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Kennedy P, Radford AN. Kin Blackmail as a Coercive Route to Altruism. Am Nat 2021; 197:266-273. [PMID: 33523789 DOI: 10.1086/712349] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/03/2022]
Abstract
AbstractThe evolution of altruism (helping a recipient at personal cost) often involves conflicts of interest. Recipients frequently prefer greater altruism than actors are prepared to provide. Coercion by recipients normally involves limiting an actor's options. Here, we consider the possibility of a coercive recipient limiting its own options. Forty years ago, Amotz Zahavi suggested that nesting birds may be "blackmailed" into increased parental care if offspring threaten to harm themselves (and therefore jeopardize the direct fitness of their parents). In a simple kin selection model, we expand blackmail to indirect fitness and highlight that blackmail can occur between any kin to drive reproductive division of labor. In principle, a recipient may place its own fitness at risk (brinkmanship), imposing sanctions on a relative's indirect fitness if the relative fails to cooperate. To use its own survival or reproduction as leverage in a sequential game, a recipient must increase the extent to which its existing fitness depends on the actor's behavior and therefore credibly commit to a cost if the actor does not comply. As it requires opportunities for commitment, kin blackmail can arise only under stringent conditions, but existing kin blackmailers may pass unnoticed because of their strategic success.
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Bourne AR, Cunningham SJ, Spottiswoode CN, Ridley AR. Hot droughts compromise interannual survival across all group sizes in a cooperatively breeding bird. Ecol Lett 2020; 23:1776-1788. [PMID: 32945068 DOI: 10.1111/ele.13604] [Citation(s) in RCA: 23] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/15/2020] [Revised: 05/03/2020] [Accepted: 08/13/2020] [Indexed: 12/20/2022]
Abstract
Climate change is affecting animal populations around the world and one relatively unexplored aspect of species vulnerability is whether and to what extent responses to environmental stressors might be mitigated by variation in group size in social species. We used a 15-year data set for a cooperatively breeding bird, the southern pied babbler Turdoides bicolor, to determine the impact of temperature, rainfall and group size on body mass change and interannual survival in both juveniles and adults. Hot and dry conditions were associated with reduced juvenile growth, mass loss in adults and compromised survival between years in both juveniles (86% reduction in interannual survival) and adults (60% reduction in interannual survival). Individuals across all group sizes experienced similar effects of climatic conditions. Larger group sizes may not buffer individual group members against the impacts of hot and dry conditions, which are expected to increase in frequency and severity in future.
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Affiliation(s)
- Amanda R Bourne
- FitzPatrick Institute of African Ornithology, DST-NRF Centre of Excellence, University of Cape Town, Private Bag X3, Rondebosch, 7701, South Africa
| | - Susan J Cunningham
- FitzPatrick Institute of African Ornithology, DST-NRF Centre of Excellence, University of Cape Town, Private Bag X3, Rondebosch, 7701, South Africa
| | - Claire N Spottiswoode
- FitzPatrick Institute of African Ornithology, DST-NRF Centre of Excellence, University of Cape Town, Private Bag X3, Rondebosch, 7701, South Africa.,Department of Zoology, University of Cambridge, Downing Street, Cambridge, CB2 3EJ, UK
| | - Amanda R Ridley
- FitzPatrick Institute of African Ornithology, DST-NRF Centre of Excellence, University of Cape Town, Private Bag X3, Rondebosch, 7701, South Africa.,Centre for Evolutionary Biology, School of Biological Sciences, University of Western Australia, Crawley, 6009, Australia
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Mouton JC, Tobalske BW, Wright NA, Martin TE. Risk of predation on offspring reduces parental provisioning, but not flight performance or survival across early life stages. Funct Ecol 2020. [DOI: 10.1111/1365-2435.13650] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- James C. Mouton
- Montana Cooperative Wildlife Research Unit University of Montana Missoula MT USA
| | - Bret W. Tobalske
- Field Research Station at Fort Missoula Division of Biological Sciences University of Montana Missoula MT USA
| | - Natalie A. Wright
- Field Research Station at Fort Missoula Division of Biological Sciences University of Montana Missoula MT USA
- Department of Biology Kenyon College Gambier OH USA
| | - Thomas E. Martin
- U.S. Geological Survey Montana Cooperative Wildlife Research Unit University of Montana Missoula MT USA
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Mariette MM. Acoustic Cooperation: Acoustic Communication Regulates Conflict and Cooperation Within the Family. Front Ecol Evol 2019. [DOI: 10.3389/fevo.2019.00445] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/22/2022] Open
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Franks VR, McCready M, Savage JL, Thorogood R. Time Spent With Parents Varies With Early-Life Condition, but Does Not Predict Survival or Sociality of Juvenile Hihi. Front Ecol Evol 2019. [DOI: 10.3389/fevo.2019.00322] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
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Koykka C, Wild G. The influence of environmental variance on the evolution of signaling behavior. Behav Ecol 2018. [DOI: 10.1093/beheco/ary072] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Affiliation(s)
- Cody Koykka
- Department of Applied Mathematics, The University of Western Ontario, London, ON, Canada
| | - Geoff Wild
- Department of Applied Mathematics, The University of Western Ontario, London, ON, Canada
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Wyman MT, Rivers PR, Muller C, Toni P, Manser MB. Adult meerkats modify close call rate in the presence of pups. Curr Zool 2017; 63:349-355. [PMID: 29491994 PMCID: PMC5804182 DOI: 10.1093/cz/zox029] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/11/2017] [Accepted: 04/28/2017] [Indexed: 11/28/2022] Open
Abstract
In animals, signaling behavior is often context-dependent, with variation in the probability of emitting certain signals dependent on fitness advantages. Senders may adjust signaling rate depending on receiver identity, presence of audiences, or noise masking the signal, all of which can affect the benefits and costs of signal production. In the cooperative breeding meerkat Suricata suricatta, group members emit soft contact calls, termed as “close calls”, while foraging in order to maintain group cohesion. Here, we investigated how the close calling rate during foraging was affected by the presence of pups, that produce continuous, noisy begging calls as they follow older group members. Adults decreased their overall close call rate substantially when pups were foraging with the group in comparison to periods when no pups were present. We suggest this decrease was likely due to a masking effect of the loud begging calls, which makes the close call function of maintaining group cohesion partly redundant as the centrally located begging calls can be used instead to maintain cohesion. There was some support that adults use close calls strategically to attract specific pups based on fitness advantages, that is, as the philopatric sex, females should call more than males and more to female pups than male pups. Dominant females called more than dominant males when a pup was in close proximity, while subordinates showed no sex-based differences. The sex of the nearest pup did not affect the calling rate of adults. The study shows that meerkats modify their close call production depending on benefits gained from calling and provides an example of the flexible use of one calling system in the presence of another, here contact calls versus begging calls, within the same species.
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Affiliation(s)
- Megan T Wyman
- Department of Evolutionary Biology and Environmental Studies, University of Zurich, Winterthurerstrasse 190, Zurich CH 8057, Switzerland.,Kalahari Meerkat Project, Kuruman River Reserve, P.O. Box 64, Van Zylsrus, Northern Cape 8467, South Africa
| | - Pearl R Rivers
- Department of Evolutionary Biology and Environmental Studies, University of Zurich, Winterthurerstrasse 190, Zurich CH 8057, Switzerland.,Kalahari Meerkat Project, Kuruman River Reserve, P.O. Box 64, Van Zylsrus, Northern Cape 8467, South Africa
| | - Coline Muller
- Department of Evolutionary Biology and Environmental Studies, University of Zurich, Winterthurerstrasse 190, Zurich CH 8057, Switzerland.,Kalahari Meerkat Project, Kuruman River Reserve, P.O. Box 64, Van Zylsrus, Northern Cape 8467, South Africa
| | - Pauline Toni
- Department of Evolutionary Biology and Environmental Studies, University of Zurich, Winterthurerstrasse 190, Zurich CH 8057, Switzerland.,Kalahari Meerkat Project, Kuruman River Reserve, P.O. Box 64, Van Zylsrus, Northern Cape 8467, South Africa
| | - Marta B Manser
- Department of Evolutionary Biology and Environmental Studies, University of Zurich, Winterthurerstrasse 190, Zurich CH 8057, Switzerland.,Kalahari Meerkat Project, Kuruman River Reserve, P.O. Box 64, Van Zylsrus, Northern Cape 8467, South Africa
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Liu J, Duan C, Lummaa V. Parent-offspring conflict over family size in current China. Am J Hum Biol 2017; 29. [PMID: 28054420 DOI: 10.1002/ajhb.22946] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/24/2016] [Revised: 10/07/2016] [Accepted: 11/16/2016] [Indexed: 11/09/2022] Open
Abstract
OBJECTIVES In China, the recent replacement of the one-child policy with a two-child policy could potentially change family ecology-parents may switch investment from exclusively one child to two. The parent-offspring conflict theory provides testable hypotheses concerning possible firstborn opposition toward further reproduction of their mother, and who wins the conflict. We tested the hypotheses that if there is any opposition, it will differ between sexes, weaken with offspring age and family resource availability, and affect maternal reproductive decision-making. METHODS Using survey data of 531 non-pregnant mothers of only one child from Xi'an (China), logistic regression was used to examine effects of age, family income, and sex on the attitudes of firstborn children toward having a sibling; ordinal regression was used to investigate how such attitudes affect maternal intention to reproduce again. RESULTS Firstborns' unsupportive attitude toward their mothers' further reproduction weakened with age and was overall more frequent in low-income families. Sons' unsupportive tendency displayed a somewhat U-shaped relationship, whereas daughters' weakened with family income; consequently, sons were more likely than daughters to be unsupportive in high-income families, suggesting a tendency to be more demanding. Forty-nine percent of mothers supported by their firstborns intended to reproduce again, whilst only 9% of mothers not supported by firstborns had such an intention. CONCLUSION Our study contributes to evolutionary literature on parent-offspring conflict and its influence on female reproductive strategy in modern human societies, and has also important implications for understanding fertility patterns and conducting interventions in family conflict in China.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jianghua Liu
- Institute for Population and Development Studies, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, 710049, China
| | - Chongli Duan
- Institute for Population and Development Studies, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, 710049, China
| | - Virpi Lummaa
- Department of Biology, University of Turku, Turku, FIN-20014, Finland
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Markman S. Parental self-feeding effects on parental care levels and time allocation in Palestine sunbirds. PLoS One 2014; 9:e113890. [PMID: 25474620 PMCID: PMC4256214 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0113890] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/12/2014] [Accepted: 10/31/2014] [Indexed: 12/02/2022] Open
Abstract
The trade-off between parents feeding themselves and their young is an important life history problem that can be considered in terms of optimal behavioral strategies. Recent studies on birds have tested how parents allocate the food between themselves and their young. Until now the effect of food consumption by parent birds on their food delivery to their young as well as other parental activities has rarely been studied. I have previously shown that parent Palestine sunbirds (Nectarinia osea) will consume nectar and liquidized arthropods from artificial feeders. However, they will only feed their young with whole arthropods. This provided a unique opportunity to experimentally manipulate the food eaten by parents independent of that fed to their offspring. Here, I hypothesized that parents invest in their current young according to the quality of food that they themselves consume. Breeding pairs with two or three nestlings were provided with feeders containing water (control), sucrose solution (0.75 mol) or liquidized mealworms mixed with sucrose solution (0.75 mol). As food quality in feeders increased (from water up to liquidized mealworms mixed with sucrose solution): 1) Parents (especially females) increased their food delivery of whole arthropod prey to their young. 2) Only males increased their nest guarding effort. Nestling food intake and growth rate increased with increasing food quality of parents and decreasing brood size. These results imply that increasing the nutrient content of foods consumed by parent sunbirds allow them to increase the rate at which other foods are delivered to their young and to increase the time spent on other parental care activities.
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Affiliation(s)
- Shai Markman
- Department of Biology and Environment, University of Haifa - Oranim, Tivon, Israel
- * E-mail:
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Kouba M, Bartoš L, Št‚astný K. Factors affecting vocalization in Tengmalm's owl (Aegolius funereus) fledglings during post-fledging dependence period: scramble competition or honest signalling of need? PLoS One 2014; 9:e95594. [PMID: 24760102 PMCID: PMC3997414 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0095594] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/17/2013] [Accepted: 03/28/2014] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Begging behaviour of nestlings has been intensively studied for several decades as a key component of parent-offspring conflict. There are essentially two main theories to account for intensity of food solicitation among offspring: that intensity of begging is related to some form of scramble competition between nest mates or that it offers honest signalling of need to parents. The vast majority of studies which have addressed begging behaviour have been based on observations of, and experiments on, nestlings and have not considered begging behaviour, during the post-fledging period. Begging vocalizations in this post-fledging phase of dependence have rarely been studied, despite the importance of vocalizations as a communication method between offspring and parents, particularly for nocturnal species. We radiotracked 39 fledglings of the Tengmalm’s owl (Aegolius funereus) in two years with different availability of prey: 2010 (n = 29 fledglings) and 2011 (n = 10 fledglings) and made 1320 nightly localizations in which we recorded presence or absence of begging calls. Within years, the most important measures related to the probability of vocalization were body condition at fledging, time of night, number of surviving siblings, age and weather conditions. Begging intensity increased with age in both years; however, in the year with low prey availability fledglings vocalized significantly more often. The main factor causing these differences between years was probably the different availability of prey, affecting breeding success, post-fledging behaviour, and thus also both short- and long-term needs of offspring. We believe that our results suggest honest signalling of their fledgling’s need.
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Affiliation(s)
- Marek Kouba
- Czech University of Life Sciences Prague, Faculty of Environmental Sciences, Department of Ecology, Praha 6– Suchdol, Czech Republic
- * E-mail:
| | - Luděk Bartoš
- Czech University of Life Sciences Prague, Faculty of Agrobiology, Food and Natural Resources, Department of Animal Science and Ethology, Praha 6– Suchdol, Czech Republic
- Institute of Animal Science, Department of Ethology, Praha 10– Uhříněves, Czech Republic
| | - Karel Št‚astný
- Czech University of Life Sciences Prague, Faculty of Environmental Sciences, Department of Ecology, Praha 6– Suchdol, Czech Republic
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Jimeno B, Muriel J, Pérez-Rodríguez L, Gil D. Sexual Differences in Parental Investment in Response to Parent-Absent Calls. Ethology 2013. [DOI: 10.1111/eth.12201] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/27/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Blanca Jimeno
- Departamento de Ecología Evolutiva; Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales (CSIC); Madrid Spain
| | - Jaime Muriel
- Departamento de Ecología Evolutiva; Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales (CSIC); Madrid Spain
| | - Lorenzo Pérez-Rodríguez
- Departamento de Ecología Evolutiva; Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales (CSIC); Madrid Spain
| | - Diego Gil
- Departamento de Ecología Evolutiva; Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales (CSIC); Madrid Spain
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Thompson AM, Ridley AR, Hockey PA, Finch FM, Britton A, Raihani NJ. The influence of siblings on begging behaviour. Anim Behav 2013. [DOI: 10.1016/j.anbehav.2013.07.021] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/26/2022]
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