<< Chapter < Page Chapter >> Page >

a chart comparing territory quality versus status of deposed females.
Quality of Territory Previously Inhabited by Deposed Female Warblers Values of territory quality were derived from logistic regression analyses and normalized by log transformation. Ousted females that chose to become subordinates usually lived in territories of higher quality than those that chose to become floaters (Adapted from Richardson et al. 2007).

Conclusion

Cooperative breeding is driven by a variety of ecological factors, specific to the circumstances of the species in question. Some adult birds choose to become helpers in an effort to secure food and settling sites when resources are scarce. Others resort to helping behavior because their own personal attempts at reproduction have failed or they have lost their breeding status, and helping is the next best opportunity to pass on their genes, albeit indirectly. In each case, the cooperative breeding phenomenon appears to benefit either the helpers, the parents, or the chicks, creating a beneficial situation for the individuals involved.

Why Cooperative Breeders Choose to Become Helpers
Cooperative Breeder Reason for Helping
Azure-Winged Magpie Lack of available resources
Micronesian Kingfisher Access to ideal nesting sites and food
Brown-Headed Nuthatch Personal breeding failure
Seychelles Warbler (Grandparents) Best opportunity to pass on genes

Discussion questions

  1. Is cooperative breeding actually altruistic behavior? In what situations might it be entirely altruistic, and in what situations does the helper have an “ulterior motive”?
  2. While many birds do engage in cooperative breeding, many do not. What are the conditions that likely differentiate these species in terms of environmental factors, predation risks, and breeding patterns?

Glossary

  • Altruism - helpful behavior that directly increases the fitness of the recipient at the expense of decreasing the fitness of the actor
  • Alloparent - offspring care-giver that is not a direct parent
  • Cooperative breeding - social system where individuals that are not the direct parents of the offspring play an active role in nurturing and caring for offspring
  • Direct fitness - genes are contributed to the next generation through personal reproduction, in the form of descendent offspring
  • Dominant pair - direct genetic parents of offspring
  • Floater - bird with no territory or permanent residence
  • Hamilton’s Rule - gene frequency should increase in interactions where rB>C , where r is the genetic relatedness of individuals, B is reproductive benefit gained by the recipient, and C represents the reproductive cost to the alloparent
  • Indirect fitness - genes are indirectly contributed to the next generation by helping non-directly related offspring in the form of relatives that would not have survived otherwise
  • Kin selection - form of natural selection that occurs when individuals alter their behavior to favorably affect genetically related individuals
  • Nondescendent kin - young progeny that are not direct offspring

References

  • Alexander RD. 1974. The evolution of social behavior. Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics . 5:325-383.
  • Arnold EK, Owens IPF. 1998. Cooperative breeding in birds: a comparative test of the life history hypothesis. Proc. R. Soc. Lond. 265B:739–745.
  • Avilés L, Tufiño P. 1998. Colony size and individual fitness in the social spider Anelosimus eximius . American Naturalist . 152:403-418.
  • Boland CRJ. 2004. Breeding biology of rainbow bee-eaters ( Merops ornatus ): a migratory, colonial, cooperative bird. The Auk . 121(3):811–823.
  • Brown JL. 1987. Helping and communal breeding in birds: ecology and evolution. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
  • Calkins JD. 2007. The family behavior of California quail: a molecular analysis. The Condor . 109:962-967.
  • Canário F, Matos S, Soler M. 2004. Environmental constraints and cooperative breeding in the azure-winged magpie. The Condor . 106(3):608–617.
  • Cox JA, Slater GL. 2007. Cooperative breeding in the brown-headed nuthatch. The Wilson Journal of Ornithology . 119(1):1-8.
  • Hale AM. 2006. Group living in the black-breasted wood-quail and the use of playbacks as a survey technique. The Condor . 108(1):107–119.
  • Hamilton WD. 1963. The evolution of altruistic behavior. American Naturalist . 97:354-356.
  • Hamilton WD. 1964. The genetical theory of social behavior, I, II. Journal of Theoretical Biology . 7:1-52.
  • Hamilton WD. 1966. Moulding of senescence by natural selection. J. Theor. Biol . 12:12–27.
  • Hatchwell BJ, Komdeur J. 2000. Ecological constraints, life history traits and the evolution of cooperative breeding. Animal Behavior . 59:1079–1086.
  • Hatchwell BJ, Ross DJ, Fowlie MK, McGowan A. 2001. Kin discrimination in cooperatively breeding long-tailed tits. Proc. R. Soc. Lond. B . 268:885–890.
  • Herring G, Gawlik DE. 2007. Multiple nest-tending behavior in an adult female white ibis. Waterbirds . 30(1):150–151.
  • Kershner El, Mruz EC. 2006. Nest interference by fledgling loggerhead shrikes. The Wilson Journal of Ornithology . 118(1):75–80.
  • Kesler DC, Haig SM. 2007. Territoriality, prospecting, and dispersal in cooperatively breeding Micronesian kingfishers (Todiramphus cinnamominus reichenbachII) . The Auk . 124:381-395.
  • Komdeur J. 1992. Influence of territory quality and habitat saturation on dispersal options in the Seychelles warbler: an experimental test of the habitat saturation hypothesis for cooperative breeding. Acta XX Congressus Internationalis Ornithologici . 1325-1332.
  • Komdeur J. 1996. Influence of age on reproductive performance in the Seychelles warbler. Behav. Ecol. Sociobiol. 7:417–425.
  • Komdeur J, Huffstadt A, Prast W, Castle G, Mileto R, Wattel J. 1995. Transfer experiments of Seychelles warblers to new islands: changes in dispersal and helping behavior. Animal Behavior . 49: 695-708.
  • Lammertink M. 2004. Grouping and cooperative breeding in the great slaty woodpecker. The Condor . 106(2):309–319.
  • McDonald DB, Potts WK. 1994. Cooperative display and relatedness among males in a lek-mating bird. Science . 266:1030-1032.
  • McDonald PG, Wright J. 2008. Provisioning vocalizations in cooperative bell miners ( Manorina melanophrys ): more than a simple stimulus for nestling begging? The Auk . 125(3):670-678.
  • Mumme RL. 1992. Delayed dispersal and cooperative breeding in the Seychelles warbler. Trends in Ecology and Evolution . 7:330-331.
  • Mumme RL, Koenig WD, Ratnieks FLW. 1989. Helping behavior, reproductive value, and the future component of indirect fitness. Animal Behavior . 38: 331-343.
  • Poethke HJ, Liebig J. 2008. Risk-sensitive foraging and the evolution of cooperative breeding and reproductive skew. BMC Ecology . 8:2.
  • Reyer HU. 1984. Investment and relatedness: a cost/benefit analysis of breeding and helping in the pied kingfisher. Animal Behavior . 32:1163-1178.
  • Richardson DS, Burke T, Komdeur J. 2002. Direct benefits explain the evolution of female biased cooperative breeding in the Seychelles warblers. Evolution . 56:2313–2321.
  • Richardson DS, Burke T, Komdeur J. 2007. Grandparent helpers: the adaptive significance of older, postdominant helpers in the Seychelles warbler. Evolution . 61-12:2790-2800.
  • Wild G. 2006. Sex ratios when helpers stay at the nest. Evolution . 60(10):2012–2022.
  • Williams GC. 1957. Pleiotropy, natural selection, and the evolution of senescence. Evolution . 11:398–411.
  • Williams DA, Hale AM. 2006. Helper effects on offspring production in cooperatively breeding brown jays ( Cyanocorax morio ). The Auk . 123(3):847–857.
  • Wilklund CG, Andersson M. 1994. Natural selection of colony size in a passerine bird. Journal of Animal Ecology . 63:765-774.
  • Woolfenden GE, Fitzpatrick JW. 1984. The Florida Scrub Jay: Demography of a Cooperative-Breeding Bird . Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
  • Zalik NJ, Perlut NG. 2008. Simultaneous incubation by two females and nestling provisioning by four adults at a savannah sparrow nest. The Wilson Journal of Ornithology . 120(3):628-630.

Questions & Answers

what does preconceived mean
sammie Reply
physiological Psychology
Nwosu Reply
How can I develope my cognitive domain
Amanyire Reply
why is communication effective
Dakolo Reply
Communication is effective because it allows individuals to share ideas, thoughts, and information with others.
effective communication can lead to improved outcomes in various settings, including personal relationships, business environments, and educational settings. By communicating effectively, individuals can negotiate effectively, solve problems collaboratively, and work towards common goals.
it starts up serve and return practice/assessments.it helps find voice talking therapy also assessments through relaxed conversation.
miss
Every time someone flushes a toilet in the apartment building, the person begins to jumb back automatically after hearing the flush, before the water temperature changes. Identify the types of learning, if it is classical conditioning identify the NS, UCS, CS and CR. If it is operant conditioning, identify the type of consequence positive reinforcement, negative reinforcement or punishment
Wekolamo Reply
please i need answer
Wekolamo
because it helps many people around the world to understand how to interact with other people and understand them well, for example at work (job).
Manix Reply
Agreed 👍 There are many parts of our brains and behaviors, we really need to get to know. Blessings for everyone and happy Sunday!
ARC
A child is a member of community not society elucidate ?
JESSY Reply
Isn't practices worldwide, be it psychology, be it science. isn't much just a false belief of control over something the mind cannot truly comprehend?
Simon Reply
compare and contrast skinner's perspective on personality development on freud
namakula Reply
Skinner skipped the whole unconscious phenomenon and rather emphasized on classical conditioning
war
explain how nature and nurture affect the development and later the productivity of an individual.
Amesalu Reply
nature is an hereditary factor while nurture is an environmental factor which constitute an individual personality. so if an individual's parent has a deviant behavior and was also brought up in an deviant environment, observation of the behavior and the inborn trait we make the individual deviant.
Samuel
I am taking this course because I am hoping that I could somehow learn more about my chosen field of interest and due to the fact that being a PsyD really ignites my passion as an individual the more I hope to learn about developing and literally explore the complexity of my critical thinking skills
Zyryn Reply
good👍
Jonathan
and having a good philosophy of the world is like a sandwich and a peanut butter 👍
Jonathan
generally amnesi how long yrs memory loss
Kelu Reply
interpersonal relationships
Abdulfatai Reply
What would be the best educational aid(s) for gifted kids/savants?
Heidi Reply
treat them normal, if they want help then give them. that will make everyone happy
Saurabh
What are the treatment for autism?
Magret Reply
hello. autism is a umbrella term. autistic kids have different disorder overlapping. for example. a kid may show symptoms of ADHD and also learning disabilities. before treatment please make sure the kid doesn't have physical disabilities like hearing..vision..speech problem. sometimes these
Jharna
continue.. sometimes due to these physical problems..the diagnosis may be misdiagnosed. treatment for autism. well it depends on the severity. since autistic kids have problems in communicating and adopting to the environment.. it's best to expose the child in situations where the child
Jharna
child interact with other kids under doc supervision. play therapy. speech therapy. Engaging in different activities that activate most parts of the brain.. like drawing..painting. matching color board game. string and beads game. the more you interact with the child the more effective
Jharna
results you'll get.. please consult a therapist to know what suits best on your child. and last as a parent. I know sometimes it's overwhelming to guide a special kid. but trust the process and be strong and patient as a parent.
Jharna
Got questions? Join the online conversation and get instant answers!
Jobilize.com Reply

Get Jobilize Job Search Mobile App in your pocket Now!

Get it on Google Play Download on the App Store Now




Source:  OpenStax, Mockingbird tales: readings in animal behavior. OpenStax CNX. Jan 12, 2011 Download for free at http://cnx.org/content/col11211/1.5
Google Play and the Google Play logo are trademarks of Google Inc.

Notification Switch

Would you like to follow the 'Mockingbird tales: readings in animal behavior' conversation and receive update notifications?

Ask