Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/1959.11/20396
Title: The relative importance of spatial proximity, kin selection and potential 'greenbeard' signals on provisioning behaviour among helpers in a cooperative bird
Contributor(s): McDonald, Paul  (author)orcid ; Rollins, Lee Ann (author); Godfrey, Stephanie (author)
Publication Date: 2016
DOI: 10.1007/s00265-015-2032-8
Handle Link: https://hdl.handle.net/1959.11/20396
Abstract: Many hypotheses have been proposed to account for cooperative behaviour, with those favouring kin selection receiving the greatest support to date. However, the importance of relatedness becomes less clear in complex societies where interactions can involve both kin and non-kin. To help clarify this, we examined the relative effect of indirect versus key direct benefit hypotheses in shaping cooperative decisions. We assessed the relative importance of likely reciprocal aid (as measured by spatial proximity between participants), kin selection (using molecular-based relatedness indices) and putative signals of relatedness (vocal similarity) on helper/ helper cooperative provisioning dynamics in bell miners ('Manorina melanophrys'), a species living in large, complex societies. Using network analysis, we quantified the extent of shared provisioning (helping at the same nests) among individual helpers (excluding breeding pairs) over three seasons and 4290 provisioning visits, and compared these with the location of individuals within a colony and networks built using either genetic molecular relatedness or call similarity indices. Significant levels of clustering were observed in networks; individuals within a cluster were more closely related to each other than other colony members, and cluster membership was stable across years. The probability of a miner helping at another's nest was not simply a product of spatial proximity and thus the potential for reciprocal aid. Networks constructed using helping data were significantly correlated to those built using molecular data in 5 of 10 comparisons, compared to 8 of 10 comparisons for networks constructed using call similarity. This suggests an important role of kinship in shaping helping dynamics in a complex cooperative society, apparently determined via an acoustic 'greenbeard' signal in this system.
Publication Type: Journal Article
Source of Publication: Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology, 70(1), p. 133-143
Publisher: Springer
Place of Publication: Germany
ISSN: 1432-0762
0340-5443
Fields of Research (FoR) 2008: 060801 Animal Behaviour
060809 Vertebrate Biology
Fields of Research (FoR) 2020: 310901 Animal behaviour
310914 Vertebrate biology
Socio-Economic Objective (SEO) 2008: 970106 Expanding Knowledge in the Biological Sciences
Socio-Economic Objective (SEO) 2020: 280102 Expanding knowledge in the biological sciences
Peer Reviewed: Yes
HERDC Category Description: C1 Refereed Article in a Scholarly Journal
Appears in Collections:Journal Article

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