Olfactory kin recognition in a songbird

Krause, Eike; Krüger, Oliver; Kohlmeier, Philip; Caspers, Barbara A.

doi:10.1098/rsbl.2011.1093

Cited by 144 publications

(119 citation statements)

References 30 publications

(43 reference statements)

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“…The ability of fathers to identify their own offspring, while intriguing, has received very little empirical support. Some birds, at least, have a sense of smell (Steiger et al 2008), and it may be possible that birds can use this sense to discern kinship or genetic similarity (Bonadonna and Sanz-Aguilar 2012;Krause et al 2012). The general consensus, however, is that parents are unable to assess relatedness directly by any mechanism (Amo et al 2014).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Predictably Philandering Females Prompt Poor Paternal Provisioning

Schroeder

Hsu

Winney

et al. 2016

The American Naturalist

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Dryad data: http://dx.doi.org/10.5061/dryad.0t313.abstract: One predicted cost of female infidelity in socially monogamous species is that cuckolded males should provide less parental care. This relationship is robust across species, but evidence is ambiguous within species. We do not know whether individual males reduce their care when paired with cheating females compared with when paired with faithful females (within-male adjustment) or, alternatively, if the males that pair with cheating females are the same males that provide less parental care in general (between-male effect). Our exceptionally extensive long-term data set of repeated observations of a wild passerine allows us to disentangle paternal care adjustment within males-within pairs and between males-while accounting for environmental variables. We found a within-male adjustment of paternal provisioning, but not incubation effort, relative to the cuckoldry in their nest. This effect was mainly driven by females differing consistently in their fidelity. There was no evidence that this within-male adjustment also took place across broods with the same female, and we found no between-male effect. Interestingly, males that gained more extrapair paternity provided less care. Data from a cross-foster experiment suggested that males did not use kin recognition to assess paternity. Our results provide insight into the role of individual variation in parental care and mating systems.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Predictably Philandering Females Prompt Poor Paternal Provisioning

Schroeder

Hsu

Winney

et al. 2016

The American Naturalist

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“…[1][2][3][4] Many of the 'social' behaviors displayed by these organisms are based on discriminating between related and unrelated conspecifics (same species) to limit both resource competition as well as inbreeding. [5][6][7] Through careful observation the existence of analogous social behaviors in plants has been confirmed.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Kin recognition is a nutrient-dependent inducible phenomenon

Palmer

Ali

Yang

et al. 2016

Plant Signaling & Behavior

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Recognition and response to prospective competitors are crucial variables that must be considered in resource distribution and utilization in plant communities. Associated behaviors are largely mediated through the exchange of low-molecular weight exudates. These cues can significantly alter the root system architecture (RSA) between neighboring plants and are routinely sensitive enough to distinguish between plants of the same or different accessions, a phenomenon known as kin recognition (KR). Such refined discrimination of identity, based on the composition and detection of patterns of exudate signals is remarkable and provides insight into the chemical ecology of plant-plant interactions. The discovery that KR occurs in Arabidopsis thaliana provides a model system to resolve many of the mechanistic questions associated with this process. We hypothesized that the low-molecular weight cues which direct changes to the RSA during KR was driven by nutrient availability. Here we present evidence in support of a nutrient-inducible model for KR. Our findings underscore how exudate production and detection are influenced by nutrient availability as well as how this information is integrated into 'decisions' about competition and root system architecture which may have broader impacts on community composition.

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“…However, several recent studies have re-opened the possibility of true kin recognition by showing that olfactory cues, probably encoded by genes in the major histocompatibility complex (MHC), can be used to discriminate between kin and non-kin without previous association (Todrank and Heth 2003;Krause et al 2012;Leclaire et al 2013). In these cases, MHC polymorphisms may provide stable signatures shared by genetically related individuals, similar to the Brecognition alleles^originally envisioned by Hamilton.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…It is still unclear, though, whether MHC or odor-based kin recognition is widespread in social animals. Relatively few empirical studies have tested whether cooperatively breeding birds are capable of discriminating between related and unrelated nestlings, and even fewer have performed the experimental manipulations necessary to ensure that recognition is based on innate rather than learned cues (Krause et al 2012).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Social living without kin discrimination: experimental evidence from a communally breeding bird

Riehl

Strong

2015

Behav Ecol Sociobiol

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In many cooperative animal societies, individuals can recognize their relatives and preferentially direct helping behaviors towards them. However, the ability to learn kin recognition cues may be constrained in societies with low relatedness, since group membership alone is not a reliable proxy for kinship. Here, we examine kin discrimination in the greater ani (Crotophaga major), a communally nesting bird in which several unrelated males and females reproduce in a single, shared nest and provide parental care to the mixed clutch of young. Each adult, therefore, is closely related to some nestlings in the clutch and unrelated to others. Food is limited and starvation is a significant cause of nestling mortality, suggesting that adults should increase their fitness by preferentially feeding their own offspring in the mixed clutch. To test this hypothesis, we cross-fostered broods of nestlings between pairs of nests, such that none of the nestlings in the manipulated nests were related to any of the adults feeding them. We found no evidence that adult greater anis discriminate between their own and unrelated nestlings: adults at cross-fostered groups fed nestlings at the same rates as adults at control (sham-manipulated) nests, and rates of nestling starvation were equal at cross-fostered and control nests. These results suggest that adult greater anis do not recognize their own nestlings, and they are consistent with the hypothesis that genetically encoded markers for kin recognition are rare in birds.

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Olfactory kin recognition in a songbird

Cited by 144 publications

References 30 publications

Predictably Philandering Females Prompt Poor Paternal Provisioning

Predictably Philandering Females Prompt Poor Paternal Provisioning

Kin recognition is a nutrient-dependent inducible phenomenon

Social living without kin discrimination: experimental evidence from a communally breeding bird

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