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 Competition Drives Group Formation and Reduces Within Nest Relatedness in a Facultatively Social Carpenter Bee

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jess L. Vickruck ◽  
Miriam H. Richards
Keyword(s):  
Resource Sharing ◽  
Resource Competition ◽  
Group Formation ◽  
Social Groups ◽  
Fitness Costs ◽  
Short Supply ◽  
Carpenter Bee ◽  
Direct Fitness ◽  
Indirect Fitness ◽  
Almost All

Animals respond to competition among kin for critical breeding resources in two ways: avoidance of direct fitness costs via dispersal of siblings to breed separately, and formation of kin-based societies in which subordinates offset direct fitness costs of breeding competition via altruism and increased indirect fitness. In the facultatively social eastern carpenter bee, nests are a critical breeding resource in perpetually short supply, leading to strong competition among females. Observations of individually marked and genotyped females in conditions of high and low resource competition demonstrate that competition leads to resource sharing and group nesting. However, in contrast to almost all known animal societies, females avoid nesting with relatives, and disperse from their natal nests to join social groups of non-relatives. This is the first example of a structured insect society with cooperation nestmates, the majority of which are unrelated; thus cooperation is more likely based on selection for direct, rather than indirect fitness. By forming social groups of non-kin, females avoid the indirect fitness costs of kin competition among sisters, yet increase their chances of successful reproduction, and thus direct fitness, when forming colonies of non-relatives.

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.

scholarly journals Social consequences of energetically costly nest construction in a facultatively social bee

2021 ◽  
Vol 288 (1949) ◽  
Author(s):  
Madeleine M. Ostwald ◽  
Trevor P. Fox ◽  
Jon F. Harrison ◽  
Jennifer H. Fewell
Keyword(s):  
Social Groups ◽  
Group Living ◽  
Social Consequences ◽  
Nest Construction ◽  
Construction Costs ◽  
Carpenter Bee ◽  
Nest Founding ◽  
Prohibitive Cost ◽  
Nest Quality ◽  
Social Bee

Social groups form when the costs of breeding independently exceed fitness costs imposed by group living. The costs of independent breeding can often be energetic, especially for animals performing expensive behaviours, such as nest construction. To test the hypothesis that nesting costs can drive sociality by disincentivizing independent nest founding, we measured the energetics of nest construction and inheritance in a facultatively social carpenter bee ( Xylocopa sonorina Smith), which bores tunnel nests in wood. We measured metabolic rates of bees excavating wood and used computerized tomography images of nesting logs to measure excavation volumes. From these data, we demonstrate costly energetic investments in nest excavation of a minimum 4.3 kJ per offspring provisioned, an expense equivalent to nearly 7 h of flight. This high, potentially prohibitive cost of nest founding may explain why females compete for existing nests rather than constructing new ones, often leading to the formation of social groups. Further, we found that nest inheritors varied considerably in their investment in nest renovation, with costs ranging more than 12-fold (from 7.08 to 89.1 kJ energy), probably reflecting differences in inherited nest quality. On average, renovation costs were lower than estimated new nest construction costs, with some nests providing major savings. These results suggest that females may join social groups to avoid steep energetic costs, but that the benefits of this strategy are not experienced equally.

scholarly journals Cooperative Behaviors in Group-Living Spider Mites

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter Schausberger ◽  
Shuichi Yano ◽  
Yukie Sato
Keyword(s):  
Spatial Scales ◽  
Group Living ◽  
Spider Mites ◽  
Species Group ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Plant Colonization ◽  
Individual Host ◽  
Indirect Fitness ◽  
Cooperative Behaviors ◽  
Indirect Cues

Cooperative behaviors are evolutionary stable if the direct and/or indirect fitness benefits exceed the costs of helping. Here we discuss cooperation and behaviors akin to cooperation in subsocial group-living species of two genera of herbivorous spider mites (Tetranychidae), i.e., the largely polyphagous Tetranychus spp. and the nest-building Stigmaeopsis spp., which are specialized on grasses, such as bamboo. These spider mites are distributed in patches on various spatial scales, that is, within and among leaves of individual host plants and among individual hosts of single or multiple plant species. Group-living of spider mites is brought about by plant-colonizing foundresses ovipositing at local feeding sites and natal site fidelity, and by multiple individuals aggregating in the same site in response to direct and/or indirect cues, many of which are associated with webbing. In the case of the former, emerging patches are often composed of genetically closely related individuals, while in the case of the latter, local patches may consist of kin of various degrees and/or non-kin and even heterospecific spider mites. We describe and discuss ultimate and proximate aspects of cooperation by spider mites in host plant colonization and exploitation, dispersal, anti-predator behavior, and nesting-associated behaviors and conclude with theoretical and practical considerations of future research on cooperation in these highly rewarding model animals.

scholarly journals Solitary versus group living lifestyles, social group composition and cooperation in otters

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thierry Lodé ◽  
Marie-Loup Lélias ◽  
Alban Lemasson ◽  
Catherine Blois-Heulin
Keyword(s):  
Social Group ◽  
Group Composition ◽  
Group Living ◽  
Versus Group

Combining predictions of sex ratio and mate choice models: pheromone-mediated mate choice by females in a parasitoid wasp

Behaviour ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 156 (11) ◽  
pp. 1127-1149
Author(s):  
T.N. Wittman ◽  
B.H. King
Keyword(s):  
Mate Choice ◽  
Sex Ratios ◽  
Parasitoid Wasp ◽  
Production Potential ◽  
Young Males ◽  
Offspring Sex ◽  
Local Mate ◽  
Indirect Fitness ◽  
Fitness Benefits ◽  
Male Signals

Abstract In haplodiploid species, daughter production, but not son production, is sexual, requiring paternal contributions. Females may use male signals to choose a mate with better daughter-production potential, if the choice facilitates her production of adaptive sex ratios, e.g., female-biased sex ratios in systems operating under local mate competition (LMC). In the parasitoid wasp Urolepis rufipes, females preferred pheromone markings from males that had mated once versus multiply, were young rather than old, and were uninfected rather than infected when infection was low, but not when infection was high. Mates of singly-mated males had more female-biased offspring sex ratios than those of multiply-mated males, whereas there was no difference for mates of young versus old males. Thus, female preference for singly-mated males appears to provide indirect fitness benefits. A preference for young males, was not beneficial in the laboratory, but in nature young males may have mated less.

scholarly journals Do vampire bats groom others based on need?

2019 ◽  
Vol 31 (1) ◽  
pp. 107-113 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hugo Narizano ◽  
Gerald G Carter
Keyword(s):  
Group Living ◽  
Motivational State ◽  
Negative Interaction ◽  
Social Lives ◽  
Proximate Mechanisms ◽  
The Social ◽  
Vampire Bats ◽  
Fitness Benefits ◽  
Recipient Need ◽  
Positive Effect

Abstract Allogrooming provides a window into the social lives of many group-living mammals and birds. The fitness benefits of allogrooming are encouraged by proximate mechanisms that make it physiologically rewarding for both actors and receivers. However, receivers might not always benefit from allogrooming. Some allogrooming decisions might be the actor’s response to cues of the recipient’s need. Other decisions might only be caused by the actor’s motivational state. To test these ideas, we studied what triggers allogrooming in common vampire bats. In test 1, subjects that had experimentally disturbed and wetted fur were more likely to be allogroomed, even when controlling for increased self-grooming. In test 2, allogrooming rates were elevated not only by receiver self-grooming (a cue for receiver need) but also by the actor’s previous self-grooming. Both effects were significantly greater than the effect of self-grooming by third parties. Interestingly, we detected a negative interaction: the positive effect of receiver need on allogrooming was smaller when the actor was previously self-grooming. This is consistent with the hypothesis that there are “receiver-driven” allogrooming decisions, which are responses to recipient need, and “actor-driven” decisions, which are not. We predict that receiver-driven allogrooming will bestow greater benefits to recipients compared with actor-driven allogrooming.

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