Climate-mediated cooperation promotes niche expansion in burying beetles

Sun, Syuan-Jyun; Rubenstein, Dustin R.; Chen, Bo-Fei; Chan, Shih-Fan; Liu, Jiannan; Liu, Mark; Hwang, Wenbe; Yang, Ping-Shih; Shen, Sheng‐Feng

doi:10.7554/elife.02440

Cited by 48 publications

(99 citation statements)

References 35 publications

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“…Finally, by distinguishing among the different ecological bases of social evolution, the dual benefits framework also opens up new directions for studying the ecological consequences of sociality, such as the expansion of niche breadth or range size (Sun et al . ; Cornwallis et al . ).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In other words, RD benefits are likely to be important in more benign environments, which can result in higher population density and thus lead to higher levels of intraspecific competition (Sun et al . ; Shen et al . ).…”

Section: Dual Benefits and The Formation Of Cooperatively Breeding Grmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Therefore, CA benefits can be derived from coping with environmental challenges in both benign and harsh environments (Sun et al . ; Shen et al . ), but are likely to be more important in the latter.…”

Section: Dual Benefits and The Formation Of Cooperatively Breeding Grmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Thus, high population density is likely to promote offspring delaying dispersal in homogenous environments when (1) the natal territory is a 'safe haven' where parents allow offspring access to food resources and safe habitat while waiting for breeding opportunities (Kokko & Ekman 2002), or (2) group members (insiders) control access to the critical resources, making it unlikely that individuals will disperse and join a non-natal territory (Shen & Johnstone, unpublished data). In other words, RD benefits are likely to be important in more benign environments, which can result in higher population density and thus lead to higher levels of intraspecific competition (Sun et al 2014;Shen et al 2016).…”

Section: Resource Defence Benefitsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Similarly, the importance of active group defence of younganother CA benefitwill be greater when predation risk (Austad & Rabenold 1985) or risk of brood parasitism is high (Feeney et al 2013). Therefore, CA benefits can be derived from coping with environmental challenges in both benign and harsh environments (Sun et al 2014;Shen et al 2016), but are likely to be more important in the latter. Obligate cooperatively breeding species represent extreme cases where CA benefits become mandatory.…”

Section: Collective Action Benefitsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The ecology of cooperative breeding behaviour

et al. 2017

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Ecology is a fundamental driving force for the evolutionary transition from solitary living to breeding cooperatively in groups. However, the fact that both benign and harsh, as well as stable and fluctuating, environments can favour the evolution of cooperative breeding behaviour constitutes a paradox of environmental quality and sociality. Here, we propose a new model - the dual benefits framework - for resolving this paradox. Our framework distinguishes between two categories of grouping benefits - resource defence benefits that derive from group-defended critical resources and collective action benefits that result from social cooperation among group members - and uses insider-outsider conflict theory to simultaneously consider the interests of current group members (insiders) and potential joiners (outsiders) in determining optimal group size. We argue that the different grouping benefits realised from resource defence and collective action profoundly affect insider-outsider conflict resolution, resulting in predictable differences in the per capita productivity, stable group size, kin structure and stability of the social group. We also suggest that different types of environmental variation (spatial vs. temporal) select for societies that form because of the different grouping benefits, thus helping to resolve the paradox of why cooperative breeding evolves in such different types of environments.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Dual Benefits and The Formation Of Cooperatively Breeding Grmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Dual Benefits and The Formation Of Cooperatively Breeding Grmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Resource Defence Benefitsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Collective Action Benefitsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The ecology of cooperative breeding behaviour

et al. 2017

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Revisiting the ecology and evolution of burying beetle behavior (Staphylinidae: Silphinae)

Potticary,

Belk,

Creighton

et al. 2024

Ecology and Evolution

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Investigating fundamental processes in biology requires the ability to ground broad questions in species‐specific natural history. This is particularly true in the study of behavior because an organism's experience of the environment will influence the expression of behavior and the opportunity for selection. Here, we provide a review of the natural history and behavior of burying beetles of the genus Nicrophorus to provide the groundwork for comparative work that showcases their remarkable behavioral and ecological diversity. Burying beetles have long fascinated scientists because of their well‐developed parenting behavior, exhibiting extended post‐hatching care of offspring that varies extensively within and across taxa. Despite the burgeoning success of burying beetles as a model system for the study of behavioral evolution, there has not been a review of their behavior, ecology, and evolution in over 25 years. To address this gap, we leverage a developing community of researchers who have contributed to a detailed knowledge of burying beetles to highlight the utility of Nicrophorus for investigating the causes and consequences of social and behavioral evolution.

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Desiccation limits recruitment in the pleometrotic desert seed‐harvester ant Veromessor pergandei

Johnson

2020

Ecology and Evolution

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The desert harvester ant Veromessor pergandei displays geographic variation in colony founding with queens initiating nests singly (haplometrosis) or in groups (pleometrosis). The transition from haplo-to pleometrotic founding is associated with lower rainfall. Numerous hypotheses have been proposed to explain the evolution of cooperative founding in this species, but the ultimate explanation remains unanswered.In laboratory experiments, water level was positively associated with survival, condition, and brood production by single queens. Queen survival also was positively influenced by water level and queen number in a two-factor experiment. Water level also was a significant effect for three measures of queen condition, but queen number was not significant for any measure. Foundress queens excavated after two weeks of desiccating conditions were dehydrated compared to alate queens captured from their natal colony, indicating that desiccation can be a source of queen mortality.Long-term monitoring in central Arizona, USA, documented that recruitment only occurred in four of 20 years. A discriminant analysis using rainfall as a predictor of recruitment correctly predicted recruitment in 17 of 20 years for total rainfall from January to June (the period for mating flights and establishment) and in 19 of 20 years for early plus late rainfall (January-March and April-June, respectively), often with a posterior probability > 0.90. Moreover, recruitment occurred only in years in which both early and late rainfall exceeded the long-term mean. This result also was supported by the discriminant analysis predicting no recruitment when long-term mean early and late rainfall were included as ungrouped periods. These data suggest that pleometrosis in V. pergandei evolved to enhance colony survival in areas with harsh abiotic (desiccating) conditions, facilitating colonization of habitats in which solitary queens could not establish even in wet years. This favorable-year hypothesis supports enhanced worker production as the primary advantage of pleometrosis.

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Climate-mediated cooperation promotes niche expansion in burying beetles

Cited by 48 publications

References 35 publications

The ecology of cooperative breeding behaviour

The ecology of cooperative breeding behaviour

Revisiting the ecology and evolution of burying beetle behavior (Staphylinidae: Silphinae)

Desiccation limits recruitment in the pleometrotic desert seed‐harvester ant Veromessor pergandei

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