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Cost minimization by helpers in cooperative vertebrates
A F Russell1, L L Sharpe, P N M Brotherton
1Department of Zoology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 3EJ, United Kingdom. afr22@cam.ac.uk
Summary
Cooperative meerkat helpers incur short-term growth costs but avoid long-term fitness loss. They adjust foraging and future helping to mitigate these energetic expenses, similar to breeders.
Area of Science:
- Behavioral Ecology
- Animal Behavior
- Evolutionary Biology
Background:
- Reproductive efforts incur significant energetic costs for parents.
- Parents often mitigate these costs through future adjustments in foraging and reproductive investment.
- Cooperative breeding systems present similar energetic challenges for helpers.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the short-term and long-term fitness consequences of helping in cooperative meerkats (Suricata suricatta).
- To determine if helpers, like breeders, modify their behavior to offset the energetic costs of cooperation.
Main Methods:
- Utilized multivariate analyses to assess costs and benefits.
- Employed experimental approaches to manipulate helping behavior and observe responses.
- Tracked individual condition, foraging rates, and reproductive investment.
Main Results:
- Helping in meerkats is linked to substantial short-term growth costs.
- Long-term fitness costs associated with helping are limited.
- Helpers increase foraging rates post-breeding and reduce future cooperative investment when initial investment is high.
Conclusions:
- Helpers in cooperative meerkat societies can buffer the fitness consequences of energetic costs through behavioral modifications.
- These modifications, including altered foraging and future reproductive investment, parallel strategies used by breeders.
- Cooperative behavior can be sustainable despite short-term energetic trade-offs due to adaptive adjustments.