scholarly journals Coalitions of relatives and reproductive skew in cooperatively breeding white-winged choughs

2000 ◽  
Vol 267 (1440) ◽  
pp. 243-249 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert Heinsohn ◽  
Peter Dunn ◽  
Sarah Legge ◽  
Michael Double
Keyword(s):  
Reproductive Skew ◽  
Cooperatively Breeding

scholarly journals The determinants of dominance relationships among subordinate females in the cooperatively breeding meerkat

Behaviour ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 151 (1) ◽  
pp. 89-102 ◽  
Author(s):  
N.K. Thavarajah ◽  
M. Fenkes ◽  
T.H. Clutton-Brock
Keyword(s):  
Reproductive Success ◽  
Competitive Advantage ◽  
Reproductive Skew ◽  
Breeding Female ◽  
Suricata Suricatta ◽  
Dominance Relationships ◽  
Dominance Structure ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
Cooperatively Breeding ◽  
Group Members

In cooperatively breeding species with high reproductive skew, a single breeding female is dominant to all other group members, but it is not yet known if there are consistent dominance relationships among subordinates. In this study on meerkats (Suricata suricatta), we used naturally observed dominance assertions and submissive interactions within dyads of subordinate females to investigate: (i) whether or not a dominance structure exists among them and what factors influence dominance relationships; and (ii) how dominance may influence the future reproductive success of subordinate females. Our study indicates that superiority in age and weight provide a competitive advantage during conflicts among subordinate females and that females who consistently dominate in these contests are subsequently more likely to attain a dominant breeding position. This provides a starting point for further investigations into dominance structure among subordinates in meerkat societies and other cooperative breeders.

scholarly journals Inclusive-fitness logic of cooperative breeding with benefits of natal philopatry

2014 ◽  
Vol 369 (1642) ◽  
pp. 20130361 ◽  
Author(s):  
Geoff Wild ◽  
Cody Koykka
Keyword(s):  
Computer Simulation ◽  
Life History ◽  
Cooperative Breeding ◽  
Inclusive Fitness ◽  
Social Groups ◽  
Reproductive Skew ◽  
Natal Philopatry ◽  
Evolutionary Transition ◽  
Model Predictions ◽  
Cooperatively Breeding

In cooperatively breeding species, individuals help to raise offspring that are not their own. We use two inclusive-fitness models to study the advantage of this kind of helpful behaviour in social groups with high reproductive skew. Our first model does not allow for competition among relatives to occur but our second model does. Specifically, our second model assumes a competitive hierarchy among nest-mates, with non-breeding helpers ranked higher than their newborn siblings. For each model, we obtain an expression for the change in inclusive fitness experienced by a helpful individual in a selfish population. The prediction suggested by each expression is confirmed with computer simulation. When model predictions are compared to one another, we find that helping emerges under a broader range of conditions in the second model. Although competition among kin occurs in our second model, we conclude that the life-history features associated with this competition also act to promote the evolutionary transition from solitary to cooperative breeding.

Reproductive skew and female trait elaboration in a cooperatively breeding rail

Ibis ◽  
2012 ◽  
Vol 154 (3) ◽  
pp. 452-460 ◽  
Author(s):  
CODY J. DEY ◽  
IAN G. JAMIESON ◽  
JAMES S. QUINN
Keyword(s):  
Reproductive Skew ◽  
Cooperatively Breeding

scholarly journals Reproductive skew in female common marmosets: what can proximate mechanisms tell us about ultimate causes?

2008 ◽  
Vol 276 (1656) ◽  
pp. 389-399 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wendy Saltzman ◽  
Leslie J Digby ◽  
David H Abbott
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Behaviour ◽  
Reproductive Skew ◽  
Reproductive Suppression ◽  
Free Living ◽  
Common Marmosets ◽  
Proximate Mechanisms ◽  
Adult Females ◽  
Cooperatively Breeding ◽  
Mating Interference

Common marmosets are cooperatively breeding monkeys that exhibit high reproductive skew: most subordinate females fail to reproduce, while others attempt to breed but produce very few surviving infants. An extensive dataset on the mechanisms limiting reproduction in laboratory-housed and free-living subordinate females provides unique insights into the causes of reproductive skew. Non-breeding adult females undergo suppression of ovulation and inhibition of sexual behaviour; however, they receive little or no aggression or mating interference by dominants and do not exhibit behavioural or physiological signs of stress. Breeding subordinate females receive comparable amounts of aggression to non-breeding females but are able to conceive, gestate and lactate normally. In groups containing two breeding females, however, both dominant and subordinate breeders kill one another's infants. These findings suggest that preconception reproductive suppression is not imposed on subordinate females by dominants, at a proximate level, but is instead self-imposed by most subordinates, consistent with restraint models of reproductive skew. In contrast to restraint models, however, this self-suppression probably evolved not in response to the threat of eviction by dominant females but in response to the threat of infanticide. Thus, reproductive skew in this species appears to be generated predominantly by subordinate self-restraint, in a proximate sense, but ultimately by dominant control over subordinates' reproductive attempts.

scholarly journals Elevated glucocorticoid concentrations during gestation predict reduced reproductive success in subordinate female banded mongooses

2015 ◽  
Vol 11 (10) ◽  
pp. 20150620 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. L. Sanderson ◽  
H. J. Nichols ◽  
H. H. Marshall ◽  
E. I. K. Vitikainen ◽  
F. J. Thompson ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Reproductive Success ◽  
First Trimester ◽  
Reproductive Skew ◽  
Third Trimester ◽  
Communal Breeding ◽  
Social Species ◽  
Cooperatively Breeding ◽  
Banded Mongoose ◽  
Breeding Attempt ◽  
Related Stress

Dominant females in social species have been hypothesized to reduce the reproductive success of their subordinates by inducing elevated circulating glucocorticoid (GC) concentrations. However, this ‘stress-related suppression' hypothesis has received little support in cooperatively breeding species, despite evident reproductive skews among females. We tested this hypothesis in the banded mongoose ( Mungos mungo ), a cooperative mammal in which multiple females conceive and carry to term in each communal breeding attempt. As predicted, lower ranked females had lower reproductive success, even among females that carried to term. While there were no rank-related differences in faecal glucocorticoid (fGC) concentrations prior to gestation or in the first trimester, lower ranked females had significantly higher fGC concentrations than higher ranked females in the second and third trimesters. Finally, females with higher fGC concentrations during the third trimester lost a greater proportion of their gestated young prior to their emergence from the burrow. Together, our results are consistent with a role for rank-related maternal stress in generating reproductive skew among females in this cooperative breeder. While studies of reproductive skew frequently consider the possibility that rank-related stress reduces the conception rates of subordinates, our findings highlight the possibility of detrimental effects on reproductive outcomes even after pregnancies have become established.

scholarly journals Age‐ and sex‐dependent variation in relatedness corresponds to reproductive skew, territory inheritance and workload in cooperatively breeding cichlids

Evolution ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dario Josi ◽  
Dik Heg ◽  
Tomohiro Takeyama ◽  
Danielle Bonfils ◽  
Dmitry A. Konovalov ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Reproductive Skew ◽  
Cooperatively Breeding ◽  
Age And Sex

scholarly journals Reproductive partitioning and the assumptions of reproductive skew models in the cooperatively breeding American crow

2009 ◽  
Vol 77 (2) ◽  
pp. 503-512 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrea K. Townsend ◽  
Anne B. Clark ◽  
Kevin J. McGowan ◽  
Irby J. Lovette
Keyword(s):  
Reproductive Skew ◽  
American Crow ◽  
Cooperatively Breeding

scholarly journals Higher reproductive skew among birds than mammals in cooperatively breeding species

2010 ◽  
Vol 6 (5) ◽  
pp. 630-632 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nichola J. Raihani ◽  
Tim H. Clutton-Brock
Keyword(s):  
Empirical Data ◽  
Reproductive Skew ◽  
Cooperative Groups ◽  
Data Support ◽  
Group Life ◽  
Dominant Female ◽  
Cooperatively Breeding ◽  
Considerable Debate

While competition for limited breeding positions is a common feature of group life, species vary widely in the extent to which reproduction is shared among females (‘reproductive skew’). In recent years, there has been considerable debate over the mechanisms that generate variation in reproductive skew, with most evidence suggesting that subordinates breed when dominants are unable to prevent them from doing so. Here, we suggest that viviparity reduces the ability of dominant females to control subordinate reproduction and that, as a result, dominant female birds are more able than their mammal counterparts to prevent subordinates from breeding. Empirical data support this assertion. This perspective may increase our understanding of how cooperative groups form and are stabilized in nature.

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