Breeders that receive help age more slowly in a cooperatively breeding bird

Hammers, Martijn; Kingma, Sjouke A.; Spurgin, Lewis G.; Bebbington, Kathryn; Dugdale, Hannah L.; Burke, Terry; Komdeur, Jan; Richardson, David S.

doi:10.1038/s41467-019-09229-3

Cited by 80 publications

(171 citation statements)

References 74 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

154

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…The finding that helpers compensate for senescent declines in provisioning rate and offspring survival of dominant females extends the results of a previous study on Seychelles warblers (21), which showed that having helpers was associated with higher late-life survival and delayed senescence for dominant females. A similar effect has also been described for Alpine marmots (Marmota marmota) (35).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 85%

“…In addition, the fact that young dominant females show higher provisioning rates than young dominant males means that there is more scope for age-dependent declines in provisioning rates for dominant females. In contrast, incubation attendance -another energetically demanding aspect of parental care -does not decline in older females in the Seychelles warbler (21). An explanation for this may be that there is strong selection against reductions in incubation attendance because lower incubation attendance is associated with a higher risk of egg predation and thus failure of the entire reproductive attempt in this species (29).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 90%

“…This, combined with intensive monitoring resulting in high annual resighting rates, means that individuals can be followed throughout their entire lives (7). Furthermore, because only one third of all subordinates help(21), it is possible to disentangle the benefits of help from group size (21,22), which is challenging or impossible in many cooperatively breeding species (e.g. subordinates may be the result rather than the cause of high reproductive success(23)).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Helpers compensate for age-related declines in parental care and offspring survival in a cooperatively breeding bird

Hammers¹,

Kingma²,

Boheemen³

et al. 2019

Preprint

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Offspring from elderly parents often have a lower survival probability because of parental senescence. In cooperatively breeding species, alloparental care provided by helpers is predicted to mitigate age-dependent declines in parental performance. We tested this prediction in the facultatively cooperative-breeding Seychelles warbler (Acrocephalus sechellensis). We find that the provisioning rates of female, but not male, breeders decline sharply with age, and that female breeders reduce their provisioning rates when helpers are present. However, helpers increase the total amount of food provided to the offspring and almost fully compensate for the lower provisioning rates of older female breeders. In territories without helpers, offspring survival declines with age of the female breeder, but not with age of the male breeder, but this decline is counteracted when helpers are present. These results suggest that alloparental care alleviates the costs of senescence for breeders, which may promote cooperative breeding in families with elderly parents.

show abstract

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 85%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 90%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Helpers compensate for age-related declines in parental care and offspring survival in a cooperatively breeding bird

Hammers¹,

Kingma²,

Boheemen³

et al. 2019

Preprint

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…This is consistent with our results. Further evidence is also beginning to accrue elsewhere that sociality may have an important role in driving patterns of senescence beyond the remits of ‘grandmothering’ 27 28. .…”

Section: Mainmentioning

confidence: 99%

Senescence: Still an Unsolved Problem of Biology

Roper

Capdevila

Salguero‐Gómez

2019

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

5Peter Medawar's 'An Unsolved Problem of Biology' 1 was one of several formal attempts to 6 provide an explanation for the evolution of senescence, the increasing risk of mortality and 7 decline in reproduction with age after achieving maturity. Despite ca. seven decades of 8 theoretical elaboration aiming to explain the problem since Medawar first outlined it, we 9 argue that this fundamental problem of biology remains unsolved. Here, we utilise 1 0 demographic information 2,3 for 308 multicellular species to derive age-based trajectories of 1 1 mortality and reproduction that provide evidence against the predictions of the classical, still 1 2 prevailing, theories of ageing 1,4,5,6 . These theories predict the inescapability of senescence 1,4 , 1 3 or its universality at least among species with a clear germ-soma barrier 5,6 . The patterns of 1 4 senescence in animals and plants that we report contradict both of these predictions. With the 1 5 largest ageing comparative dataset of these characteristics to date, we build on recent 1 6 evidence 7,8 to show that senescence is not the rule, and highlight the discrepancy between 1 7 existing evidence and theory 7,8,9 . We also show that species' age patterns of mortality and 1 8 reproduction often follow divergent patterns, suggesting that organisms may display 1 9 senescence for one component but not the other. We propose that ageing research will benefit 2 0 from widening its classical theories beyond merely individual chronological age; key life 2 1 history traits such as size, the ecology of the organism, and kin selection, may together play a 2 2hidden, yet integral role in shaping senescence outcomes. 2 3 2 4 3 Main 2 5

show abstract

“…In many such cases, this appears to be due to compensatory care or "loadlightening." This is the phenomenon whereby the help provided by helpers allows other group members to reduce their own investment and thereby presumably enhance their survival (and thus the helper's future indirect benefits; Mumme et al, 1989) at the cost of the helper's current reproductive success (Crick, 1992;Heinsohn, 2004;Russell et al, 2007;Hammers et al, 2019). There remain, however, cases in which no discernable fitness effects of helping have been identified (Leonard et al, 1989;Magrath and Yezerinac, 1997).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Does Helping-at-the-Nest Help? The Case of the Acorn Woodpecker

2019

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Cooperative breeding groups often involve "helpers-at-the-nest"; indeed, such behavior typically defines this intriguing breeding system. In few cases, however, has it been demonstrated that feeding nestlings by helpers, rather than some other behavior associated with helpers' presence, leads to greater reproductive success. One prediction of the hypothesis that feeding behavior per se is responsible for the fitness benefits conferred by helpers is that there should be close congruence between the patterns of helping-at-the-nest and the fitness effects of helpers. Here we look for such a relationship in the cooperatively breeding acorn woodpecker (Melanerpes formicivorus) in order to begin to identify the behaviors of helpers that drive the increased fitness benefits they confer. In terms of young fledged, a helper male confers approximately the same fitness benefits to a group as does a helper female; more dramatically, the effects of helper males increases with increasing food supply, most importantly the prior year's acorn crop on which this species depends, whereas that of helper females does not. These patterns do not match the nest-feeding patterns of helpers, which are greater for females than males and do not increase with a larger acorn crop the prior autumn. In contrast, the proportion of time helpers spend tending acorn-storage facilities (granaries) and are present in or near their home territory is greater for males than females and, at least for males, positively related to the size of the acorn crop. These results fail to support the hypothesis that the primary benefit conferred by helpers is feeding young in the nest; rather, they suggest that behaviors such as territorial defense and predator detection are more important. Understanding exactly what those behaviors are in this, and most other cooperatively breeding systems, remain to be determined.

show abstract

Breeders that receive help age more slowly in a cooperatively breeding bird

Cited by 80 publications

References 74 publications

Helpers compensate for age-related declines in parental care and offspring survival in a cooperatively breeding bird

Helpers compensate for age-related declines in parental care and offspring survival in a cooperatively breeding bird

Senescence: Still an Unsolved Problem of Biology

Does Helping-at-the-Nest Help? The Case of the Acorn Woodpecker

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About