Behavior predicts genes structure in a wild primate group.

Abstract

The predictability of genetic structure from social structure and differential mating success was tested in wild baboons. Baboon populations are subdivided into cohesive social groups that include multiple adults of both sexes. As in many mammals, males are the dispersing sex. Social structure and behavior successfully predicted molecular genetic measures of relatedness and variance in reproductive success. In the first quantitative test of the priority-of-access model among wild primates, the reproductive priority of dominant males was confirmed by molecular genetic analysis. However, the resultant high short-term variance in reproductive success did not translate into equally high long-term variance because male dominance status was unstable. An important consequence of high but unstable short-term variance is that age cohorts will tend to be paternal sibships and social groups will be genetically substructured by age.In this study, we combined molecular genetic data with long-term behavioral and demographic data to examine several aspects of behavior-genetic relationships that are central to the evolution of primate social systems. The first of these is the priority-of-access model, which predicts that dominance status among adult males determines access to estrous females (1) and that variability in the number of offspring fathered by males will, therefore, directly reflect both the males' dominance status and the number of simultaneously estrus females (2). Second, we investigated the widespread assumption that short-term differences in mating success or paternity success are stable and, therefore, predictive of lifetime differences in reproductive success (for review, see refs. 3 and 4). Third, we examined the hypothesis that a species' dispersal system and social structure produce predictable population substructure within groups (5, 6). For example, adult males within groups of baboons and many other cercopithecine primates are predicted to be less closely related than are adult females, and relatedness should be greater within than between matrilines.The study was conducted on a group of individually known wild savannah baboons, Papio cynocephalus, in Amboseli, Kenya (7). Like most cercopithecine primates and many other mammals (5,(8)(9)(10)(11)

Dispersal and group formation dynamics in a rare and endangered temperate forest bat (Nyctalus lasiopterus, Chiroptera: Vespertilionidae)

“…Even though the existence of a fine‐scale genetic structure has been reported in many mammalian societies (Altmann et al. 1996; Ratnayeke et al. 2002; Nussey et al.…”

The limited impact of kinship on cooperation in wild chimpanzees

“…In the three primate populations where paternal sibling nepotism has been studied (rhesus macaques at Cayo Santiago, baboons at Amboseli, and chimpanzees at Ngogo), the majority of similarly aged dyads do not consist of paternal siblings (Table 1, second row). Age proximity may not be a reliable cue for paternal sibship in these populations because male reproductive skew at any given time is not extreme, and males produce offspring throughout their entire adult life rather than only during a narrow time window (32)(33)(34)(35)(36). At Ngogo, patterns of male reproduction result in a situation where members of different age cohorts are as closely related to each other as individuals of the same age cohort (Fig.…”

Brain and cognitive evolution: Forms of modularity and functions of mind.

“…The taxonomy of sociocognitive modules shown in Figure 6 was developed to accommodate both forms of social dynamic and was derived from comparative studies of the forms of information used in social communication and that govern patterns of group dynamics as well as of social competencies that are more uniquely human (e.g., Altmann et al, 1996;Hauser, 1996;Leavens & Hopkins, 1998;Pinker, 1994).…”