Document Type
Article
Publication Date
2024
DOI
10.1007/s00265-024-03505-z
Publication Title
Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology
Volume
78
Issue
8
Pages
89
Abstract
Offspring that delay dispersal in cooperatively breeding species have been hypothesized to gain direct fitness benefits via parental facilitation—being passively tolerated on their natal territory by their parents—thereby enjoying enhanced survival and increased probability of acquiring a breeding position in the population. Here we describe active facilitation in the acorn woodpecker (Melanerpes formicivorus) by parents and siblings assisting the dispersal of helpers in their social group. Helpers in this species compete for reproductive opportunities in “power struggles” that take place when all breeders of one sex die or disappear, creating a reproductive vacancy. Individuals compete at power struggles in coalitions of relatives, in which larger coalitions are more likely to be victorious. Based on observations of banded birds, we found that an estimated 26% of individuals competing as part of a winning coalition at a power struggle returned to their home territory at its conclusion, suggesting that they were facilitating the dispersal of kin (generally parents or siblings) that stayed to become breeders on the new territory. In at least one group, sibling facilitation was reciprocated; that is, a bird that was helped at a power struggle by a sibling joined that same sibling as part of a coalition at a subsequent power struggle. Dispersal facilitation is a novel means by which parents can nepotistically enhance the direct fitness of offspring and siblings can enhance each other’s inclusive fitness in this highly social species.
Rights
© The Authors 2024
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Data Availability
Article states: "All data are available in the tables."
Original Publication Citation
Hagemeyer, N. D. G., Koenig, W. D., & Walters, E. L. (2024). Active facilitation of helper dispersal by parents and siblings in the cooperatively breeding acorn woodpecker. Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology, 78(8), 1-12, Article 89. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00265-024-03505-z
Repository Citation
Hagemeyer, Natasha D. G.; Koenig, Walter D.; and Walters, Eric L., "Active Facilitation of Helper Dispersal by Parents and Siblings in the Cooperatively Breeding Acorn Woodpecker" (2024). Biological Sciences Faculty Publications. 599.
https://digitalcommons.odu.edu/biology_fac_pubs/599
ORCID
0000-0002-9414-5758 (Walters)