Testing the environmental buffering hypothesis of cooperative breeding in the Seychelles warbler

IF 1.1 4区 生物学 Q4 BEHAVIORAL SCIENCES acta ethologica Pub Date : 2023-01-13 DOI:10.1007/s10211-022-00408-y
Mirjam J. Borger, David S. Richardson, Hannah Dugdale, Terry Burke, Jan Komdeur
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引用次数: 2

Abstract

Species are facing environmental challenges caused by rapidly changing environments. Globally, extreme weather events, like droughts or extreme rainfall, are increasing in frequency. Natural selection usually acts slowly, while adaptations through phenotypic plasticity are limited. Therefore, organisms may utilise other mechanisms to cope with such rapid change. Cooperative breeding is hypothesised to be one such mechanism, as helpers could increase survival probabilities of offspring, especially in harsh years. Rainfall is a cue for onset of breeding in many tropical species, to ensure young are born when food abundance is highest. Using 21 years of data, we investigate the effect of rainfall on social behaviour and life history in the insectivorous Seychelles warbler (Acrocephalus sechellensis), a facultative cooperative breeder. We found that low rainfall is associated with reduced reproductive output and possibly with decreased survival. However, there were no statistical differences in response between groups with helpers, groups with only non-helping subordinates, and breeding pairs without subordinates. With low rainfall, more sons (the sex less likely to help) were produced, and those subordinate males already present were less likely to help. Thus, in contrast to expectations, cooperative breeding does not seem to buffer against harsh environments in Seychelles warblers, indicating that group living may be costly and thus not a mechanism for coping with changing environments. Our study showed that the interaction between the environment and life histories, including social behaviour, is complex, but that this interaction is important to consider when studying the impact of changing environments on species survival.

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塞舌尔莺合作繁殖环境缓冲假说的检验
物种正面临着快速变化的环境带来的环境挑战。在全球范围内,干旱或极端降雨等极端天气事件的频率正在增加。自然选择通常是缓慢的,而通过表型可塑性的适应是有限的。因此,生物可能利用其他机制来应对这种快速变化。合作繁殖被认为是这样一种机制,因为帮手可以增加后代的存活率,尤其是在恶劣的年份。降雨是许多热带物种开始繁殖的信号,以确保幼崽在食物最丰富的时候出生。利用21年的数据,我们研究了降雨对食虫塞舌尔莺(Acrocephalus sechellensis)的社会行为和生活史的影响,塞舌尔莺是一种兼性合作繁殖者。我们发现,降雨量少与生殖产量下降有关,可能还与存活率下降有关。然而,有帮助者的组、没有帮助者的组和没有帮助者的繁殖组之间的反应没有统计学差异。在降雨量少的情况下,生出更多的儿子(不太可能起作用的性别),而那些已经存在的从属雄性则不太可能起作用。因此,与预期相反,合作繁殖似乎不能缓冲塞舌尔林莺的恶劣环境,这表明群体生活可能是昂贵的,因此不是应对不断变化的环境的机制。我们的研究表明,环境和生命史(包括社会行为)之间的相互作用是复杂的,但在研究环境变化对物种生存的影响时,这种相互作用是很重要的。
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来源期刊
acta ethologica
acta ethologica 生物-动物学
CiteScore
1.90
自引率
0.00%
发文量
18
审稿时长
>12 weeks
期刊介绍: acta ethologica publishes empirical and theoretical research papers, short communications, commentaries, reviews and book reviews as well as methods papers in the field of ethology and related disciplines, with a strong concentration on the behavior biology of humans and other animals. The journal places special emphasis on studies integrating proximate (mechanisms, development) and ultimate (function, evolution) levels in the analysis of behavior. Aspects of particular interest include: adaptive plasticity of behavior, inter-individual and geographic variations in behavior, mechanisms underlying behavior, evolutionary processes and functions of behavior, and many other topics. acta ethologica is an official journal of ISPA, CRL and the Portuguese Ethological Society (SPE)
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