Familiar neighbours, but not relatives, enhance fitness in a territorial mammal

Siracusa, Erin R.; Boutin, Stan; Dantzer, Ben; Lane, Jeffrey E.; Coltman, David W.; McAdam, Andrew G.

doi:10.1101/589002

Cited by 2 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 62 publications

(148 reference statements)

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“…Interactions between individuals are not random and instead reflect relatedness or familiarity [47]. In field intruder tests, where we expected to find more aggression towards conspecifics, due to the defence of resources [48], aggression was much more common during the breeding than the non-breeding season, and females were much more aggressive towards non-kin than kin.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 90%

Tolerant mothers: aggression does not explain solitary living in the bush Karoo rat

Makuya,

Pillay,

Sangweni

et al. 2024

Preprint

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Many mammal species are thought to adopt solitary living due to mothers becoming intolerant of their adult offspring as well as social intolerance between adults. However, field studies on how solitary mammals interact are rare. Here we show that solitary living can occur without social intolerance. Over three years, we recorded interactions between free living bush Karoo rats (Otomys unisulcatus) and conducted dyadic encounter experiments between kin and non-kin female neighbours, both in a neutral test arena and in field intruder experiments. Social interactions were rare (N=230 in N=2062 observations), and, when observed, were aggressive in only 34% of the cases. In dyadic encounters, mothers interacted amicably with young offspring. Aggression between mothers and offspring was almost absent. This mother-offspring relationship remained amicable even after the offspring had dispersed. Aggression between neighbouring adult females was low in neutral arena tests, independent of kinship and season. However, in the field, females reacted more aggressively towards non-kin than kin intruders, especially during the breeding season. Tolerance between mothers and adult offspring indicates that aggression is not the mechanism leading to natal dispersal and solitary living. We found a solitary social system characterised by social tolerance, suggesting that dispersal in combination with a lack of social attraction rather than aggression can lead to solitary living.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 90%

Tolerant mothers: aggression does not explain solitary living in the bush Karoo rat

Makuya,

Pillay,

Sangweni

et al. 2024

Preprint

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show abstract

“…This hypothesis predicts that intraspecific variation in the speed and extent to which individuals reduce their aggression towards non-threatening neighbours will affect individual fitness. However, this key prediction has never been tested, and indeed the fitness consequences of neighbour recognition have mostly been studied indirectly, for instance by demonstrating that individuals holding territories with long-term neighbours have higher reproductive success than those with new neighbours (Beletsky & Orians, 1989; Grabowska-Zhang, Sheldon, et al, 2012; Grabowska-Zhang, Wilkin, et al, 2012; Siracusa et al, 2021). The dear enemy effect is far from ubiquitous among species.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

No reproductive fitness benefits of dear enemy behaviour in a territorial songbird

Reichert

Davidson

et al. 2021

Preprint

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Territorial animals often exhibit the dear enemy effect, in which individuals respond less aggressively to neighbours than to other individuals. The dear enemy effect is hypothesized to be adaptive by reducing unnecessary aggressive interactions with individuals that are not a threat to territory ownership. A key prediction of this hypothesis, that individual fitness will be affected by variation in the speed and extent to which individuals reduce their aggression towards neighbours relative to strangers, has never been tested. We used a series of song playbacks to measure the change in response of male great tits on their breeding territories to a simulated establishment of a neighbour on an adjacent territory. Males reduced their approach to the speaker and sang fewer songs on later repetitions of the playback trials, consistent with a dear enemy effect through habituation learning. However, not all males discriminated between the neighbour and stranger playbacks at the end of the series of trials, and there was evidence that individuals consistently differed from one another in performing this discrimination. We monitored nests and analysed offspring paternity to determine male reproductive success. Unexpectedly, individuals that exhibited dear enemy behaviour towards the simulated neighbour did not have higher reproductive success, and in fact one measure, total offspring biomass, was lower for individuals that showed the dear enemy effect. Although the general capability to recognize neighbours is most likely adaptive, it seems that individuals who decrease their responsiveness to familiar neighbours too quickly may gain no advantage or even be at a disadvantage.

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Familiar neighbours, but not relatives, enhance fitness in a territorial mammal

Cited by 2 publications

References 62 publications

Tolerant mothers: aggression does not explain solitary living in the bush Karoo rat

Tolerant mothers: aggression does not explain solitary living in the bush Karoo rat

No reproductive fitness benefits of dear enemy behaviour in a territorial songbird

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