Alternative reproductive tactics in primates

Setchell, Joanna M.

doi:10.1017/cbo9780511542602.016

Cited by 44 publications

(31 citation statements)

References 169 publications

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“…Additionally, the efficacy of many tactics is rankdependent, meaning that males must invest in status competition over a long period of time to succeed. Thus, primates frequently adopt alternative mating tactics that offer a low-cost possibility of siring infants (Setchell 2008;Taborsky et al 2008;van Schaik et al 2004). Examples include the use of sneaky copulations (e.g., Cebus apella nigritus: Alfaro 2005) and consortships (e.g., Pan troglodytes: Wroblewski et al 2009) by subordinates in mating systems in which competition is high and alpha males secure the majority of matings.…”

Section: How Do Costs Of Mating Effort Influence Male Mating Tactics?mentioning

confidence: 99%

The High Price of Success: Costs of Mating Effort in Male Primates

Thompson

Georgiev

2014

Int J Primatol

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While males are generally the low investing sex when it comes to offspring care, males of many species experience intense and persistent mating effort. Mating effort incurs a variety of costs which are expected to have non-negligible effects on fitness, as well as how reproductive tactics are selected and investment in mating activity is moderated over time. This special issue features contributions investigating the costs of male mating effort across primate species. Here, we place these exciting new works in context, addressing the specific types of mating effort expected for male primates and the significance of these costs for our understanding of primate life histories and socioecology.

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Section: How Do Costs Of Mating Effort Influence Male Mating Tactics?mentioning

confidence: 99%

The High Price of Success: Costs of Mating Effort in Male Primates

Thompson

Georgiev

2014

Int J Primatol

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“…The within-population variability of life-history parameters, such as age at sexual maturity or interbirth interval, may help subordinates to minimize the drawbacks of their low dominance rank. For example, subordinate individuals might have shorter interbirth intervals as a strategy to maximize their fitness (Setchell, 2008). Because of the observed variance among populations, it can be difficult to assign a species-specific value for these traits.…”

Section: Factors Affecting Rank-related Benefits In Primatesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…For example, variability in female estrous synchrony between troops or breeding seasons can result in different opportunities for dominant males to monopolize females (Ostner et al, 2008). Similarly, a greater frequency of copulations by dominant males does not always result in a higher reproductive success (Itoigawa et al, 1992;Paul et al, 1993; but see Alberts et al, 2006), possibly because of effective counter-strategies by subordinate males (e.g., sneaky copulations) that may limit the benefits of dominance (Berard et al, 1993;Setchell, 2008). Moreover, discrepancies between studies on the same species may also be due to differences in observational setting (e.g., opportunities for sneaky copulations by subordinates in captivity may be low in comparison to the wild due to the small size of the enclosure), methodology, and/or sample size (either in terms of number of individuals studied or duration of the study).…”

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confidence: 99%

Fitness‐related benefits of dominance in primates

Majolo

Lehmann

Vizioli

et al. 2012

American J Phys Anthropol

151

110

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Dominance hierarchies are thought to provide various fitness-related benefits to dominant individuals (e.g., preferential access to food or mating partners). Remarkably, however, different studies on this topic have produced contradictory results, with some showing strong positive association between rank and fitness (i.e., dominants gain benefits over subordinates), others weak associations, and some others even revealing negative associations. Here, we investigate dominance-related benefits across primate species while controlling for phylogenetic effects. We extracted data from 94 published studies, representing 25 primate species (2 lemur species, 4 New World monkeys, 16 Old World monkeys, and 3 apes), to assess how dominance affects life-history and behavior. We used standard and phylogenetic meta-analyses to analyze the benefits of dominance in primates. Dominant females had higher infant survival to first year, although we found no significant effect of dominance on female feeding success. Results for female fecundity differed between the two meta-analytical approaches, with no effect of dominance on female fecundity after controlling for phylogeny. Dominant males had a higher fecundity and mating success than subordinate males. Finally, the benefits of dominance for female fecundity were stronger in species with a longer lifespan. Our study supports the view that dominance hierarchies are a key aspect of primate societies as they indeed provide a number of fitness-related benefits to individuals.

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“…Incomplete control models hypothesize that dominant individuals have limited control over access to mates and simply cannot prevent others from mating [5]. For example, in primates, many factors limit a dominant male's ability to monopolize mates, including female reproductive synchrony and the number of male competitors [6], as well as alternative reproductive strategies such as male-male coalitions and female mate choice (reviewed in [7]). …”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Incomplete control and concessions explain mating skew in male chimpanzees

2016

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Sexual selection theory predicts that because male reproductive success in mammals is limited by access to females, males will attempt to defend access to mates and exclude rivals from mating. In mammals, dominance rank is correlated with male reproductive success; however, the highestranking (alpha) male rarely monopolizes reproduction completely. To explain why, incomplete control models propose that alpha males simply cannot control other males' access to mates. If true, then dominance rank should be a key factor influencing subordinate (non-alpha) male mating success. Alternatively, the concession model states that alpha males can prevent other males from gaining access to mates but posits that they concede matings to subordinates in exchange for social favours. This predicts that a male's grooming interactions with the alpha should mediate his access to females. We test these predictions using 36 years of data, encompassing the tenures of eight alpha male chimpanzees at Gombe National Park, Tanzania. Incomplete control models were most strongly supported. At a given copulation event, the probability that the alpha was the male that mated was negatively associated with the number of males and sexually receptive females in the party. Additionally, as the number of males increased, high dominance rank was associated with an increased likelihood that a particular non-alpha male mated. The concession model, however, was also supported. The amount of time a male spent grooming with the alpha was positively associated with his likelihood of mating when the alpha was present in the party. As grooming is a major affiliative component of male social relationships, our results suggest that social bonds with dominant individuals are leveraged for mating access, particularly in species in which males form coalitions.

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Alternative reproductive tactics in primates

Cited by 44 publications

References 169 publications

The High Price of Success: Costs of Mating Effort in Male Primates

The High Price of Success: Costs of Mating Effort in Male Primates

Fitness‐related benefits of dominance in primates

Incomplete control and concessions explain mating skew in male chimpanzees

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