Cost minimization by helpers in cooperative vertebrates

Date
2003
Authors
Russell A.F.
Sharpe L.L.
Brotherton P.N.M.
Clutton-Brock T.H.
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Abstract
When parents invest heavily in reproduction they commonly suffer significant energetic costs. Parents reduce the long-term fitness implications of these costs through increased foraging and reduced reproductive investment in the future. Similar behavioral modifications might be expected among helpers in societies of cooperative vertebrates, in which helping is associated with energetic costs. By using multivariate analyses and experiments, we show that in cooperative meerkats, Suricata suricatta, helping is associated with substantial short-term growth costs but limited long-term fitness costs. This association forms because individual contributions to cooperation are initially condition dependent, and, because when helpers invest heavily in cooperation, they increase their foraging rate during the subsequent nonbreeding period and reduce their level of cooperative investment in the subsequent reproductive period. These results provide a unique demonstration that despite significant short-term costs, helpers, like breeders, are able to reduce the fitness consequences of these costs through behavioral modifications.
Description
Keywords
article, behavior, breeding, Carnivora, cooperation, cost minimization analysis, female, foraging, male, meerkat, nonhuman, priority journal, reproduction, vertebrate, Animals, Behavior, Animal, Cooperative Behavior, Evolution, Female, Herpestidae, Male, Maternal Behavior, Models, Psychological, Reproduction, Carnivora, Suricata suricatta, Vertebrata
Citation
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
100
6