Reproductive partitioning in communally breeding guira cuckoos, Guira guira

Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology - Tập 55 - Trang 213-222 - 2003
Regina H. F. Macedo1, Mariana O. Cariello2, Jeff Graves3, Hubert Schwabl4
1Departamento de Zoologia, Universidade de Brasilia, Brasilia, Brazil
2Departamento de Ecologia, Universidade de Brasilia, Brasilia, Brazil
3School of Biological Sciences, University of St. Andrews, St. Andrews, KY16 9TH, Scotland
4School of Biological Sciences, Center for Reproductive Biology, Washington State University, Pullman, USA

Tóm tắt

Guira cuckoos, Guira guira, exhibit a rare polygynandrous reproductive system with groups containing several male and female breeders, allowing for important tests of reproductive skew models. Female reproductive strategies involve leaving the group, varying clutch size, egg ejection and infanticide, among others. Here we examined the predictions of reproductive skew models relative to reproductive partitioning among females in groups. We used yolk protein electrophoresis to identify individual females’ eggs in joint nests. We found that reproductive partitioning favors early-laying females, which lay and incubate more eggs than females that begin laying later. Because the female that lays first tends to switch between repeated nesting bouts, and females do not always contribute eggs to each bout, female reproductive success tends to equalize within groups over time. The pattern of reproductive partitioning differs from that described for anis, another crotophagine joint-nester. We calculated reproductive skew indices for groups in 2 years, for both laying and incubation, as well as an overall population value. These were compared to random skew generated by simulations. Varying degrees of skew were found for different groups, and also across sequential nesting bouts of the same groups. Overall, however, skew did not deviate from random within the population. Nests that reached incubation tended to have lower skew values during the laying phase than nests terminated due to ejection of all eggs followed by desertion. Groups had higher reproductive skew indices in their first nesting bout of the season, and these nests frequently failed. These results illustrate the importance of social organization in determining not only individual, but group success in reproduction, and highlight the flexibility of vertebrate social behavior.

Tài liệu tham khảo

Andersson M, Åhlund M (2001) Protein fingerprinting: a new technique reveals extensive conspecific brood parasitism. Ecology 82:1433–1442 Baerends GP, Hogan-Warburg AJ (1982) The external morphology of the egg and its variability. In: Baerends GP, Drent RH (eds) The herring gull and its egg. Part II. The responsiveness to egg-features. Behaviour [Suppl], pp 1–32 Bertram, BCR (1979) Ostriches recognize their own eggs and discard others. Nature 279:233–234 Bourke AFG, Heinze J (1994) The ecology of communal breeding: the case of multiple-queen leptothoracine ants. J Philos Trans R Soc Lond B 345:359–372 Brown JL (1987) Helping and communal breeding in birds. Princeton University Press, Princeton, N.J. Cant MA (1998) A model for the evolution of reproductive skew without reproductive suppression. Anim Behav 55:163–169 Cant MA, Johnstone RA (1999) Costly young and reproductive skew in animal societies. Behav Ecol 10:178–184 Cariello M, Schwabl H, Lee R, Macedo RH (2002) Individual female clutch identification through yolk protein electrophoresis in the communally-breeding guira cuckoo (Guira guira). Mol Ecol 11:2417–2424 Cariello M, Lima MR, Schwabl H, Macedo RH (2003) Egg characteristics are unreliable in determining maternity in communal clutches of guira cuckoos (Guira guira). J Avian Biol (in press) Clutton-Brock TH (1998) Reproductive skew, concessions and limited control. Trends Ecol Evol 13:288–292 Creel SR, Waser PM (1991) Failures of reproductive suppression in dwarf mongooses. Behav Ecol 5:339–348 Croxall JP, Rothery P, Crisp A (1992) The effect of maternal age and experience on egg-size and hatching success in wandering albatrosses Diomedea exulans. Ibis 134:219–228 Emlen ST (1982) The evolution of helping I. An ecological constraints model. Am Nat 119:29–39 Emlen ST, Vehrencamp SL (1983) Cooperative breeding strategies among birds. In: Brush AH, Clark JGA (eds) Perspectives in ornithology. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK, pp 93–133 Hamilton WD (1964) The genetical evolution of social behavior. I and II. J Theor Biol 7:1–52 Haydock J, Koenig WD (2002) Reproductive skew in the polygynandrous acorn woodpecker. Proc Natl Acad Sci 99:7178–7183. Haydock J, Koenig WD (2003) Patterns of reproductive skew in the polygynandrous acorn woodpecker. Am Nat 162:277–289 Heinze J (1995) Reproductive skew and genetic relatedness in Leptothorax ants. Proc R Soc Lond B 261:375–379 Jamieson IG (1997) Testing reproductive skew models in a communally breeding bird, the pukeko, Porphyrio porphyrio. Proc R Soc Lond B 264:335–340 Johnstone RA, Cant MA (1999a) Reproductive skew and the threat of eviction: a new perspective. Proc R Soc Lond B 266:275–279 Johnstone RA, Cant MA (1999b) Reproductive skew and indiscriminate infanticide. Anim Behav 57:243–249 Johnstone RA, Woodroffe R, Cant MA, Wright J (1999) Reproductive skew in multimember groups. Am Nat 153:315–331 Keller L, Reeve HK (1994) Partitioning of reproduction in animal societies. Trends Ecol Evol 9:98–102 Keller L, Vargo EL (1993) Reproductive structure and reproductive roles in colonies of eusocial insects. In: Keller L (ed) Queen number and sociality in insects. Oxford University Press, UK, pp 16–44 Kendeigh SC, Kramer TC, Hamerstrom F (1956) Variations in egg characteristics of the house wren. Auk 73:42–65 Kimwele CN, Graves JA (2003) A molecular genetic analysis of the communal nesting of the ostrich (Struthio camelus). Mol Ecol 12:229–236 Koenig WD, Mumme RL (1987) Population ecology of the cooperatively breeding acorn woodpecker. Princeton University Press, Princeton Koford RR, Bowen BS, Vehrencamp SL (1986) Habitat saturation in groove-billed anis (Crotophaga sulcirostris). Am Nat 127:317–337 Laemmli UK (1970) Cleavage of structural proteins during the assembly of the head of Bacteriophage T4. Nature 227:680–685 Loflin RK (1983) Communal behaviors of the smooth-billed ani. PhD dissertation, University of Miami, Coral Gables, Fla. Macedo RH (1992) Reproductive patterns and social organization of the communal Guira cuckoo (Guira guira) in central Brazil. Auk 109:786–799 Macedo RH, Bianchi C (1997) Communal breeding in tropical Guira cuckoos Guira guira: sociality in the absence of a saturated habitat. J Avian Biol 28:207–215 Macedo RH, Melo C (1999) Confirmation of infanticide in the communally breeding Guira cuckoo. Auk 116:847–851 Pamilo P, Crozier RH (1996) Reproductive skew simplified. Oikos 75:533–535 Quinn JS, Macedo RH, White BN (1994) Genetic relatedness of communally breeding Guira cuckoos. Anim Behav 47:515–529 Reed JM, Oring LW (1997) Intra- and inter-clutch patterns in egg mass in the spotted sandpiper. J Field Ornithol 68:296–301 Reeve HK (1991) Polistes. In: Ross KG, Matthews RW (eds) The social biology of wasps. Comstock, New York, pp 99–148 Reeve HK (1998) Game theory, reproductive skew, and nepotism. In: Dugatkin L, Reeve HK (eds) Game theory and animal behavior. Oxford University Press, Oxford, UK, pp 118–145 Reeve HK, Emlen ST (2000) Reproductive skew and group size: an N-person staying incentive model. Behav Ecol 11:640–647 Reeve HK, Keller L (1995) Partitioning of reproduction in mother–daughter versus sibling associations: a test of optimal skew theory. Am Nat 145:119–132 Reeve HK, Ratnieks FLW (1993) Queen–queen conflict in polygynous societies: mutual tolerance and reproductive skew. In: Keller L (ed) Queen number and sociality in insects. Oxford University Press, Oxford, UK, pp 45–85 Reeve HK, Emlen ST, Keller LF(1998) Reproductive sharing in animal societies: reproductive incentives or incomplete control by dominant breeders? Behav Ecol 9:267–278 Ricklefs RE (1984) Variation in the size and composition of eggs of the European starling. Condor 86:1–6 Schwabl H (1993) Yolk is a source of maternal testosterone for developing birds. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 90:11446–11450 Vehrencamp SL (1977) Relative fecundity and parental effort in communally nesting anis, Crotophaga sulcirostris. Science 197:403–405 Vehrencamp SL (1979) The roles of individual, kin and group selection in the evolution of sociality. In: Marler P, Vandenbergh J (eds) Social behavior and communication. Plenum, New York, pp 351–394 Vehrencamp SL (1983a) Optimal degree of skew in cooperative societies. Am Zool 23:327–335 Vehrencamp SL (1983b) A model for the evolution of despotic versus egalitarian societies. Anim Behav 31:667–682 Woolfenden GE, Fitzpatrick JW (1984) The Florida scrub jay: demography of a cooperative-breeding bird. Princeton University Press, Princeton. Zar, JH (1999) Biostatistical analysis, 4rth edn. Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River, N.J.