Cost minimization by helpers in cooperative vertebrates

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dc.contributor.authorRussell A.F.
dc.contributor.authorSharpe L.L.
dc.contributor.authorBrotherton P.N.M.
dc.contributor.authorClutton-Brock T.H.
dc.date.accessioned2011-05-15T16:02:20Z
dc.date.available2011-05-15T16:02:20Z
dc.date.issued2003
dc.description.abstractWhen 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.
dc.description.versionArticle
dc.identifier.citationProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
dc.identifier.citation100
dc.identifier.citation6
dc.identifier.issn278424
dc.identifier.other10.1073/pnas.0636503100
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/10019.1/12420
dc.subjectarticle
dc.subjectbehavior
dc.subjectbreeding
dc.subjectCarnivora
dc.subjectcooperation
dc.subjectcost minimization analysis
dc.subjectfemale
dc.subjectforaging
dc.subjectmale
dc.subjectmeerkat
dc.subjectnonhuman
dc.subjectpriority journal
dc.subjectreproduction
dc.subjectvertebrate
dc.subjectAnimals
dc.subjectBehavior, Animal
dc.subjectCooperative Behavior
dc.subjectEvolution
dc.subjectFemale
dc.subjectHerpestidae
dc.subjectMale
dc.subjectMaternal Behavior
dc.subjectModels, Psychological
dc.subjectReproduction
dc.subjectCarnivora
dc.subjectSuricata suricatta
dc.subjectVertebrata
dc.titleCost minimization by helpers in cooperative vertebrates
dc.typeArticle
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