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Helping effort and future fitness in cooperative animal societies

journal contribution
posted on 2023-06-08, 00:57 authored by Michael A Cant, Jeremy Field
Little attention has been paid to a conspicuous and universal feature of animal societies: the variation between individuals in helping effort. Here, we develop a multiplayer kin¿selection model that assumes that subordinates face a trade¿off because current investment in help reduces their own future reproductive success. The model makes two predictions: (i) subordinates will work less hard the closer they are to inheriting breeding status; and (ii) for a given dominance rank, subordinates will work less hard in larger groups. The second prediction reflects the larger pay¿off from inheriting a larger group. Both predictions were tested through a field experiment on the paper wasp Polistes dominulus. First, we measured an index of helping effort among subordinates, then we removed successive dominants to reveal the inheritance ranks of the subordinates: their positions in the queue to inherit dominance. We found that both inheritance rank and group size had significant effects on helping effort, in the manner predicted by our model. The close match between our theoretical and empirical results suggests that individuals adjust their helping effort according to their expected future reproductive success. This relationship has probably remained hidden in previous studies that have focused on variation in genetic relatedness.

History

Publication status

  • Published

Journal

Proceedings B: Biological Sciences

ISSN

0962-8452

Publisher

Royal Society Publishing

Issue

1479

Volume

268

Page range

1959-1964

Pages

6.0

Department affiliated with

  • Evolution, Behaviour and Environment Publications

Full text available

  • No

Peer reviewed?

  • Yes

Legacy Posted Date

2012-02-06

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