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ABSTRACT: Cooperative breeding in birds occurs when more than two individuals provide care for a single nest. In many species, the additional adults present are offspring from a previous year who have delayed dispersal, and provision young who are non-descendant kin. Delaying dispersal and age of first breeding can influence the demography and fitness of individuals, but the fitness and demographic consequences of helping behavior are poorly understood. Using long-term data (1972-2004), I examined the demographic and fitness consequences of helping behavior in acorn woodpeckers Melanerpes formicivorus. Using a multi-state capture-mark-recapture framework, I found that the apparent survival of breeders was higher than helpers, and the survival of males was higher than females. Juveniles were much more likely to become helpers rather than breeders following fledging, and helpers were more likely to remain helpers rather than becoming a breeder. Both survival and transition rates varied annually and were positively influenced by the acorn crop. For fitness estimation, I focused only on reproductive females who were banded as juveniles. Although helpers began reproduction significantly later and lived significantly longer than breeders, there was no significant difference in lifetime reproductive success or individual fitness between the two groups. However, birds that successfully bred at age 1 without helping had a significantly higher fitness than those who helped and successfully bred at age 2 or older. My results suggest that delayed dispersal and reproduction in the acorn woodpecker lead to a loss of fitness when conditions are favorable for successful reproduction. However, if constraints in the environment prevent an individual from breeding at age 1, helping is a viable option until reproduction is possible.
Ever since the acorn woodpecker was observed and described by Spanish explorers, its behavior--particularly the unique habit of caching acorns in specialized storage trees or granaries--has impressed observers. Acorn woodpeckers are also one of the few temperate zone species in which young are reared communally in family groups. This demographic study investigates the complexities of acorn storage and group living in acorn woodpeckers at Hastings Reservation in central coastal California. It is one of the most thorough studies of any avian social system to date.
Cooperative breeders are species in which more than a pair of individuals assist in the production of young. Cooperative breeding is found in only a few hundred bird species world-wide, and understanding this often strikingly altruistic behaviour has remained an important challenge in behavioural ecology for over 30 years. This book highlights the theoretical, empirical and technical advances that have taken place in the field of cooperative breeding research since the publication of the seminal work Cooperative Breeding in Birds: Long-term Studies of Behavior and Ecology (1990, HB ISBN 0521 372984, PB ISBN 0521 378907). Organized conceptually, special attention is given to ways in which cooperative breeders have proved fertile subjects for testing modern advances to classic evolutionary problems including those of sexual selection, sex-ratio manipulation, life-history evolution, partitioning of reproduction and incest avoidance. It will be of interest to both students and researchers interested in behaviour and ecology.
Cooperative breeders are species in which individuals beyond a pair assist in the production of young in a single brood or litter. Although relatively rare, cooperative breeding is widespread taxonomically and continues to pose challenges to our understanding of the evolution of cooperation and altruistic behavior. Bringing together long-term studies of cooperatively breeding birds, mammals, and fish, this volume provides a synthesis of current studies in the field. The chapters are organised by individual studies of particular species or (in the case of mole-rats) two closely related cooperatively breeding species. Each focuses not only on describing behavior and ecology but also on testing evolutionary hypotheses for the form and function of the diverse and extraordinary cooperative breeding lifestyles that have been discovered. This unique and comprehensive text will be of interest to graduate students and researchers of behavioral ecology and the evolution of cooperation.
Cooperative breeding is an unusual kind of social behaviour, found in a few hundred species worldwide, in which individuals other than the parents help raise young. Understanding the apparently altruistic behaviour of helpers has provided numerous challenges to evolutionary biologists. This book includes detailed first-hand summaries of many of the major empirical studies of cooperatively breeding birds. It provides comparative information on the demography, social behaviour and behavioural ecology of these unusual species and explores the diversity of ideas and the controversies which have developed in this field. The studies are all long-term and consequently the book summarises some of the most extensive studies of the behaviour of marked individuals ever undertaken. Graduate students and research workers in ornithology, sociobiology, behavioural ecology and evolutionary biology will find much of value in this book.
Brings together long-term studies of cooperation in vertebrates that challenge our understanding of the evolution of social behavior.
An overview of the extensive and frequently controversial literature on communally breeding birds developed since the early 1960s, when students of evolution began to examine sociality as a product of natural selection. Jerram Brown provides original data from his own theoretical and empirical studies and summarizes the wide array of results and interpretations made by others. Originally published in 1987. The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.