Decline and fall: The causes of group failure in cooperatively breeding meerkats

Duncan, Chris; Manser, Marta B.; Clutton‐Brock, Tim

doi:10.1002/ece3.7655

Cited by 10 publications

(31 citation statements)

References 68 publications

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“…7). This agrees with previous observations that TB is the main cause of failure of established groups 24 .…”

Section: Group Extinction Under Climate Changesupporting

confidence: 93%

“…TB is a terminal disease for meerkats, and in the later stages of infection (henceforth, clinical TB), adult meerkats commonly develop pronounced submandibular lymph node swellings which grow in size and eventually burst. Individuals then die within approximately six months, causing an additional 6 % deaths of the total adult population per year 24,25 . Outbreaks of TB are the main cause of extinctions of established groups; 63 % of groups that were monitored until failure (54 groups in total) failed due to TB, and this rate increased to 100 % in groups that had persisted for > 8 years and subsequently failed 24 .…”

Section: Recent Climate Change and Tuberculosis Outbreaks In Meerkatsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Individuals then die within approximately six months, causing an additional 6 % deaths of the total adult population per year 24,25 . Outbreaks of TB are the main cause of extinctions of established groups; 63 % of groups that were monitored until failure (54 groups in total) failed due to TB, and this rate increased to 100 % in groups that had persisted for > 8 years and subsequently failed 24 .…”

Section: Recent Climate Change and Tuberculosis Outbreaks In Meerkatsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Higher temperature extremes exacerbate negative disease effects in a social mammal

et al. 2022

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One important but understudied way in which climate change may impact the fitness of individuals and populations is by altering the prevalence of infectious disease outbreaks. This is especially true in social species where endemic diseases are widespread. Here we use 22 years of demographic data from wild meerkats (Suricata suricatta) in the Kalahari, where temperatures have risen steadily, to project group persistence under interactions between weather extremes and fatal tuberculosis outbreaks caused by infection with Mycobacterium suricattae. We show that higher temperature extremes increase the risk of outbreaks within groups by increasing physiological stress as well as the dispersal of males, which are important carriers of tuberculosis. Explicitly accounting for negative effects of tuberculosis outbreaks on survival and reproduction in groups more than doubles group extinction risk in 12 years under projected temperature increases. Synergistic climate-disease effects on demographic rates may therefore rapidly intensify climate-change impacts in natural populations.

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“…7). This agrees with previous observations that TB is the main cause of failure of established groups 24 .…”

Section: Group Extinction Under Climate Changesupporting

confidence: 93%

Section: Recent Climate Change and Tuberculosis Outbreaks In Meerkatsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Recent Climate Change and Tuberculosis Outbreaks In Meerkatsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Higher temperature extremes exacerbate negative disease effects in a social mammal

et al. 2022

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“…Most social mole-rat groups are nuclear families and females will not readily mate with their father or brothers (75). As a result, natal individuals typically lack access to unrelated mating partners and if either breeder dies, all group members may slowly disperse and groups may dissolve (21, 37, 54, 56, 61). The fact that females rarely inherit a breeding position might also explain why sex differences in dispersal timing are small in Damaraland mole-rats (this study, 68) compared to other cooperative breeders (11,57,76), and why males and females invest similarly in cooperative foraging behaviour (30,48,77), with neither sex standing to gain more from helping (11,15,76,78).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In some of the most well-studied obligate cooperative mammals, pairs of individuals without helpers usually fail to breed successfully (17,50,51). New groups typically form and successfully breed when coalitions of individuals disperse and settle together (52,53), when large groups fission into smaller, distinct breeding units (54)(55)(56)(57), or when a breeding territory including helpers is inherited by existing group members (58)(59)(60)(61). Similar patterns of group formation as in obligate cooperative mammals are seen in many eusocial insect societies (62)(63)(64)(65), and various studies have suggested that the fissioning of large groups may also be an important driver of new group formation in the social mole-rats (19,21,31,66).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Damaraland mole-rats are not obligate cooperative breeders

Thorley

Bensch

Finn

et al. 2021

Preprint

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Damaraland mole-rats (Fukomys damarensis) are usually viewed as an obligatorily group living eusocial species in which successful reproduction is dependent on reproductive altruism of closely related group members. However, the reproductive ecology of social mole-rats in their natural environment remains poorly understood and it is unclear to what extent successful reproduction is dependent on assistance from other group members. Using data from a 7-year field study of marked individuals, we show that, after dispersal from their natal group, individuals typically settled alone in new burrow systems where they enjoyed high survival rates, and often remained in good body condition for several years before finding a mate. Unlike most other eusocial or singular cooperative breeders, we found that Damaraland mole-rats reproduced successfully in pairs without helpers and experimentally formed pairs had the same reproductive success as larger established groups. Overall there was only a weak increase in reproductive success with increasing group size and no effect of group size on adult survival rates across the population. Juveniles in large groups grew faster early in life but their growth rates declined subsequently so that they eventually plateaued at a lower maximum body mass than juveniles from small groups. Taken together, our data suggest that the fitness benefits of group living to breeders are small and we suggest that extended philopatry in Damaraland mole-rats has evolved because of the high costs and constraints of dispersal rather than because of strong indirect benefits accrued through cooperative behaviour.

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Group augmentation underlies the evolution of complex sociality in the face of environmental instability

Shah

Rubenstein

2023

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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Although kin selection is assumed to underlie the evolution of sociality, many vertebrates—including nearly half of all cooperatively breeding birds—form groups that also include unrelated individuals. Theory predicts that despite reducing kin structure, immigration of unrelated individuals into groups can provide direct, group augmentation benefits, particularly when offspring recruitment is insufficient for group persistence. Using population dynamic modeling and analysis of long-term data, we provide clear empirical evidence of group augmentation benefits favoring the evolution and maintenance of complex societies with low kin structure and multiple reproductives. We show that in the superb starling ( Lamprotornis superbus )—a plural cooperative breeder that forms large groups with multiple breeding pairs, and related and unrelated nonbreeders of both sexes—offspring recruitment alone cannot prevent group extinction, especially in smaller groups. Further, smaller groups, which stand to benefit more from immigration, exhibit lower reproductive skew for immigrants, suggesting that reproductive opportunities as joining incentives lead to plural breeding. Yet, despite a greater likelihood of becoming a breeder in smaller groups, immigrants are more likely to join larger groups where they experience increased survivorship and greater reproductive success as breeders. Moreover, immigrants form additional breeding pairs, increasing future offspring recruitment into the group and guarding against complete reproductive failure in the face of environmental instability and high nest predation. Thus, plural breeding likely evolves because the benefits of group augmentation by immigrants generate a positive feedback loop that maintains societies with low and mixed kinship, large group sizes, and multiple reproductives.

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Decline and fall: The causes of group failure in cooperatively breeding meerkats

Abstract: This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Cited by 10 publications

References 68 publications

Higher temperature extremes exacerbate negative disease effects in a social mammal

Higher temperature extremes exacerbate negative disease effects in a social mammal

Damaraland mole-rats are not obligate cooperative breeders

Group augmentation underlies the evolution of complex sociality in the face of environmental instability

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