobson ◽  
Jan O. Murie
Keyword(s):  
Kin Selection ◽  
Large Body ◽  
Group Living ◽  
Ground Squirrels ◽  
Evolution Of Cooperation ◽  
Major Life ◽  
Individual Fitness ◽  
Evolution Of Sociality ◽  
Fitness Benefits ◽  
Columbian Ground Squirrels

Since W. D. Hamilton's seminal work on the evolution of sociality, a large body of research has accumulated on how kin selection might explain the evolution of cooperation in many group-living species. Our study examined the evolutionary basis of philopatry and cooperation; specifically, whether individuals benefit from the presence of close kin. We applied an individual fitness approach to a 16-year study of Columbian ground squirrels ( Urocitellus columbianus ) to investigate potential causal paths by which the presence of kin might act on individual fitness. Our results indicate that individual fitness benefits resulted from associations of philopatric female kin, and support the hypothesis that increased tolerance of proximity of kin is a proximate mechanism for these benefits. The major life-history influence of kin on individual fitness was through improved reproductive success, and this benefit may have been owing to philopatric settlement of kin that were recognized through familiarization in the natal burrow. Thus, we demonstrated an evolutionary basis necessary for ongoing kin-selected cooperation in Columbian ground squirrels, though the mechanism of familiarity may determine which kin individuals benefit from cooperative behaviours.

scholarly journals First evidence for heritable variation in cooperative breeding behaviour

2007 ◽  
Vol 274 (1619) ◽  
pp. 1757-1761 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anne Charmantier ◽  
Amber J Keyser ◽  
Daniel E.L Promislow
Keyword(s):  
Cooperative Breeding ◽  
Evolutionary Biology ◽  
Fundamental Problem ◽  
Social Systems ◽  
Heritable Variation ◽  
Ecological Constraints ◽  
Strong Positive Relationship ◽  
Helping Behaviour ◽  
Indirect Fitness ◽  
Western Bluebirds

Understanding the evolution of complex social behaviours, such as cooperative breeding, is a fundamental problem in evolutionary biology, which has attracted much theoretical and empirical interest. Variation within and between species in the frequency of helping behaviour has been typically associated with variation in direct costs and benefits due to ecological constraints, or with indirect fitness payoffs (i.e. kin selection). Here, we provide the first evidence that individual variation in cooperative behaviour within a natural population also has a heritable component. Using a seven-generation pedigree in a wild population of western bluebirds ( Sialia mexicana ), we show significant heritable variation for the propensity to help rather than breed, as well as for the probability of having a helper at the nest. We also document a strong positive relationship between a bird's lifespan and its prospect of receiving help when breeding, in accordance with earlier comparative studies across species. These findings provide useful insights into the possible mechanisms which have led to the evolution of cooperative breeding and other social systems.

scholarly journals Food sharing in vampire bats: reciprocal help predicts donations more than relatedness or harassment

2013 ◽  
Vol 280 (1753) ◽  
pp. 20122573 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gerald G. Carter ◽  
Gerald S. Wilkinson
Keyword(s):  
Kin Selection ◽  
Kin Recognition ◽  
Social Bonding ◽  
Food Sharing ◽  
Past Work ◽  
Vampire Bats ◽  
Helping Behaviour ◽  
Indirect Fitness ◽  
Fitness Benefits ◽  
Recognition Errors

Common vampire bats often regurgitate food to roost-mates that fail to feed. The original explanation for this costly helping behaviour invoked both direct and indirect fitness benefits. Several authors have since suggested that food sharing is maintained solely by indirect fitness because non-kin food sharing could have resulted from kin recognition errors, indiscriminate altruism within groups, or harassment. To test these alternatives, we examined predictors of food-sharing decisions under controlled conditions of mixed relatedness and equal familiarity. Over a 2 year period, we individually fasted 20 vampire bats ( Desmodus rotundus ) and induced food sharing on 48 days. Surprisingly, donors initiated food sharing more often than recipients, which is inconsistent with harassment. Food received was the best predictor of food given across dyads, and 8.5 times more important than relatedness. Sixty-four per cent of sharing dyads were unrelated, approaching the 67 per cent expected if nepotism was absent. Consistent with social bonding, the food-sharing network was consistent and correlated with mutual allogrooming. Together with past work, these findings support the hypothesis that food sharing in vampire bats provides mutual direct fitness benefits, and is not explained solely by kin selection or harassment.

scholarly journals Fluid Nest Membership Drives Variable Relatedness in Groups of a Facultatively Social Bee

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Madeleine M. Ostwald ◽  
Romain A. Dahan ◽  
Zachary Shaffer ◽  
Jennifer H. Fewell
Keyword(s):  
Group Composition ◽  
Group Formation ◽  
Group Living ◽  
Migration Behavior ◽  
Ecological Constraints ◽  
Carpenter Bee ◽  
Indirect Fitness ◽  
Fitness Benefits ◽  
Nesting Aggregation ◽  
Social Bee

Kin selection theory has dominated our understanding of the evolution of group living. However, many animal groups form among non-relatives, which gain no indirect fitness benefits from cooperating with nestmates. In this study, we characterized the relatedness and inter-nest migration behavior of the facultatively social carpenter bee, Xylocopa sonorina. Nesting constraints due to costly nest construction in this species give rise to intense intraspecific competition over access to existing nests. We used mark-recapture techniques to characterize patterns of dispersal and nest relocation within a nesting aggregation of spatially clustered nests. Two-thirds of bees relocated at least once during the reproductive season, likely to seek reproductive opportunities in another nest. This fluid nest membership creates opportunities for association among non-relatives. To assess the effects of this dynamic nesting behavior on group relatedness, we used microsatellite analysis to estimate relative relatedness within and between nests in the aggregation. We found that relatedness was variable across sampling years, but that in many cases nestmates were no more related to one another than they were to non-nestmate bees in the population. Together, these results suggest that group composition in X. sonorina may result from strategies to maximize direct fitness. This study supports the hypothesis that factors beyond kinship, such as ecological constraints, are likely to drive group formation in this species.

scholarly journals Nice to kin and nasty to non-kin: revisiting Hamilton's early insights on eusociality

2013 ◽  
Vol 9 (6) ◽  
pp. 20130444 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jacobus J. Boomsma ◽  
Patrizia d'Ettorre
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
Lower Proportion ◽  
Eusocial Insects ◽  
Large Scale Testing ◽  
Colony Odour ◽  
Social Animals ◽  
Helping Behaviour ◽  
Indirect Fitness ◽  
Fitness Benefits ◽  
Worker Sterility

When helping behaviour is costly, Hamiltonian logic implies that animals need to direct helpful acts towards kin, so that indirect fitness benefits justify the costs. We revisit inferences about nepotism and aggression in Hamilton's 1964 paper to argue that he overestimated the general significance of nepotism, but that other issues that he raised continue to suggest novel research agendas today. We now know that nepotism in eusocial insects is rare, because variation in genetic recognition cues is insufficient. A lower proportion of individuals breeding and larger clutch sizes selecting for a more uniform colony odour may explain this. Irreversible worker sterility can induce both the fiercest possible aggression and the highest likelihood of helping random distant kin, but these Hamiltonian contentions still await large-scale testing in social animals.

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