The relationship between ecology and the incidence of cooperative breeding in Australian birds

Ford, Hugh; Bell, H.L.; Nias, Raymond C.; Noske, Richard A.

doi:10.1007/bf00299838

Cited by 115 publications

(73 citation statements)

References 36 publications

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“…All three related species are granivores, differing substantially in their diet only in the volume of human food waste consumed in the urban environment (Higgins and Davies 1996;Mulhall and Lill 2011). None of them has been recorded breeding cooperatively to any significant extent (Ford et al 1988). Møller et al (2014) showed that, particularly in Europe, farmland birds tended to have longer FIDs than those in other habitats.…”

Section: Flight Initiation Distancementioning

confidence: 97%

Tolerance of disturbance by humans in long-time resident and recent colonist urban doves

2015

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Background: A critical trait for successful urban dwelling by birds is the ability to tolerate high levels of disturbing stimulation by humans. If such tolerance is partly acquired gradually after colonization, species with a long history of residence in cities are likely to be more tolerant of such stimulation than recent urban colonists, but this has not often been tested. Methods: We tested whether introduced Rock (Columba livia) and Spotted (Streptopelis chinensis) Doves, historically long-term residents of Melbourne, Australia, were more tolerant of disturbance by humans than the very recent colonist, the native Crested Pigeon (Ochyphaps lophotes) by comparing the Flight Initiation Distances (FID) and time allocations to vigilance during foraging of all three species in urban Melbourne. That all three species are members of the Columbiformes reduces the possibility that any species differences in tolerance are simply phylogenetic in origin. Results: Flight initiation distance was shorter in Rock Doves than in the other two species, which did not differ in approachability by a human. Rock Doves retreated from an approaching human mainly by walking a relatively short distance, Crested Pigeons mainly by running a relatively short distance and Spotted Doves primarily by flying a comparatively long distance. The time allocation to anti-predator vigilance of Rock Doves was smaller than that of the other two species, whose allocations were similar.

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Section: Flight Initiation Distancementioning

confidence: 97%

Tolerance of disturbance by humans in long-time resident and recent colonist urban doves

2015

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“…This latitudinal distribution with its inherent correlation between climatic regions and breeding systems has been a source of ideas for linking environmental factors to the evolution of cooperative breeding (Verbeek 1973;Brown 1974;Ford et al 1988;Ekman & Rosander 1992;Du Plessis et al 1995;Russell et al 2004). Yet, so far the current evidence has identified this pattern as the result of an evolutionary inertia among the species-rich Passerida branch of the oscine passerines and their current mainly-Northern Hemisphere distribution (Cockburn 2003).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Phylogenetic analyses have recognized a strong role of history predisposing species to breed cooperatively, which is identified as the ancestral state of the breeding system in several avian lineages (Russell 1989;Edwards & Naeem 1993;Cockburn 1996;Nicholls et al 2000;Ligon & Burt 2004). In contrast, ecological context, design and lifehistory traits conducive to cooperative breeding remain less well understood, with contradictory results for the role of factors like environmental unpredictability (Ford et al 1988;Du Plessis et al 1995) and longevity (Arnold & Owens 1998;Cockburn 2003). …”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Out of Gondwanaland; the evolutionary history of cooperative breeding and social behaviour among crows, magpies, jays and allies

Ekman

Ericson

2006

Proc. R. Soc. B.

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Cooperative breeding is comparatively rare among birds in the mainly temperate and boreal Northern Hemisphere. Here we test if the distribution of breeding systems reflects a response to latitude by means of a phylogenetic analysis using correlates with geographical range among the corvids (crows, jays, magpies and allied groups). The corvids trace their ancestry to the predominantly cooperative ‘Corvida’ branch of oscine passerines from the Australo-Papuan region on the ancient Gondwanaland supercontinent, but we could not confirm the ancestral state of the breeding system within the family, while family cohesion may be ancestral. Initial diversification among pair-breeding taxa that are basal in the corvid phylogeny, represented by genera such as Pyrrhocorax and Dendrocitta , indicates that the corvid family in its current form could have evolved from pair-breeding ancestors only after they had escaped the Australo-Papuan shield. Within the family, cooperative breeding (alloparental care/family cohesion) is strongly correlated to latitude and its predominance in species maintaining a southerly distribution indicates a secondary evolution of cooperative breeding in the lineage leading away from the basal corvids. Multiple transitions show plasticity in the breeding system, indicating a response to latitude rather than evolutionary inertia. The evolutionary background to the loss of cooperative breeding among species with a northerly distribution is complex and differs between species, indicating a response to a variety of selection forces. Family cohesion where the offspring provide alloparental care is a main route to cooperatively breeding groups among corvids. Some corvid species lost only alloparental care, while maintaining coherent family groups. Other species lost family cohesion and, as a corollary, they also lost the behaviour where retained offspring provide alloparental care.

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“…In contrast, other studies have shown a greater occurrence of cooperatively breeding species in less temporally variable (stable) environments (Brown, 1974;Ricklefs, 1975;Woolfenden, 1975;Ford et al, 1988). Emlen (1982a) sought to reconcile this discrepancy in ecological observations of cooperatively breeding birds with his ecological constraints model.…”

Section: Ecological Factorsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Combining this comparative approach with phylogenetic information is arguably one of the most powerful methods with which to examine broad evolutionary trends and patterns (Arnold and Owens, 1998;Briga et al, 2012). Comparing ecological, life-history, morphological and/or behavioral traits across multiple taxa in a molecular phylogenetic context may allow researchers to examine the evolutionary history of many different attributes and identify ecological, social, morphological and behavioral differences between social and non-social species (Ford et al, 1988;Pagel and Harvey, 1988;Arnold and Owens, 1998;Cornwallis et al, 2010). In turn, the differences that are detected may provide an insight to the conditions under which sociality (or other traits) may have evolved.…”

Section: Comparative Analyses and Synthesesmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Right Tools for the Job: Cooperative Breeding Theory and an Evaluation of the Methodological Approaches to Understanding the Evolution and Maintenance of Sociality

et al. 2017

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Why do we observe so many examples in nature in which individuals routinely delay or completely forgo their own reproductive opportunities in order to join and remain within a group? Cooperative breeding theory provides a rich framework with which to study the factors that may influence the costs and benefits of remaining philopatric as a non-breeder. This is often viewed as an initial step in the development of costly helping behavior provided by non-breeding subordinates. Despite many excellent empirical studies testing key concepts of the theory, there is still debate regarding the relative importance of various evolutionary forces, suggesting that there may not be a general explanation but rather a dynamic and taxonomically varied combination of factors influencing the evolution and maintenance of sociality. Here, we explore two potential improvements in the study of sociality that could aid in the progress of this field. The first addresses the fact that empirical studies of social evolution are typically conducted using either comparative, observational or manipulative methodologies. Instead, we suggest a holistic approach, whereby observational and experimental studies are designed with the explicit view of advancing comparative analyses of sociality for the taxon, and in tandem, where comparative work informs targeted research effort on specific (usually understudied) species within the lineage. A second improvement relates to the broadening of tests of cooperative breeding theory to include taxa where subordinates do not necessarily provide active cooperation within the group. The original bias toward "helpful subordinates" arose from a focus on terrestrial taxa. However, recent consideration of other taxa, especially marine taxa, is slowly revealing that the theory can and should encompass a continuum of cooperative social systems, including those Hing et al.Methodological Approaches to Study Sociality where subordinates do not actively help. This review summarizes the major hypotheses of cooperative breeding theory, one of the dominant frameworks to examine social evolution, and highlights the potential benefits that a combined methodological approach and a broader application could provide to the study of sociality.

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The relationship between ecology and the incidence of cooperative breeding in Australian birds

Cited by 115 publications

References 36 publications

Tolerance of disturbance by humans in long-time resident and recent colonist urban doves

Tolerance of disturbance by humans in long-time resident and recent colonist urban doves

Out of Gondwanaland; the evolutionary history of cooperative breeding and social behaviour among crows, magpies, jays and allies

The Right Tools for the Job: Cooperative Breeding Theory and an Evaluation of the Methodological Approaches to Understanding the Evolution and Maintenance of Sociality

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