Social and Individual Factors Influence Variation in Offspring Care in the Cooperatively Breeding Western Australian Magpie

Pike, Kyana N.; Ashton, Benjamin J.; Morgan, Kate; Ridley, Amanda R.

doi:10.3389/fevo.2019.00092

Cited by 34 publications

(40 citation statements)

References 89 publications

(145 reference statements)

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“…Load-lightening has been observed in a number of cooperatively-breeding species [11,16,43], and may operate via task-partitioning [37,44] or by improved access to resources [45,46]. In larger groups, there are more individuals available to assist with breeding attempts, which can either lead to load-lightening amongst individual group members [11,37], or to cumulatively greater investment in young [36,47]; both are potential benefits of group living that may be particularly advantageous when unfavourable rainfall or temperature conditions are experienced. Specifically, these effects could mean that larger groups are better able to maintain adequate levels of parental care to eggs, nestlings, and/or fledglings at high temperatures or during periods of low rainfall, despite individual declines in investment in parental care behaviours.…”

Section: And Van Dementioning

confidence: 99%

High temperatures drive offspring mortality in a cooperatively breeding bird

et al. 2020

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An improved understanding of life-history responses to current environmental variability is required to predict species-specific responses to anthopogenic climate change. Previous research has suggested that cooperation in social groups may buffer individuals against some of the negative effects of unpredictable climates. We use a 15-year dataset on a cooperative breeding arid zone bird, the southern pied babbler Turdoides bicolor , to test (i) whether environmental conditions and group size correlate with survival of young during three development stages (egg, nestling, fledgling) and (ii) whether group size mitigates the impacts of adverse environmental conditions on survival of young. Exposure to high mean daily maximum temperatures (mean T max ) during early development was associated with reduced survival probabilities of young in all three development stages. No young survived when mean T max > 38°C, across all group sizes. Low survival of young at high temperatures has broad implications for recruitment and population persistence in avian communities given the rapid pace of advancing climate change. Impacts of high temperatures on survival of young were not moderated by group size, suggesting that the availability of more helpers in a group is unlikely to buffer against compromised offspring survival as average and maximum temperatures increase with rapid anthropogenic climate change.

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confidence: 99%

High temperatures drive offspring mortality in a cooperatively breeding bird

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“…of high temperatures were not moderated by group size, a somewhat unexpected result given 23 prevailing theories around the influence of environmental uncertainty on the evolution of [45,46]. In larger groups, there are more individuals available to assist with breeding attempts, 69 which can either lead to load-lightening amongst individual group members [11,37], or to 70 cumulatively greater investment in young [36,47]; both are potential benefits of group living 71 that may be particularly advantageous when unfavourable rainfall or temperature conditions are 72 experienced. Specifically, these effects could mean that larger groups are better able to maintain 73 adequate levels of parental care to eggs, nestlings, and/or fledglings at high temperatures or 74 during periods of low rainfall, despite individual declines in investment in parental care 75 behaviours.…”

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High temperatures drive offspring mortality in a cooperatively breeding bird

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10An improved understanding of life history responses to current environmental variability is 11 required to predict species-specific responses to anthopogenic climate change. Previous research 12 has suggested that cooperation in social groups may buffer individuals against some of the negative 13 effects of unpredictable climates. We use a 15-year dataset on a cooperative-breeding arid-zone 14 bird, the southern pied babbler Turdoides bicolor, to test i) whether environmental conditions and 15 group size correlate with survival of young during three development stages (egg, nestling, 16 fledgling), and ii) whether group size mitigates the impacts of adverse environmental conditions 17 on reproductive success. Exposure to high mean daily maximum temperatures (mean Tmax) during 18 early development was associated with reduced survival probabilities of young in all three 19 development stages. No young survived when mean Tmax > 38°C across all group sizes. Low 20 reproductive success at high temperatures has broad implications for recruitment and population 21 persistence in avian communities given the rapid pace of advancing climate change. That impacts 22temperature and rainfall patterns have led to adjustments to the timing and success of 46 reproduction in some bird species [19,20]. For birds in arid environments, higher rainfall is often 47 associated with improved reproductive success [21,22], droughts are associated with reduced 48 reproductive success [23,24] and periods of very hot weather are typically associated with lower 49 nest survival rates [15,25] and nestling growth rates [26][27][28]. Therefore, it is reasonable to expect 50 that reproductive success and population persistence of birds in arid environments will be 51 impacted as regions become hotter and drier under climate change [29,30]. 52Cooperative breeding, where more than two individuals rear a single brood [31], occurs 53 in ~9% of bird species [32]. Reproductive benefits of cooperation include earlier fledging age 54 and more broods raised per season [33]; reduced costs of breeding for females [11,34]; enhanced 55 egg investment [35]; increased fledgling recruitment [17,36]; and the ability to raise overlapping 56 broods [12,37]. Global comparative studies suggest that cooperative breeding evolved in 57 unpredictable environments [38], facilitated the colonisation of such environments [39], or 58 prevented extinction under increasingly harsh conditions [40]. One prominent explanation for the 59 occurrence of cooperative breeding in birds in variable environments is that it represents a 'bet-60 hedging' strategy [38], whereby breeding individuals share the costs of reproduction with helpers 61 and are thus able to reduce interannual variation in reproductive success in response to 62 unpredictable rainfall and food availability [9]. This implies that cooperation might buffer 63 breeding attempts from failure during adverse environmental conditions [13,41]. 64 A likely mechanism underlying such benefits of cooperation is load-lightening...

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“…In this study, we examined the relationship between group size and the emergence and subsequent spread of innovation in a wild population of colour-ringed and habituated Australian magpies (Western Australian subspecies Cracticus tibicen dorsalis ; hereafter referred to as ‘magpies’). Magpies are large (250–400 g) cooperatively breeding passerines that live in territorial groups ranging from two to 12 adults, in which multiple individuals of both sexes contribute to rearing offspring and territorial defence (Ashton et al., 2018, Edwards et al., 2015, Hughes et al., 2003, Kaplan, 2008, Mirville et al., 2016, Pike et al., 2019). Unlike other subspecies of Australian magpie, sex can be determined visually in Western Australian magpies because they are sexually dichromatic (Ashton et al., 2018).…”

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Larger group sizes facilitate the emergence and spread of innovations in a group-living bird

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The benefits of group living have traditionally been attributed to risk dilution or the efficient exploitation of resources; individuals in social groups may therefore benefit from access to valuable information. If sociality facilitates access to information, then individuals in larger groups may be predicted to solve novel problems faster than individuals in smaller groups. Additionally, larger group sizes may facilitate the subsequent spread of innovations within animal groups, as has been proposed for human societies. We presented a novel foraging task (where a food reward could be accessed by pushing a self-shutting sliding door) to 16 groups of wild, cooperatively breeding Australian magpies, Cracticus tibicen dorsalis, ranging in size from two to 11 individuals. We found a nonlinear decline in the time taken for the innovative behaviour to emerge with increasing group size, and social information use facilitated the transmission of novel behaviour, with it spreading more quickly in larger than smaller groups. This study provides important evidence for a nonlinear relationship between group size and the emergence of innovation (and its subsequent transmission) in a wild population of animals. Further work investigating the scope and strength of group size–innovation relationships, and the mechanisms underpinning them, will help us understand the potential advantages of living in larger social groups.

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Social and Individual Factors Influence Variation in Offspring Care in the Cooperatively Breeding Western Australian Magpie

Cited by 34 publications

References 89 publications

High temperatures drive offspring mortality in a cooperatively breeding bird

High temperatures drive offspring mortality in a cooperatively breeding bird

High temperatures drive offspring mortality in a cooperatively breeding bird

Larger group sizes facilitate the emergence and spread of innovations in a group-living bird

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