Helpers don’t help when it’s hot in a cooperatively breeding bird, the Southern Pied Babbler

Bourne, Amanda R.; Ridley, Amanda R.; Cunningham, Susan

doi:10.1093/beheco/arad023

Cited by 5 publications

(4 citation statements)

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“…Therefore, relying solely on heat dissipation behaviours may not be sufficient to identify the onset of cognitive decline, and temperature should always be measured alongside behavioural observations. We also found that, despite the occurrence of load-lightening in pied babblers [43], group size did not buffer individuals against temperature-mediated cognitive decline. Indeed, there was no interactive effect of group size and temperature on cognitive performance in associative learning or inhibitory control tasks.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 54%

“…We also found that, despite the occurrence of load-lightening in pied babblers [ 43 ], group size did not buffer individuals against temperature-mediated cognitive decline. Indeed, there was no interactive effect of group size and temperature on cognitive performance in associative learning or inhibitory control tasks.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 91%

“…Finally, we also tested whether group size buffers individuals against heat-mediated cognitive decline. Indeed, individuals in larger groups may have a lower heat load at a given environmental temperature due to lower contributions to helping behaviour (load-lightening [43]), such as less time spent incubating or flying to provision offspring [44,45], potentially resulting in reduced cognitive impairment in the heat. The KRR is situated in the semi-arid Kalahari region, where the main vegetation is a xeric savanna.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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High temperatures are associated with reduced cognitive performance in wild southern pied babblers

Soravia,

Ashton,

Thornton

et al. 2023

Proc. R. Soc. B.

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Global temperatures are increasing rapidly. While considerable research is accumulating regarding the lethal and sublethal effects of heat on wildlife, its potential impact on animal cognition has received limited attention. Here, we tested wild southern pied babblers ( Turdoides bicolor ) on three cognitive tasks (associative learning, reversal learning and inhibitory control) under naturally occurring heat stress and non-heat stress conditions. We determined whether cognitive performance was explained by temperature, heat dissipation behaviours, individual and social attributes, or proxies of motivation. We found that temperature, but not heat dissipation behaviours, predicted variation in associative learning performance. Individuals required on average twice as many trials to learn an association when the maximum temperature during testing exceeded 38°C compared with moderate temperatures. Higher temperatures during testing were also associated with reduced inhibitory control performance, but only in females. By contrast, we found no temperature-related decline in performance in the reversal learning task, albeit individuals reached learning criterion in only 14 reversal learning tests. Our findings provide novel evidence of temperature-mediated cognitive impairment in a wild animal and indicate that its occurrence depends on the cognitive trait examined and individual sex.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 54%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 91%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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High temperatures are associated with reduced cognitive performance in wild southern pied babblers

Soravia,

Ashton,

Thornton

et al. 2023

Proc. R. Soc. B.

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“…Like most things in nature, helping is context dependent. Helping may for example be conditional on own failure of reproduction (Hatchwell et al, 2014), the number of other helpers within the group, or environmental conditions (Bourne et al, 2023). In some cooperative breeders, non-breeding individuals provide help simply to not be kicked out or punished by the dominant individuals (Wong et al, 2007).…”

Section: Consequences Of Group Living and Cooperationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Social below ground: Life-history and gut microbiome of Damaraland mole-rats

Bensch

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Studying the consequences of variation in individual life-histories is vital for our understanding of the evolution of animal societies. In this thesis, I study the ecology and consequences of group living on growth, survival, reproduction, and the gut microbiome of the Damaraland mole-rat (Fukomys damarensis), a subterranean cooperatively breeding mammal. For this, I used data and faecal samples collected from a long-term study population in the Kalahari Desert, South Africa. I explored the effects of group size and group composition on individuals’ growth and survival. While large group size had no clear advantages for either growth or survival, individuals within groups biased to their own sex grew more slowly. The number of recruits increased modestly with group size, but experimentally created pairs showed the same reproductive success as established groups. Further, single individuals exhibited high survival rates and good body condition. Combined, these results suggest that mole-rats delay dispersal to maximise their own fitness, and that group living has costs and benefits for all group members. I also investigated the effects of individual life-histories and group affiliation on the gut microbiome. This work shows that individuals bring the gut microbiome from their birth group when they disperse, and that group members have more similar gut microbiomes. When dispersed individuals start to reproduce in their new groups, they subsequently transfer this microbiome to their offspring, resulting in higher similarity between offspring with common descent of breeders. This pattern could arise from shared early life environment of breeders or through genetic relatedness of breeders. To separate the effects of these factors, I used a cross-foster experiment of captive animals, which showed that group members have more similar gut microbiomes, regardless of host relatedness. My thesis gives deepened insights into the ecology of the Damaraland mole-rat. It shows how variation in the social environment of group living species affects their life-histories, their fitness, and beyond that extended phenotypic traits such as the gut microbiome composition.

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Helpers don’t help when it’s hot in a cooperatively breeding bird, the Southern Pied Babbler

2023

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Cooperative breeding, where more than two individuals invest in rearing a single brood, occurs in many bird species globally and often contributes to improved breeding outcomes. However, high temperatures are associated with poor breeding outcomes in many species, including cooperative species. We used data collected over three austral summer breeding seasons to investigate the contribution that helpers make to daytime incubation in a cooperatively breeding species, the Southern Pied Babbler Turdoides bicolor, and the ways in which their contribution is influenced by temperature. Helpers spent a significantly higher percentage of their time foraging (41.8 ± 13.7%) and a significantly lower percentage of their time incubating (18.5 ± 18.8%) than members of the breeding pair (31.3 ± 11% foraging and 37.4 ± 15.7% incubating). In groups with only one helper, the helper’s contribution to incubation was similar to that of breeders. However, helpers in larger groups contributed less to incubation, individually, with some individuals investing no time in incubation on a given observation day. Helpers significantly decrease their investment in incubation on hot days (>35.5°C), while breeders tend to maintain incubation effort as temperatures increase. Our results demonstrate that pied babblers share the workload of incubation unequally between breeders and helpers, and this inequity is more pronounced during hot weather. These results may help to explain why recent studies have found that larger group size does not buffer against the impacts of high temperatures in this and other cooperatively breeding species.

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Helpers don’t help when it’s hot in a cooperatively breeding bird, the Southern Pied Babbler

Cited by 5 publications

References 98 publications

High temperatures are associated with reduced cognitive performance in wild southern pied babblers

High temperatures are associated with reduced cognitive performance in wild southern pied babblers

Social below ground: Life-history and gut microbiome of Damaraland mole-rats

Helpers don’t help when it’s hot in a cooperatively breeding bird, the Southern Pied Babbler

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