Dominance, not kinship, determines individual position within the communal roosts of a cooperatively breeding bird

Napper, Clare J.; Sharp, Stuart P.; McGowan, Andrew; Simeoni, Michelle; Hatchwell, Ben J.

doi:10.1007/s00265-013-1613-7

Cited by 16 publications

(12 citation statements)

References 56 publications

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“…First, they imply that indirect fitness benefits alone can select for limited dispersal, i.e., there is no need to invoke direct fitness benefits of philopatry as a pathway toward or facilitator of social interaction with kin and subsequent helping behavior (8,10,44). This conclusion is consistent with previous studies of long-tailed tits that suggest no benefit of social interaction with kin except in the context of helping (16,45). In noncooperative bird species, philopatry has often been reported to have direct fitness advantages for males (36)(37)(38).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 84%

Inclusive fitness consequences of dispersal decisions in a cooperatively breeding bird, the long-tailed tit ( Aegithalos caudatus )

Green

Hatchwell

2018

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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Natal dispersal is a demographic trait with profound evolutionary, ecological, and behavioral consequences. However, our understanding of the adaptive value of dispersal patterns is severely hampered by the difficulty of measuring the relative fitness consequences of alternative dispersal strategies in natural populations. This is especially true in social species, in which natal philopatry allows kin selection to operate, so direct and indirect components of inclusive fitness have to be considered when evaluating selection on dispersal. Here, we use lifetime reproductive success data from a long-term study of a cooperative breeder, the long-tailed tit Aegithalos caudatus, to quantify the direct and indirect components of inclusive fitness. We show that dispersal has a negative effect on the accrual of indirect fitness, and hence inclusive fitness, by males. In contrast, the inclusive, predominantly direct, fitness of females increases with dispersal distance. We conclude that the conflicting fitness consequences of dispersal in this species result in sexually antagonistic selection on this key demographic parameter.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 84%

Inclusive fitness consequences of dispersal decisions in a cooperatively breeding bird, the long-tailed tit ( Aegithalos caudatus )

Green

Hatchwell

2018

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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“…While some studies find that individuals adjust behavior based on relatedness, e.g., (Wright et al 2010), other studies have found no relationship between relatedness and cooperative output (Canestrari et al 2005; Napper et al 2013) and, rarely, a negative relationship between relatedness and cooperative output (Zottl et al 2013). However, when the results from this study are paired with the finding that nest construction is also spatially directed towards relatives (van Dijk et al 2014), we find that the evidence strongly suggests indirect benefits are important for the evolutionary maintenance of cooperative nest construction in sociable weavers.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 98%

Relatedness predicts multiple measures of investment in cooperative nest construction in sociable weavers

Leighton

Echeverri

Heinrich³

et al. 2015

Behav Ecol Sociobiol

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Although communal goods are often critical to society, they are simultaneously susceptible to exploitation and are evolutionarily stable only if mechanisms exist to curtail exploitation. Mechanisms such as punishment and kin selection have been offered as general explanations for how communal resources can be maintained. Evidence for these mechanisms comes largely from humans and social insects, leaving their generality in question. To assess how communal resources are maintained, we observed cooperative nest construction in sociable weavers (Philetairus socius). The communal nest of sociable weavers provides thermal benefits for all individuals but requires continual maintenance. We observed cooperative nest construction and also recorded basic morphological characteristics. We also collected blood samples, performed next-generation sequencing, and isolated 2358 variable single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) to estimate relatedness. We find that relatedness predicts investment in cooperative nest construction, while no other morphological characters significantly explain cooperative output. We argue that indirect benefits are a critical fitness component for maintaining the cooperative behavior that maintains the communal good.

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“…In conclusion, we have revealed fine‐scale genetic structure in our long‐tailed tit population that is consistent with the kin clustering expected from known demographic and dispersal patterns. This provides an opportunity for kin selection to operate and, in the absence of any other known benefits of interacting socially with kin (Napper & Hatchwell, ; Napper, Sharp, McGowan, Simeoni, & Hatchwell, ), is likely to have emerged as a result of selection for kin‐directed helping behaviour. However, despite this genetic structure, the random probability of helping at the nest of a relative is still relatively low, demonstrating that in the kin‐selected cooperative breeding system of long‐tailed tits, active discrimination of kin from nonkin is required when choosing at which nest to help in order to maximize inclusive fitness.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Fine‐scale genetic structure and helping decisions in a cooperatively breeding bird

et al. 2018

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In animal societies, characteristic demographic and dispersal patterns may lead to genetic structuring of populations, generating the potential for kin selection to operate. However, even in genetically structured populations, social interactions may still require kin discrimination for cooperative behaviour to be directed towards relatives. Here, we use molecular genetics and long-term field data to investigate genetic structure in an adult population of long-tailed tits Aegithalos caudatus, a cooperative breeder in which helping occurs within extended kin networks, and relate this to patterns of helping with respect to kinship. Spatial autocorrelation analyses reveal fine-scale genetic structure within our population, such that related adults of either sex are spatially clustered following natal dispersal, with relatedness among nearby males higher than that among nearby females, as predicted by observations of male-biased philopatry. This kin structure creates opportunities for failed breeders to gain indirect fitness benefits via redirected helping, but crucially, most close neighbours of failed breeders are unrelated and help is directed towards relatives more often than expected by indiscriminate helping. These findings are consistent with the effective kin discrimination mechanism known to exist in long-tailed tits and support models identifying kin selection as the driver of cooperation.

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Dominance, not kinship, determines individual position within the communal roosts of a cooperatively breeding bird

Cited by 16 publications

References 56 publications

Inclusive fitness consequences of dispersal decisions in a cooperatively breeding bird, the long-tailed tit ( Aegithalos caudatus )

Inclusive fitness consequences of dispersal decisions in a cooperatively breeding bird, the long-tailed tit ( Aegithalos caudatus )

Relatedness predicts multiple measures of investment in cooperative nest construction in sociable weavers

Fine‐scale genetic structure and helping decisions in a cooperatively breeding bird

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